Hens are laying

bgerald · May 9, 2016

I have two heritage standard bronze hens and a Tom of the same breed. The hens are laying eggs. When the hen goes broody, should I remove the Tom from the pen? My pen size is 24'x8' and once I fence in my yard I was gonna let them free range.

R2elk · May 9, 2016

bgerald said:
I have two heritage standard bronze hens and a Tom of the same breed. The hens are laying eggs. When the hen goes broody, should I remove the Tom from the pen? My pen size is 24'x8' and once I fence in my yard I was gonna let them free range.

You can either remove the tom or make it such that only the hen can get into the nest. Not all toms act the same but all toms take the hen laying on the nest as an invitation to breed. This can lead to broken eggs and injured or worst case dead hens.

bgerald · May 9, 2016

How would one make the hens nest only accessible to the hen without removing the Tom? The nest sits in a plastic 55 gallon drum on it's side with a hole cut out. Would making the hole smaller work?

R2elk · May 10, 2016

bgerald said:
How would one make the hens nest only accessible to the hen without removing the Tom? The nest sits in a plastic 55 gallon drum on it's side with a hole cut out. Would making the hole smaller work?

Yes, hens can get through a smaller entrance than can toms.

Hens are laying

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