How can I leverage a broody hen into baby chicks?

Here's the situation: I have about 25 hens and 2 roosters. I have a hen that's gone broody and is hanging out in one of the laying boxes. She does move to a different box occasionally. Don't know if she's being kicked out or what. So far I've just gathered all the eggs.

Do I just leave her alone? As I say, she is moving boxes occasionally. Do I separate her? Should I just let her lay her own eggs or does being broody mean she's done laying? Can I just gather eggs from different hens and put them under her? I could put her in a big dog kennel and just put the eggs in with her. And if so, how many?

Thanks in advance.

billmac said:

Here's the situation:  I have about 25 hens and 2 roosters.  I have a hen that's gone broody and is hanging out in one of the laying boxes.  She does move to a different box occasionally. Don't know if she's being kicked out or what.  So far I've just gathered all the eggs.

Do I just leave her alone?  As I say, she is moving boxes occasionally.  Do I separate her?  Should I just let her lay her own eggs or does being broody mean she's done laying?  Can I just gather eggs from different hens and put them under her?  I could put her in a big dog kennel and just put the eggs in with her.  And if so, how many?

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Assuming that you want chicks, I would take eggs from the other chickens and put them under her. Whether or not you separate her from the other chickens depends, she may get kicked out of you don't

billmac said:

Here's the situation: I have about 25 hens and 2 roosters. I have a hen that's gone broody and is hanging out in one of the laying boxes. She does move to a different box occasionally. Don't know if she's being kicked out or what. So far I've just gathered all the eggs.

Do I just leave her alone? As I say, she is moving boxes occasionally. Do I separate her? Should I just let her lay her own eggs or does being broody mean she's done laying? Can I just gather eggs from different hens and put them under her? I could put her in a big dog kennel and just put the eggs in with her. And if so, how many?

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Many people separate broodies out into their own pen, (and there are some that don't. A lot depends on the hens and their personalities.) A true broody will not be laying. So you can move her to her own pen and provide her with fertile eggs, (yes you can choose any fertile eggs,) how many depends on how many you want and how many she can cover. A standard size hen can cover quite a few eggs. If you have her separated, just make sure that she has food or water and it needs to be as far away in the pen as it can be so that she gets up off the nest to eat drink and poo. If you leave her in the main nests you need to mark the eggs you let her keep and then check daily and remove any new ones that are layed by other hens as well as keep the other nests clear of eggs so that she returns to her nest if she's bumped off.

hiya my hen just went broody about 10 days ago i went online and bought some fertilised eggs ( i got a mixed lot of 6 different breeds of bantams) i waited til they came and then we built a seperate coop for the hen and moved her with some other chickens eggs just to make sure she was still broody then nxt day removed old eggs and rolled the new fertilised eggs nxt to her and she just pushed them under herself :-D 5 days in and shes still sitting on them eeek so hopefully few weeks time they hatch nd we will have chicks xx

Beryls-Gang said:

hiya my hen just went broody about 10 days ago i went online and bought some fertilised eggs ( i got a mixed lot of 6 different breeds of bantams) i waited til they came and then we built a seperate coop for the hen and moved her with some other chickens eggs just to make sure she was still broody then nxt day removed old eggs and rolled the new fertilised eggs nxt to her and she just pushed them under herself :-D 5 days in and shes still sitting on them eeek so hopefully few weeks time they hatch nd we will have chicks xx

Click to expand...

Good luck!!!

thanks im soooooo excited ha ha x

Does it take a while for them to figure it out? I put her and about 11 eggs in a big dog kennel this afternoon, but after a few hours she hadn't started sitting yet.

billmac said:

Does it take a while for them to figure it out?  I put her and about 11 eggs in a big dog kennel this afternoon, but after a few hours she hadn't started sitting yet.

Click to expand...

Sometimes they won't sit after you move them

of what ive read theyre supposed to just take to them straight away if theyre still broody its their instinct ...my chicken jess - we built her a new house moved her in with about 3 of other chickens eggs ..just dumped her on top of them lol she wandered about for about a minute nd sat back on the eggs and in morning i checked her she was still on eggs so thought RIGHT LETS GO FOR IT got some gardening gloves which i use to sometimes clean them out .. i made the eggs smell like the sawdust on the gloves ( in case they smelled of other chickens ) and put 2 beside her she pecked at them then pushed them under herself so i thought id try some more she did the same so put last 2 under ( 6 altogether) her she had to stand up to rearrange them all which gave me chance to get older eggs out but shes never moved from them since just to get abit of food and water - could you not try a few eggs 1st see if she takes to them then roll others nxt to her after ( if she sits)? - aww i hope shes still broody and takes to your eggs and soon - i have heard of a few chickens going off broodiness once they have been moved though xx

I couldn't move my broodies or they would go back to the nest they were on and if I penned them they would pace the door and not sit at all unless they were put back in the original nest so it doesn't always work.

My first broody I was able to move once they internally pipped (yes I candle,) and pen her and she sat tight till they were hatched. My second broody I could not pen her at any point. As a matter of fact the night her two eggs internally pipped I waited until roost time and I penned her. Got up early the next morning to check on her and she was paceing. She had let the eggs go cold. No ovement- thought she killed them. I let her back in the nest and gave her back the eggs and she went right back to sitting and luckily both eggs hatched.

So I have never had good results with moving mine, but many people do successfully. You might have to try it in the nest if you want her to lay.

I haven't had a broody stop being broody because she was moved (and I constantly have broodies so I wish this was true,) but I've had them refuse to sit until they were allowed back in their chosen spot.