[twizzel]

I'm a little stumped- I've got a light sussex hen that went broody so I gave her some duck eggs. She started off with 12, kicked one out in the first week but sat tight on the others. Kicked 3 out last week over 2 weeks in, and has kicked a further 2 out this week- they are due to hatch this Sunday.

She's sat tight on them and all of the eggs she's discarded have been fertile with dead embryos in, but I'm at a loss why they've died? She is being great and only gets off the eggs once a day, other than that she's sat tight.

I've got another hen that's gone broody this week and can't decide whether to give her chicken or duck eggs  do hens find duck eggs harder to hatch just as we have more difficulty incubating them?

[Marches Farmer]

Generally a case of mama knows best.  They may well have been defective and died in the shell and she discarded them rather than have them begin to be a biohazard to those that are still viable.  Often happens - I just bin them without checking.

[twizzel]

Yes I understand they aren't viable, but whereas incubator temp/humidity can cause a bad hatch, is there anything else she or I could have done? The eggs were fresh, clean, fertile. Just contemplating giving my other broody hen chicken or duck eggs, whether to have a go with more duck eggs or stay safe with chicken eggs...

[HesterF]

No, I don't think you or she could have done differently. There's no reason why a chicken can't hatch duck eggs, in theory. I've one sitting tight on five goose eggs at the moment which are due any day (well any day from yesterday - the suspense is killing me). I have had broodies kick out eggs that have subsequently hatched in the incubator so it's not always the case that they know best - it's certainly worth checking. But if they have died, put it down to mother nature and keep your fingers crossed for the rest. Could well have been the same with chicken eggs - they don't all make it either. Just like women can have miscarriages and it's very, very rare that it's something they've done wrong - just something has gone wrong with the developing foetus but not due to the 'incubation' conditions.