Hatching/Raising Poults: Hen vs Brooder

[Cody Walker]

before i penned my birds they would always hide their nest as mentioned above, they would decide to start setting, and within a night or two all i would have are feathers....after the coyote (or other predator) ate her..i then decided to build a pen and havent had too much trouble since. i collect eggs daily sometimes multiple times a day so they dont get the feeling to start setting on their eggs. i sell the eggs and poults so i want them to lay as long as possible. However, if i do have a broody hen that is consistent with setting, I separate her off from the other flock(putting her in a pen by herself) and give her some eggs. if predators cant get to them, they tend to do very well with hatching their own eggs.

Last year, I had a standard bronze hen that really liked to set. i separated her and she sat and hatched. when her poults we like 2 weeks old she started laying again. before i knew it she was wanting to set again. so i did it all over again. she sat again and hatched those out. However, after she started setting the 2nd time she got aggressive towards her first clutch and they wanted to get under her for warmth. she killed a couple of her own from the 1st batch.