Broody Pullet...

[desertchicken92]

Just ordered 4 chocolate orpington bantam eggs from ebay!!! Cross your fingers she'll hatch 'em!!

Heres what they''ll look like....

 

[krista74]

When is it best to switch her fake eggs with real ones? At night?

I would personally do it at night, or at dusk is fine too.

I usually give them 2 days on plastic eggs, and if they've proven that they are serious at that point (ie: They have not gotten off their nest for anything other than a brief feed, drink and poop) I exchange the eggs for real ones.

Take a torch with you, and a helper is handy too. You want to do it quietly, calmly and quickly, then walk away and hope for the best.

Good luck! The chocolate orps look great!

- Krista

 

[desertchicken92]

Well she got off for an hour mingling with the others ate drank and got back up so...just in case I have an incubator ready.

 

[krista74]

Probably a good idea to have a backup, but don't stress too much. It's perfectly normal for her to get up off the nest to attend to her business of being a chicken. Usually they just eat, drink, poop and have a dust bath, and then they're back onto the nest again.

- Krista

 

[LanceTN]

Yeah, I didn't know either until I read about it in one of my Chicken-Keeping Manuals.  Apparently it's quite common, particularly in birds that free-range.  They will set up a secret nest, and quietly go and lay in it every day until they have a full sized clutch.  Once they've reached their full quota they will sit on the nest and refuse to budge, no matter where that nest might be - in a safe place or not!

I know when one of my girls went Broody she had a naked chest for two weeks before she even started growling and puffing out her feathers.  I knew something was up though!  When I caved in and gave her the 4 available eggs I had to give her, she still kept on laying for a few more days until she ended up with 8 eggs in total under her. Up until that point she was still getting up from the nest a LOT, and for very long periods during the day (sometimes several hours at a time).   Once she had her 8 eggs though, that was it.  In her mind, she must have thought she had a full clutch.  She sat permanently from then on, and she never got off the nest in front of me again. 

All her chicks hatched on the same day, so I guess she knew what she was doing!

They really are fascinating creatures.  I have read so many books about their behaviour and am never ceased to be amazed by what they get up to!

- Krista

Eggs don't develop unless kept warm and a fertile egg is fine sitting for a week at room temperatures.

So of course all the eggs hatched the same day as she started incubating then on the same day

Typically if you get a broody hen you can spend a few days gathering up the eggs you want hatched, storing them at room temperature, and then stick them under your broody hen after you've collected the eggs you want hatched.

They usually don't even have to be eggs from the broody hen.

 

[krista74]

Typically if you get a broody hen you can spend a few days gathering up the eggs you want hatched, storing them at room temperature, and then stick them under your broody hen after you've collected the eggs you want hatched.

They usually don't even have to be eggs from the broody hen.

Correct.

That's exactly what I did with my broody hen.

I saved up eggs for several days, kept them cool, and turned them over gently twice each day.

Of the eggs she hatched out, some were hers and some were from other birds in the flock.

It doesn't matter whose eggs they sit on, as long as they are reasonably large, clean and evenly shaped.

- Krista

 

[LanceTN]

Some people will keep a broody bantam hen around just to hatch and raise all the other hens chicks.

Having the chickens raise the chicks is so much easier then doing it yourself!

 

[desertchicken92]

Eggs arrived today and she is very...very broody. I set 5 choc. Orp. Bantams under her tonight. Fingers crossed!!

 

[krista74]

Good luck! Keep us posted on her progress.

- Krista

 

[desertchicken92]

Update: she's still on the eggs I noticed another hen laying eggs in her nest while she gets down to poop, nothing I can really do about it, and I noticed she got down twice today maybe a half hour at a time eggs were kinda cool but not completely cold. It's making me nervous! Can't wait for day 21!