head hen and broodiness

[euphoniumism]

Before I had a rooster, my head hen McNasty was the worst layer and only gave me 3-4 eggs a week. Since I rescued Arnold the rooster, McNasty has been laying 6-8 eggs a week, and sometimes lays more than my "best" layer, Atlas. What even?
McNasty has also gone broody within the past week.
I'm kinda upset because I want her to be able to hatch her own eggs, but I also previously ordered 8 hatchlings to arrive on the 14th, like a week before McNasty's eggs should hatch. I leave the first week of August and I want to take advantage of her broodiness- so I don't have to convince someone to take care of my biddies while I'm gone.
I think I'm gonna candle McNasty's clutch the night I get my biddies, and if they're viable I'll let her hatch them and just slip the others under her after they start hatching. If they aren't viable I'll just slip the biddies under her then.
Any thoughts?

 

[Corazon Ranch]

Have you ever hatched chicks with a broody hen before?

I tried for the first time this month and it was a disaster. As soon as the first chick hatched the other hens attacked my broody. When I found her the back of her neck was all bloody with no feathers, and she had been off the nest for no-one-knows how long. I had to clean up the dead chick, which I have to assume was killed in the fight or by the other hens. None of the other eggs hatched.

Sorry to be a downer, but I was all rose-tinted glasses about hen-raised chicks before this happened. Next time, I will have a separate pen for the broody hen.

Best of luck!
Sara

 

[euphoniumism]

I haven't had a hen go broody yet..I'm not expecting much from it, which is why I wanted her to hatch her own before I knew whether I could trust her with the ones I actually spent money on.
Right now, I only have 2 laying hens and 4 pullets. The pullets are absolutely terrified of the hen that's currently broody, as she's the head hen, and they stay at least 2 feet away from her at any given time. Even when I'm giving them treats. The others even changed their bedtime to much later than it used to be now that she's in the coop, broody. So I'm not too worried about it.
She pecked my buff orpington pullet to the point where her skull was showing once. She really doesn't like my buff orp. She's ok-ish with the others as long as they don't come near her, but she goes after the orp for no reason all the time. She's a mean thing.
If it was another one of mine, like say in a year one of the younger four goes broody, I'd be very worried and try to stop her.

 

[Kazfam]

Corazon, we separated our broody by giving her own nesting box. The three regular boxes were left for the others while Granny (I know, weird name) had her own separate box in the coop.

Her babies hatched last Thursday and we moved the nesting box to its own little coop, up on cinder blocks but in the run.

The other hens and rooster are curious but can't bother mama and babies.

So far so good.

eupho, if her own brood hatches before the ones you bought I fear she will stop sitting on those that will not emerge for another week.

 

[euphoniumism]

The ones I bought will actually have hatched a week before her own brood
I'm just going to trick her into adopting mine after her own hatch.