hen sitting on eggs ... what do we do next?

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CarolynEarley

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We have a broody hen, Clucky, sitting on eggs - one of them is a duck egg. We have no idea whether they are fertilised or no, we have very active cockerels though, and are just letting nature take its course and leaving her to it. We moved her into her own little shed and she settled very quickly. She has her own food, water and run. The eggs should start to hatch in a week if they start hatching at 21 days. So far so good. What we need to know is what to do next. When they are hatched how long do we leave Clucky with her chicks? Will they need food immediately? How long should we leave the eggs to see if they hatch out after the first one starts before giving up on them? As you can tell we are new to this, it is so exciting. We live in Crete so the temperature should not be a problem... it does not drop below 12 degrees even at night and is getting warmer and warmer. :-)17
 
Hey, I may not be of much help as I have only incubated and like you have my first broody sitting on eggs due next week. With your duck egg I'm afraid I can't see that hatching, as I know that first they need higher humidity than chickens eggs and not sure if your hen can provide that and they take longer, I think 28 days. So if your chicks start hatching on day 21 your hen will only stay a couple of days for the rest to hatch any left she will abandon to look after the ones hatched. So the hen will stay until some hatch and leave when she is sure no more are to hatch. As for food, I always make sure there is some available from day one as some will try to have a peck but it's not necessary. I think with broodys the chicks stay under the mum for the first few days anyway while they learn to stand walk and start growing some feathers so don't worry if they don't eat straight away. With broodys you never have to worry about heat lamps anyway as mum keeps them warm, I know your in Crete (lucky you!) so yes all should be fine. I hope I have covered everything and it makes sense. I have learnt a lot on this site about broodys and what's happens after hatch and I know a lot when it comes to incubation now as I have done quite a few. But really it's just a case of letting the hen do what she does best and let her get on with it, which for me will be really nice as with incubation there is a fair bit of work.... Good luck for your hatch hope it's a successful one I just look forward to seeing mum with a load of little chicks following her about :-)
 
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