Brooding barred cochin

[kemnerg]

Hi all. I have a barred cochin hen that is about 10-11 months old. I believe that she has started to brood within the last few days and I am not sure if I need to break her of this and if I do what do I need to do? She is still pleasant and will let me pick her up out of the nesting box without pecking at me, but quickly returns to one of the nesting boxes as soon as she is put down. Up until the last few days she had been outside running around the chicken yard with the rest of the girls. Do I need to worry about her getting sick if I let her wait it out?

Thanks,
Gail

 

[JetCat]

give her a few eggs (mark them so you know which are which) and let her brood them.

 

[kemnerg]

Will that cause a problem? We don't have a rooster, so none of the eggs are fertilized.

 

[JetCat]

hit up someone local on craigslist or a local Facebook group for some fertile eggs, you can always sell the chicks if you don't want to keep them.