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My hen has been broody for almost 3 wk.s now... what now?

post #1 of 3
7/19/12 at 10:51pm
Thread Starter 

HI to all. I have had chickens for over a year now and this is my first Broody hen. She is a Leghorn Batam. She has 9 eggs under her right now. One of the other batams has been adding to her pile, we keep kicking her out of the box but she is persistent. My first question is, Can she have 9 chicks? Second question is, what do I do now? She is in a nesting box about 2 ft. off the ground and I am not sure how she will get her chicks down. How will she take care of the ones that hatch and the eggs? We have never had any broody hens so this is all new to me and I am hoping I will do everything right. So I would appreciate all of the help and comments I can get. Thanks so much.

I have 30 (?) chickens, 4 guinea hens, 6 pekin ducks,4 not sure ducks, 3 muscovy ducks, 1 pygmy goat, 2 alpine goats, 1 Emu, 2 mini lops, 5 dogs, 11 cats,2 horses, 2 frogs, 1 parakeet, and 5 children! 

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I have 30 (?) chickens, 4 guinea hens, 6 pekin ducks,4 not sure ducks, 3 muscovy ducks, 1 pygmy goat, 2 alpine goats, 1 Emu, 2 mini lops, 5 dogs, 11 cats,2 horses, 2 frogs, 1 parakeet, and 5 children! 

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post #2 of 3
7/20/12 at 5:05am

We are in the same situation .My first flock and first case of broody .Blanch, my 15 month old Barred Rock is miserable going on two weeks . She went from happy and healthy to a bag of bones. I remove her and any  eggs  from her nest box . Check on her every few hours so she can drink .She will eat some but obviously it's not enough. All advice is much apreciated.Also we have no roosters.

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post #3 of 3
7/20/12 at 5:36am

She won't take care of the ones that hatch and the eggs that the other hen left under her. She'll take care of the chicks that hatch over the first day or two, and will leave the rest of the eggs. If she doesn't leave them, take them away from her.

 

Eggs just laid in an empty nest don't start to develop until the hen sits on them and gets them up to 98 degrees. That way, a hen can lay in her own nest for a week or so, and all the chicks will start developing at the same time and at the same rate. Other birds' eggs that are different ages in the nest mess that up. She can't take care of developing eggs and take care of her chicks, too.
 

We have a flock of 75-ish hens: Blue Copper Marans, Barred Rock, Red Sex Links, Black Sex Links, Easter Eggers, Tetra Tints, white Leghorns, dark Cornish, various colors of Rocks, some barnyard mixes, and a little Buttercup, who's just here for pretty. 

 

Also 35 broilers plus six Easter Egger cockerels in the meat pen. But they won't be here long. 

 

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We have a flock of 75-ish hens: Blue Copper Marans, Barred Rock, Red Sex Links, Black Sex Links, Easter Eggers, Tetra Tints, white Leghorns, dark Cornish, various colors of Rocks, some barnyard mixes, and a little Buttercup, who's just here for pretty. 

 

Also 35 broilers plus six Easter Egger cockerels in the meat pen. But they won't be here long. 

 

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