Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Hi

We have 2 dark Brahma's that are about 8 months old. They are in with a rooster about their age. There is lots of mating going on.

The girls are each piling up the eggs in their nests. We made 3 nest boxes and they each mostly picked one each. There were 4 eggs in the middle one so i split them up into the 2 other nests and boarded up that nest box. One nest has 18 eggs and one has 15. They are still laying one a day. I'm worried they will just keep laying and won't go broody.
A few weeks ago I extended the roof over the boxes 8" so they are darker. The coop is very bright and large but only as this trio in it.

Am I worrying too much? They are Brahma's after all. They guy I bought them from said they will definitely go broody. Last year he had one sit on 21 and hatch 20 of them.

The only incubator I have is a homemade one with a dimmer switch and a light bulb for and a thermometer and me for a thermostat. Not a great back up but it does work with some success.

Thanks for any advice I can get.
IHP

The hens will go broody when they are ready or possibly not at all.
Leaving eggs in the nest will not make them go broody.
From the sound of it some of the eggs in the nest are 2 weeks old, so unfortunately more likely then not, some are now too old.
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Safer way to do this is to collect eggs as they are laid and store in cool place,
If nobody goes broody in that time period, the eggs are still safe to eat, and you can start collecting again, until somebody is actually broody and then you can give them the eggs you have saved. Good luck.
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Also I prefer not to give a broody too many eggs. I only gave 8-10 to my large fowl girls. Fewer to my mutts.

I've noticed that my hens go broody, when I do Not want them to!
When I really want them to....they won't.

I'm with Ontario Chick - collect the eggs & wait & see.
You can always leave some fake eggs in the nest box & change them for real one "if" they start to set.
Good Luck (*o*)

Update.
A few days after this post one of the hens started sitting. She started the day after I hung heavy dark fabric in front of the nest. She is likely sitting on 19 or 20 eggs. The guy I bought them from had a broody sit on 21 and hatch 20 last year. I've only seen her once in the last week and a half.
I finally gave up on the other hen a few days later. I put 20 of her 24 eggs in my crude incubator and the day after I set them she started sitting on one egg (if any). When it turned dark that night I put the 20 eggs under her. She has been sitting since last Thursday. I haven't seen her since then. It will be interesting to see how they do.
IHP

Best of luck. Let us know how they do.

Good luck! That's a lot of eggs especially for a beginner broody. Have you checked any for fertility? You could candle them after a week or so, and remove the infertile eggs and the ones that have died. This will give the others a better chance of making it to the end.

That does sound like a lot of eggs for a first time broody. Robbie's suggestion of candling them in a week or so to thin out the yokers and quitters is a good idea.

Any update? Would love to hear how things turned out.

Depending on how dark the shells are, after five days go out after dark with one of those little LED flashlights and shine the light through the egg. Look for the "red spider" yup you read that correctly, it will look like a red spider is sitting inside of the egg, that means success a chick is developing. If the light shines through or you see a nice yellow yolk after five days, that's a fail take the egg away to help the others. 20 is too many for a young hen, the other people are trying to be nice about it, what they are trying to warn you about is some eggs could be pushed to the edge of the proper amount of heat required to hatch out healthy chicks, you could eventually lose half your chicks to getting chilled. Even 12 is pushing it with a young hen, it's up to you but we just want you to enjoy this hobby.