How many eggs will a hen set on at a time for chicks ?

Question

I am going to get some fertile eggs and have some of my hens hatch them but I'm not sure how many to get per bird.

Answer 1

Are you aware that your hens need to be broody in order to hatch out eggs?



By broody I mean refusing to get off the nest for days and weeks on end, gathering the eggs underneath her etc? And if you do have a broody hen you should check how broody she is by lifting her from the nest, just to check that she returns to it afterwards. When an egg is incubating eggs she should be moved into her own private brooding pen too, where she is away from the others so there is less chance of eggs being smashed and she will be less stressed too.



As for how many eggs a broody can comfortable brood, it depends on the size of the hen! Large fluffy breeds such as the Oprington can easily incubate 10 medium sized eggs, where a bantam hen may struggle with more than five.



Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

First, are your hens broody? If they are not, then they will not sit on the eggs, even if you want them to.



Also, depending on where you live, it may not be a good time for chicks. Right now we have five inches of snow on the ground, and temperatures occasionally going into the negatives. Not a good time for chicks.



As for size. Most hens can sit on around twelve eggs. Now, do consider that they need a well made nest, and that the twelve eggs are the size that they themselves would lay.



To have a well made nest I suggest a box around one foot by one foot. Make a bowl shaped area out of staw. This will help all the eggs stay exactly where they belong, under the hen.



Egg size plays a huge factor in how many eggs a hen can sit on. If you are shoving Rhode Island Red eggs under an little Old English Game Bantam you may only be able to fit four eggs under her. If you are putting Old English Game eggs under her then you could fit many more. Since you are guessing how many eggs will fit, you can get the hens a sane amount like 5-6 eggs each.



Also, from past experience you may not want largefowl hens to sit on bantams. I tried hatching some Silkies under my largefowl Brahmas this year, and they crushed all the eggs, and chicks.



Happy hatching,

Jamie/Rhode Runner

Answer 3

I assume chickens?

Depends on the size and broodyness of the hen. Some hens, often the older ones but not always, are very broody and will take on more eggs than can fit under them. Some can even hatch them all! I had a bantam hen repeatedly set on about 8 eggs more than she could fit under her but she never lost more than 2 in a set. Sometimes she'd just keep hatching because she'd steal eggs as they were laid!

I've also had very broody meat ducks that did a great job of hatching chicken and goose eggs and they usually could handle more than the chickens. If they built a good nest I'd say they could hatch atleast 30 sm/med and 20 large or bigger eggs, only a few goose size, I never tried more than 8.

Then again, some hens won't set at all. Many of my leghorns had almost no broody tendencies. Great for egg production, obviously, but terrible mothers.

Guinea hens also did a great job hatching, they could handle easily 20 guinea or small chicken eggs and even took huge duck eggs if I could find the nest. They couldn't handle very many though, about 20 smaller eggs but only a few (8ish?) if they were large.

In parrots I found similar things and it seems the more "exotic" the color from natural the less their talents in hatching/raising chicks.

Answer 4

Depends on the size of the hen and her personal inclination. I have had hens sit on 20 or more and others who will set 2-4. Some won't set at all unless they laid the eggs.

Answer 5

Mine is sitting on 20 now. We'll see :)

Answer 6

I would say no more than 4

Answer 7

Maybe four would be the most to have her lay on.