For years my hens refused to go broody. Going broody just means being motherly and sitting on a nest. Going broody has basically been bred out of chickens, only certain breeds are likely to do it.

Now I have a hen that’s been sitting on eggs and everyone else laid their eggs under her too. Having this many eggs under her even though they’re the whole coops eggs, she’s been there for a bit.

But the sad part is, none of those eggs are fertilized meaning they have no babies.

They’re all for eating.

I have hens free ranging out here and I know they get some from the neighbors rooster so I found a stash of eggs. Eggs laid outside can start developing in the heat even if they don’t have a momma. At 3 days old stayed warmed up, they develop a heart beat.

Some were rotten so I threw them out. I candled them and about 5 seemed somewhat still viable. Today is rainy and cool. One of them had the weakest little heart beat so I went and put it under this hen for a while after taking her “non baby” eggs and waited.

After a bit of being warmed up under the hen, the heart beat got stronger.

So hopefully they have somewhat of a chance to hatch now

I’ve never seen a broody hen before. This hen was like squeezing my hand with her legs like “is this child? It’s my child now?” When I was grabbing the eggs.

And I’ll be checking the eggs I put underneath her daily because if they started developing and died they’ll just rot underneath her and it will stink the whole coop up. I’m hoping they aren’t that old.

We are currently looking for a rooster now that we magically have a broody hen. Shell get her babies.

Look at her, actually has at least one egg that has a heart beat under her. Congrats chicken. Look at her look at me like “I’ll fuck your shit up.” And I am so happy to see that look lol. She bit me a few times.

Edit: I know nobody cares but I checked the little 3 day old egg under her and it’s heart beat is strong!

Someone told me a long time ago that broody hens can sense the heart beats in the eggs. She just bit me harder than crap, and I think it’s because she senses she actually has a real baby now.