My first broody hen and I think I want to give her some eggs to hatch - is my plan OK?

[Chad Oftedal]

I have a Buff Orpington that went broody on Tuesday night. She has picked the primary nest box, of course, to make her place to set. For the last two days, I have picked her up in the evening, and removed the eggs under her. She's been collecting eggs because a few of my other hens have sort of forced their way in and laid in the nest box next to her, and then left. Others, still, have found a different corner in the coop and laid there, avoiding her attitude. I have space available under my droppings board (pic at the bottom of this post) which I built out for the purpose of some day raising some day old chicks and adding them to my flock. When the buff here went broody, I thought it might be a fun experience to give it a try with her setting on some fertilized eggs and hatching them out. So, that's the quick backstory.

Here's my plan, and I welcome feedback on what I'm laying out. I know that everything is not guaranteed to go smoothly, so I understand there may be some risk, but I'm hoping to learn from others if there are any "definitely don't do that" items. I certainly want the best chance to succeed, but I realize you can never fully prepare for how things are going to go, and honestly, that can be part of the fun. It'll be the first time this hen has had viable eggs to sit on (though it's not her first time going broody*), it's my first time ever having a broody hen, and my first time trying to have a hen hatch some out.

1. Build a new nest box and place it in the corner where the current nest box is located that my broody hen is sitting in
2. Move the broody lady with the nest box she's already used to, into the penned brooding area under my droppings boards
3. At the time of this move, place marked, fertilized eggs in her nest box and set her close to the nest box and settle herself
4. Put food and water in her penned area there so she has easy access if she so chooses
5. Close off one of the two doors in the penned area so that there is only one entrance in and out
6. Unless something obviously goes sideways, let her give it a go and nature take it's course

So, my thought is that by giving her the nest box she's currently sitting in, moving her to a slightly different place in the coop may not be too disruptive. It's going to be literally three feet away from where it's at now, but it'll be on the inside of the pen rather than an open area of the coop. My hope is that she is more happy to be in the nest box she likes than so concerned about the corner location it's currently in. Where it sits now is in a corner, but it's not like it's super private. She'll have more privacy with it a few feet over and on the inside of the pen.

I'm also hoping the existing hens still laying will be quite happy to have a similar nest box as what they've been using, in the location that they're used to, minus an angry, broody hen in the box. If this fails, and they insist on going to her nest box, her eggs will be marked so I know which ones I can remove.

Regarding the food, my thought is just to make it easier for her and as an option. There is a chance the other hens might wander in next to her and help themselves, but why I think that wouldn't be the the end of the world is that this morning, she got up off the nest, went out into the run, drank some, aggressively ate at the feeder, jumped up on a roost bar in the run, did a little preening, and then made her way back to the nest. Another hen had sat in her nest during this time, and buff sort of just forced her way back in. Oh, I should mention, she's probably lower third in the pecking order amongst 10 hens. Anyway, she did all this in the span of about 20 minutes. I think if she was hungry and the food close to her was out for whatever reason, she'd gladly make her way out to the run like she did this morning.

Closing off the second door is just to keep things a bit calmer in the pen area. I don't think the other hens have much interest in bothering her.

So, that's the basics of the plan.

Anything jump out as a poor idea? Also, I'd been wondering, what kind of time do I have with her going broody starting back on Tuesday? I understand that without intervention to breaking them, it't not uncommon for them to run a full three week course or so before giving up. In this case, she'll have had about 3-4 days of broodiness before I get the eggs to her (the plan is for tomorrow, Friday if this all seems good). Will she likely just "tack on" the extra days needed to hatch the eggs once she is no longer being disturbed and the eggs she's sitting on start to develop? I'm guessing, there's some instinctual magic that goes on that she's able to tell the eggs are viable and in active development at a certain point and that will keep her going the 21 + 4 days so far to hatch them out? I could be totally in the weeds on this timing idea here, so would love some education.

Thanks so much!

*OK, if you've made it this far. The extended back story is that she is one of four hens that I integrated into my flock about seven weeks ago. She was in a group of survivor hens that survived back to back bear attacks on consecutive nights on their coop at my friend's place. He brought them to me so that he could have some down time and re-fortify his coop, add hot wire, etc. So, earlier, when I mentioned she's been broody before, but I've never had a broody hen, it's because she was with her other flock at the time. My friend just let her run her broody course. It'd be kind of special if she had this chance to hatch some eggs, and I'd get to keep some new chicks and when my friend picks these up these four survivors to take back, he'd have some new chicks as well to build up their flock again.

 

[Mrs. K]

There are 100 ways of doing this, and we all have a different way. I am glad you realize that not every egg will hatch, there is truth to the old saying, 'don't count your chickens until your eggs have hatched."

