The incubation period for chicken eggs is 20 to 21 days, and increases up to 30 days for other poultry. After sitting for some days, a broody hen can be given some newly hatched chicks and, if they are accepted, the original eggs can be removed and replaced with more chicks.
How The Chicken Incubates Eggs Naturally. In nature, the female bird selects the nest site and lays a clutch of eggs (usually 8 to 13 eggs), one egg per day. Once she has a clutch of eggs, she begins sitting on the eggs full time, leaving only for food and water.
A broody hen may sit on unfertilized eggs for six or seven weeks before she gives up. Between the minimal diet and the increased body temperature, that's not good for her health. A broody won't lay eggs. She'll just sit on the eggs that are already in her nest (or the eggs that the other hens lay)
Broody hens will find a comfortable place – usually a secure and small space like a nesting box – to lay their clutch. Once a desirable number of eggs (about 6-12) are in the clutch, then the broody hen will begin incubating her eggs by sitting down and staying put!
A broody hen is a term given to a dedicated mother bird that has begun to sit on and incubate the eggs day and night, leaving only once daily to eat, drink, and poop. She may hiss and peck at you if you remove the hen from her eggs.
If there are no fertile eggs available or the broody sits on an empty nest, broodiness can continue long beyond three weeks, resulting in negative health consequences for her and problems for other hens. A broody eats, drinks and eliminates waste once or twice a day at most.
Birds can hear the babies in the eggs, they will not stay on dead or unfertilized eggs in vain hope of hatching them. If a hen sits on eggs that won't hatch, she is doing it for fun and will therefore never get tired of doing it.
Left unattended, a hen will stay broody for around 21 days, which is the time it takes to hatch a clutch of fertile eggs. After 21 days the behavior should stop, but sometimes, a hen will remain broody and it's important to “break,” or stop a broody hen before she harms herself.
If she's already been sitting on eggs, you can try moving them with her but I tend to have a little better success rate when I notice I have a broody hen, move her and get her settled in a chick-friendly spot, and then give her eggs to sit on. But you WILL need eggs on the destination nest to keep her interested.
A hen does not know if her eggs are fertilised or not. In fact (much like a human) a rooster can be infertile, so a hen's eggs might not be fertilised even if she is in a flock with a rooster. Many modern breeds and commercial hybrid hens will do nothing with their eggs other than lay them and walk away.
Now you know, fertilized eggs are completely safe to eat—unless you've neglected to care for them or wash the eggs…or you've let your broody hen have her eggs for longer than normal. You can safely eat your fertilized eggs without any worries. It's truly no different than an unfertilized egg.
Broody hens consume 80% less feed than when in their normal state, which means they are at risk of malnutrition. Keep a private feeder and waterer close to the broody hen so she can access it without straying too far from her eggs.
Since a broody hen will take up nesting box space, it is often best to remove her from the normal laying nesting boxes in the coop and provide her with a brooding box within her brooding pen.
You might have a broody hen, and in this case, she won't lay eggs no matter how much protein or sunshine you give her. When a hen gets broody, she wants to hatch her own chicks, so she will sit on top of her eggs for 21 days until they hatch. During this 21 day period, she won't lay any eggs- not good…
Hens make a lot of sounds, but most of them are quiet and gentle. The only time they get really loud are when they have laid an egg. It's not known why many hens 'shout about it' after laying - but this is the 'classic' chicken sound someone makes when they want to impersonate a chicken!
Infertile Egg: An egg that is not fertile will remain clear. If you look closely, you can see the yolk in the middle. Blood Ring: If a developing embryo dies, the blood vessels form a blood ring. It can be located in different places within the egg.
Female Egg Quality and Quantity
As technology stands today, the best indicators of egg quality are a woman's age, hormone testing, and actually “counting the eggs” using transvaginal ultrasound.
Did you know you can determine if an egg is fertile or not by looking at the germ spot? The germ spot is the white spot on the yolk. The non-fertile germ spot contains only the female's cells and looks like a solid white spot. In a fertile egg the germ spot contains both the female and male cells.
Allowing a broody hen to be broody when she doesn't have eggs or chicks is not healthy for her. A broody hen will eat less and drink less, causing her to lose weight and become dehydrated.
The act of breaking the broodiness out of a hen is not inhumane, and in truth you are doing her a service by breaking her. As for chicken keepers, it is as important to be as persistent as the broody hen. Once the decision has been made to break a hen, follow through with it.
Broody hens are also not always reliable. They can get bored of sitting and just get off the nest and not come back, leaving the eggs to go cold. This is not to be confused for the bird getting off the nest for food and water.
Calcium deficiency causes a chicken to seek out a supplemental diet of egg shell. Chickens may also eat their eggs due to accidental discovery. If a chicken coop is crowded, a chicken can very easily break an egg. Once the egg is broken, the chicken may begin to eat the yolk and develop a taste for eggs.
A broody hen does not need much care, but you will need to make sure she has clean water and enough food daily. She only gets up once or twice a day to eat and poop so don't expect a lot of activity from her. Broody poop is notoriously stinky and rather large, so you might want to clean that out when you see it.