hen gone broody

[bj taylor]

well this has really buffaloed me. I can put eggs under her that have been kept in a cool place for a couple of days and they will develop?
is she going to have a hissy fit when I put eggs under her & check under her every day? i'm not going to run her off the nest am I?
how is she going to handle me moving her & her clutch before hatching. she's in the coop w/the others in the nest box.
who knew chickens were so complicated

 

[Ridgerunner]

I can put eggs under her that have been kept in a cool place for a couple of days and they will develop?

BJ, read this. Its about using an incubator but the stuff on storing the eggs is valid for broodies too.

Texas A&M Incubation site
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/...e-Cartwright-Incubating-and-hatching-eggs.pdf

is she going to have a hissy fit when I put eggs under her & check under her every day?

Probably. Shes a female really hopped up on hormones. Shes irrational and very protective of her nest. Her hissy fit might include biting the tar out of you. You might want to wear long sleeves and gloves. Shell get over it.

i'm not going to run her off the nest am I?

Not if she is truly broody. She may go immediately back to the nest if you take her off or she might eat, drink, and take her daily constitutional before returning to the nest. I dont always throw them off the nest. I usually just reach in and raise her up so I can see the eggs, but if shes a biter I throw her off the nest.

how is she going to handle me moving her & her clutch before hatching. she's in the coop w/the others in the nest box.

You dont absolutely have to move her. I dont move them but some people do. Part of the reason this sound so complicated is not that its complicated but that it is so simple that many different things work. Youre getting information overload. There are a whole lot of different ways that work.

They are living animals. Anything can happen. None of us can tell you what will absolutely happen with yours. We can tell you some of the things weve seen but that doesnt mean youll see that. Hens have been hatching chicks with the flock and raising them with the flock for thousands of years. Occasionally bad things happen but they are not extinct yet. Usually the bad things dont happen.

Ive never had a chicken harm a chick. Momma has such a bad attitude that no other chicken that threatens her babies stands a chance. I have no doubt ChickiesMoma has seen a peahen attack a hatching egg. She may have even seen a chicken attack a chick. That stuff happens, but not all the time. In my experience it seldom happens.

If you do relocate her I suggest you do it before you give her any eggs. Your risk in relocating her is that she wont accept the new nest and will break from being broody. I think your best bet for success is if you prepare a place you can lock her up where she cannot go to her old nest and the other chickens cannot get to her. Give her enough room so you can give her food and water and give her enough room to poop but not a whole lot more. Move her at night after it is dark using as little light and commotion as possible. Have a few fake or disposable eggs in the new nest to see if she accepts it.

I suggest you lock her in the nest portion only for most of the next day, making is as dark as you can. A broody normally stays on the nest all day anyway, coming off only once to eat and drink. This is not anywhere as cruel as it may sound to you. Once she has accepted the new nest, give her the eggs you want her to hatch.

I dont isolate mine. That doesnt mean I think ChickiesMoma is wrong. It means I found a way that works for me and she found a way that works for her. They both work.

I have found the broody sitting on the wrong nest and her eggs were ice cold. What probably happened is that another hen was laying an egg in her nest when she came back from her daily constitutional so the broody went to another nest. I just put her back on the right nest. She hatched 11 out of 11 eggs, a perfect hatch. Those eggs are a lot tougher than some people think.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i admit i had good luck keeping some of my broodies in the coop at the beginning and didn't have to lock them up. somehow i ended up with jealous hens, so separating out the broody worked to keep the chicks safe their first week. there will always be a lot of opinions on this.

what i have is a little nesting box that goes on the floor of my coop. most of my girls seem to try and lay their eggs in the corners on the floor of my coop so those nest boxes come in handy for the broodies. they're actually rabbit nesting boxes when i've seen them sold at the feed store. i don't disturb moma much when i need to move her into lock down by just lifting the box and sliding it into the crate with her food and water.

most girls are good about using the boxes for laying. but i have a few hens that seem to just drop them in the middle of the coop. the worst is the one that drops it by the door