I let my broodies raise other hens' eggs all the time, they don't care at all, they just want those babies! *L* Just be prepared--if she is a first-time mom, you may need to take over if she abandons the nest midway through. It's a good idea to have an incubator on hand and a brooder box for after the chicks hatch. You never know how mama or the other birds will react to chicks, they may attack them. I've learned from past experience that I can't trust some of my hens not to go after new chicks, and mama can't be everywhere at once to protect them. :( Right now my partidge cochin hen and my blue silkie hens are both broody...I have some Polish eggs I may slip under them. *G* Velvet ~:>

I have to broody silkies on the same eggs. The problem is that there isn't enough room for both hens...so the one sits on top of the hen sitting on top of the eggs....lol. What happened is that the one hen was already brooding eggs...the second hen came along and started laying eggs next to the broody hen. The broody hen would then take the new egg and put it in with her clutch. The other hen would go about her merry way. At some point the second hen decided it was time to brood her eggs. When there wasn't enough room she went ahead and started brooding the hen already on the clutch. They aren't fighting or stealing eggs back and forth. So I am going to leave it as it is. Both seem content. I'm hoping that since the eggs are in different stages of development that when they start hatching that one hen will stay with the chicks and the other will stay with the eggs. There is room, long ways, for both hens to have their own spot, but the area they are in isn't very deep. And the second hen insists on being as close to the eggs as possible, that's why she is sitting on top of the other hen. They are in my feedroom behind the hay box. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Is it possible to replace the first two eggs with fresh ones, so they will all have the same hatch date? Adding the eggs you just got is risky, she may set them but abandon them when the first 2 hatch. Do you have an incubator you could finish up the eggs in if she does? That way, when the eggs hatch, you could slip the fresh chicks under her at night, adding to the ones she already has. Velvet ~:>

I'm new to having ducks and they are laying eggs but they are scattered all over our pond bank and the grassy areas and the ducks are not sitting on them yet. I read that they will need to lay between 8-12 eggs before they will set, but how are they going to do that if they are all over the place? We thought about moving them all to their duck house where they have some hay, but would they set on them if they don't belong to them?( We have 2 hens laying eggs and don't know who's eggs belong to whom) I don't feel good about touching the eggs at all. Won't they abandon them if we touch them? Also, I read that they are ok outside and not being set on for up to a week or until there are enough to nest on. Is that true? I haven't candled any of the eggs yet to see if they are fertile and thought that maybe they weren't since the ducks aren't setting on them. I'm afraid the duck will reject the eggs if we touch them. If they don't set on the eggs, we would like to get an incubator and start the hatching process. I just wanted to give our girls a chance to set on their own eggs and let it happen naturally. What is a broody hen? Any advice or aditional info would be great!