Broody question

[1eyejer]

how does it work??? does the hen lay a number of eggs then stop and sit on them or does she just keep laying eggs everyday...also if i have a broody hen..can i just put a bunch of eggs in a nest and she will automatically sit on them...

 

[oesdog]

Usually a hen will go broody - she will lay an egg in the nest and wander off doing hen things she will do this for a few days until she has a clutch of eggs about 6-8. Then she will start to stay on the nest and she will sit there for as long as it takes basically! She will get off the nest to feed and poop but little else. Usually she can tell if an egg is not growing and sometimes she will eat that egg to clean the nest up and to stop it exploding. She usually isn;t distroying good viable eggs she is just cleaning the nest and getting her energy up. The eggs should start to hatch at about day 21 however it could take a little longer.

You can put eggs under the broody hen - but you must make sure you put them under all at the same time - Hens do not do a staggard hatch! She will get up and leave the eggs that don;t hatch and they will die.

Hope this is of help to you

Oesdog - I think Hens do a better job that incubators so good luck! ( I screwed my incubator hatch up but the hens chicks are doing well here!)

 

[write2caroline]

Yes. I had a broody hide a nest with 10 eggs - she only lays 1 a day. I had another broody who was so bent on being broody she stopped laying all together so when I put eggs under her none were even hers. I didn't have any of hers to put under her.

My bantams right now are both broody and neither are laying and there are not even golf balls under them.

My broody that hatched chicks started laying when the chicks were about 5 weeks old and the next week she acted like those chicks were aliens not her babies anymore.

They are so funny
Caroline

 

[kano]

Quote:
In liberty, a hen do that. When she sees that she has a fairly good clutch (15 to 20 eggs)she goes broody. In our pens ,we "steal"her egg every day, so she keeps going laying, in order to fill the nest (poor thing). But some of them get tired of this game and they go broody anyway, doesn't matter if there is no eggs in the nest.
And if the hen is not broody she will not automatically sit on a bunch of eggs. But some people think it would help to wake up the instinct....If you forget to pick up the eggs from the nest for some days,it's probably sure that one girl is going to go broody.( it depends ,also, of the hen).

 

[midwestchickenwrangler]

I have 2 silkie hens, 1 is constantly broody. I bought fertile eggs for her to hatch then my second one went broody. I had 100% hatch rate with my broody hens. This weekend they hatched and when I put the hens back with the flock they went right back to the nest box to sit. Any ideas?