I've had chickens for 5 years now and have never had a single broody hen. All of a sudden I have 3 hens who have decided they'd give it a go, apparently! WTH. LOL. 2 of the hens sat on the same eggs forever, but they were determined. Finally I swapped the eggs with different eggs so maybe they'll have some luck. Last week two little peepers hatched under hen #3. It's fun to watch that, but I'm not too excited with the idea of getting a bunch of roosters. Time will tell...
If you don't want roosters, look closely at the point of the eggs the hen is brooding. If you see a sort of small swirl at the exact tip of the egg, you are looking at a rooster egg. That's about 99.5% percent accurate for sexing chicken eggs. Once you see one, they become very obvious.
Seriously? I've read more about chickens than anyone should, but I have never heard such a thing. Dang, you learn something new every day. Do I get to send you the roos if that theory doesn't work? LOL Thanks, you can bet I'll be out there looking tomorrow!
I jotted that down in my chicken notebook LDMorgan - next go round with trying to hatch out chicks, I'm going to try it. Thanks!
I have this in my Biodynamic calender book: "... eggs collected around the time of the last quarter moon will produce mainly male chicks. For female chicks, eggs should be collected around the first quarter. For best results incubate the eggs so that they hatch between the New Moon and the First Quarter." I do know, with all my broody hens over the years I have had an average of 80 to 85% roosters. Everything I have ever read talks about how mother nature gives a 50/50 ratio. Not to me. I have only recently started biodynamic gardening, not long enough to give a solid answer on it, but I will try it with any broody hens in the future.
There is no real way of telling from the eggs which is which so i would leave the hen in peace and hope for the best ,last time i took advice like that i ended up with four roosters and two hens .
All 3 of my broody hens have hatched 1 chick so far. So funny that this hasn't happened a single time in 4 years and all of a sudden I have 3. Little cuties!
I have been looking for yo on Facebook as i was supposed to buy some chicks on your sale date but it says your account is disabled or deleted? I am driving over 2 hours to the sale but don't know your exact address. Can you help?
