my hen is not sitting on her eggs

[Hughluke]

i have two roosters and one hen, I had bought 6 pullets , one died a few days later and the other 5 did very well ,and grew fast. they are RIR from tractor supply. a few months later I had to admit that I had been had, I have 4 roosters and 1 hen. I was able to give away 2 of the pterodactyls ( these things are huge) its been 5 months and I check the boxes every few days and last evening I found 3 eggs in one box. my thought is to let the hen hatch out around 5 or 6 eggs and see what becomes of it . I have marked the eggs. I checked the hen last night (well into the night) she was sitting on the roost. I checked her early this morning and she was still in the same spot as last night. Now I know its been hot(triple digits in the day and high 80s at night) but shouldn't she be sitting on the eggs? As I work all day I have no idea what she is doing while I'm gone.

 

[healtyfeathers]

If she really is broody, she'll stay on the nest full time. A hen will usually not become broody until she's laid 10-12 eggs. Because she may or may not brood, it's best to remove the eggs as they are laid. Place several fake eggs, or golf balls in the nest. When she starts setting on the golf balls day and night, then you can change them out with some freshly laid eggs. Leaving eggs in a nestbox is a good way to attract animals that will eat the eggs (snakes, rats, etc)

 

[Hughluke]

If she really is broody, she'll stay on the nest full time. A hen will usually not become broody until she's laid 10-12 eggs. Because she may or may not brood, it's best to remove the eggs as they are laid. Place several fake eggs, or golf balls in the nest. When she starts setting on the golf balls day and night, then you can change them out with some freshly laid eggs. Leaving eggs in a nestbox is a good way to attract animals that will eat the eggs (snakes, rats, etc)

 

[Hughluke]

i have two roosters and one hen, I had bought 6 pullets , one died a few days later and the other 5 did very well ,and grew fast. they are RIR from tractor supply. a few months later I had to admit that I had been had, I have 4 roosters and 1 hen. I was able to give away 2 of the pterodactyls ( these things are huge) its been 5 months and I check the boxes every few days and last evening I found 3 eggs in one box. my thought is to let the hen hatch out around 5 or 6 eggs and see what becomes of it . I have marked the eggs. I checked the hen last night (well into the night) she was sitting on the roost. I checked her early this morning and she was still in the same spot as last night. Now I know its been hot(triple digits in the day and high 80s at night) but shouldn't she be sitting on the eggs? As I work all day I have no idea what she is doing while I'm gone.

 

[Hughluke]

Thank you for you help. I was in the process of marking the eggs and the stupid rooster broke one. as I am not positive of when the eggs were laid I have decided to leave them in the nest. and seeing as the hen has not laid another egg in two days I am at a loss as to what I should do other then just wait and see. Why would she lay 3 eggs and then nothing ?

 

[the poppster]

Dear Hughluke, they will not necessarily lay an egg every day...it's not unusual for a hen to lay a few and skip a day...especially if she is overwhelmed with Roosters...it's to bad you ended up with four more Roos...I don't know how many birds you have room for, but if you want just a few hens check with Meyer Hatchery...they will ship small bunches of day old chicks...then choose a sex-link breed...tough to make a mistake about sex of the chicks when all you need to look at is the color.

 

[Hughluke]

Thank you for your reply
I did have another egg out there on Saturday but the shell was weak and had a small crack and a hole in it I had not expected her to start laying eggs so I had not i been supplying her with Oyster shell but they do have a supply of Oystershell in their pen now
I recall during the week having a morning of stress when one of the roosters got out and I'm wondering if that may not have stopped her from laying an egg for a couple of days
And of course the more thought that I put into it the more I start to think that maybe the triple digit heat in the daytime in the low 90s at the nighttime may have been a little bit of stress on her as well

 

[the poppster]

Thank you for your reply
I did have another egg out there on Saturday but the shell was weak and had a small crack and a hole in it I had not expected her to start laying eggs so I had not i been supplying her with Oyster shell but they do have a supply of Oystershell in their pen now
I recall during the week having a morning of stress when one of the roosters got out and I'm wondering if that may not have stopped her from laying an egg for a couple of days
And of course the more thought that I put into it the more I start to think that maybe the triple digit heat in the daytime in the low 90s at the nighttime may have been a little bit of stress on her as well

The birds personally...calm....flighty...nervous...can determine whether the Roos would have caused her to stop laying..Heat can be a real factor....I hung a big fan in the coop door this week...it's been hot and muggy...I've been tempted to set up some nice roosts out in their covered secure run...it sure would be more comfortable for them. But Birds will be Birds....they will go to roost come Hell or high water...

 

[Hughluke]

Well, its been a couple of weeks and I have started to figure all kinds of things out, First , she is a young hen and her body is trying to figure out what its suppose to be doing . She is laying all sorts of different eggs. some with only a membrane on them , some small. some rather large, sometimes she sits in a box (she has 6 boxes to choose from) lately she has made a nest on the floor of the coop. I do have a good amount of shavings on the floor. I also can see how the second rooster is stressing her out with all the ruckus being caused in the pen by the two roosters although the pecking order has been set, the dominate rooster loves to chase the other rooster around. the oyster shells have been out for a few weeks but I think I will start mixing them in the feed or scratch.
I think I am going to have to take care of the second rooster as I cant find anybody who wants it, I thought about putting him in a separate pen but what's the point of feeding and taking care of a second rooster? I didn't go into this with meat chickens in mind but if anything I'm versatile.im hoping that by doing this I will bring down the stress level and the hen will start to figure things out LOL
I did put fake eggs in her box(when she was sitting in it) and would find the fake eggs scattered around the box as well as the egg she laid would be cracked or have a hole in it, I am assuming that she (or one of the hims) was getting in the box and pecking at the eggs so I have pulled the fake eggs out and have found no more pecked eggs. but, that was when she made a nest on the floor of the coop.so im not sure if the fake eggs freaked her out or if the lone rooster ran her out. I did notice that when they roost the her and the big him sit close together and the little him sits alone on the far side. kind of like a third wheel LOL also they love tomatoes more then anything else. I give them the bad (not rotten) tomatoes from the garden .