How long can you wait to put fertile eggs under a broody hen?

[Ckgaty]

I have a hen that has been broody for two weeks. Is it still possible to put eggs under her and have her hatch out chicks? Or should I try to break her of her broodiness?

 

[Neco]

You should be good to set eggs under her, usually they set for a long time if eggs don't hatch or are replaced. Eggs are good for about 7 days at room temp before being incubated if you were saving the eggs.

 

[evanoffmark7]

You should be good to set eggs under her, usually they set for a long time if eggs don't hatch or are replaced. Eggs are good for about 7 days at room temp before being incubated if you were saving the eggs.

How does the mother duck or chicken store their eggs for longer. Sometimes up to two weeks. And very rarely is it ever room temperature in the near of a duck or chicken while not being sit on. Just wondering why they can keep them for two weeks or longer and it's hard to keep them 7-10 days for us.

 

[Neco]

How does the mother duck or chicken store their eggs for longer. Sometimes up to two weeks. And very rarely is it ever room temperature in the near of a duck or chicken while not being sit on. Just wondering why they can keep them for two weeks or longer and it's hard to keep them 7-10 days for us.

I don't know about duck eggs but for chickens I know for incubating purposes you don't really want to use eggs that have sat for longer as you'll end up with a poorer hatch rate, I never said older eggs don't/can't hatch. Under a hen you might fair better with older eggs as they're the experts on hatching them.

 

[Blue Raptor]

I have a hen that has been broody for two weeks. Is it still possible to put eggs under her and have her hatch out chicks? Or should I try to break her of her broodiness?

The hen will introduce the chicks to the flock, and I find it hard to do that without a mommy to help. If you think you have too many birds, or you don't have enough room in the coop, I'd do only a couple eggs (like 4-6) or just break her.