I have found, that I get a better hatch rate with closer to 8 eggs, verse 12 eggs. Do mark your eggs. You might consider ordering a couple of chicks, just in case nothing hatches, sometimes they don't. If you get a couple, plus the new chicks, you can just add them to mama bird in the dark.

I agree with Sussex19 to move her, and wait. I would move her in the pitch dark of night, not in the daylight. Reason is, I have tried to move a broody hen a couple of times only to have her go back to 'her' idea of the best spot and lost the clutch. I am not big on locking them in or layers out. I just go down, every third day or so, carefully lift her out of her chosen nest, and check the eggs. I wait around to let her eat, drink and make sure she gets on the right nest.

Do not feed and water in the nest - you need her to leave the nest to poop. Poop on the nest is a mess, and can decrease the chance of live chicks. Going out to the layers to eat, drink and poop is very important for flock dynamics.

I am a believer in keeping the broody hen with the layers. She needs to walk out there the size of a beach ball, crabbier than a wet hen, and throw her weight around. The layers will give her a lot of space, and that will be perfect for when she brings the chicks out. She will have her bluff in. This also keeps her standing with the flock. She does not become a stranger to the flock. Often times, people will put her and the eggs away from the flock, and try and reintroduce them at about 3-4 weeks old. She is loosing interest in the chicks, and is a stranger to the flock, and must fight her way back in, and the chicks are attacked by the layers and it is a wreck all the way around.

Live chicks is what makes the broody hen quit brooding. The movement under her flips the hormones from trance to raising chicks. If they don't hatch, she will keep brooding a lot of the time. Mine hatch in the nest they have chosen. The next day, they get out of the nest and talk the chicks down. My nests are on the wall 3 feet up. She usually has them outside by day 2.

If you come to the coop, and she is on the wrong nest, and this really happens, even if the eggs are cool to the touch, just move her back on them, and they should hatch just fine. Once the heart starts beating in the chick, they produce quite a bit of heat themselves. Once this happened to me in late September, but everyone said to move her back on, and they hatched right on schedule.

So carefully move her in the dead of night. Make sure she is setting tight for two or three days, and add the eggs. Sometimes moving her will break the broody. Other times a bomb won't break her. If you lock her up, then do chase her out of there once a day, or at least once every two days.

It is the longest 21 days ever!

Mrs K

 

[Sussex19]

Just a couple of thoughts, but most of your plan sounds good!

At the time of this move, place marked, fertilized eggs in her nest box and set her close to the nest box and settle herself

I would move her first, with either a few infertile eggs, or golf balls or something, and make sure she is settled on her nest in the new location before giving her the real eggs.
Just incase she takes a while to settle, you don't want the fertile eggs getting warmed up, and then getting cold if she tries to get back to her old nest.

Anything jump out as a poor idea? Also, I'd been wondering, what kind of time do I have with her going broody starting back on Tuesday? I understand that without intervention to breaking them, it't not uncommon for them to run a full three week course or so before giving up. In this case, she'll have had about 3-4 days of broodiness before I get the eggs to her (the plan is for tomorrow, Friday if this all seems good). Will she likely just "tack on" the extra days needed to hatch the eggs once she is no longer being disturbed and the eggs she's sitting on start to develop? I'm guessing, there's some instinctual magic that goes that she's able to tell the eggs are viable and in active development at a certain point and that will keep her going the 21 + 4 days so far to hatch them out? I could be totally in the weeds on this timing idea here, so would love some education.

I don't think you need to worry to much here. Most hens would happily sit for an extra week or two. I, with my experience with my hens, have not found them to have very much in the way of instincts for telling if eggs are good or not.
They all just seem to happily sit for as long as one lets them, although no doubt they would eventually give up at some point.

Don't put food or water to close to the nest, as she needs to get off it to poop, and without the incentive of needing to eat and drink, she may not get off at all, and soil the nest.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

Thank you everyone for the great replies and feedback. I'm learning a ton of information! Friday was quite busy with work and I've had a few things come up that has delayed me a little bit. I have to take care of a few things early this week, so my new plan is to give her some eggs on Thursday 6/15. This will be only a little over a week since she first went broody and from what I am hearing, that should still be just fine. I just didn't want to put eggs under her and then not be able to give the attention needed for a few days. If I was an old hand at it, that'd be one thing, but I'm clearly not.

So, late this afternoon, I gave moving her a try - I wanted to see if she would entertain it or not. I hadn't seen the advice about doing it at night yet. What I did was moved her off the nest box and shifted it to an area in the pen. She took the opportunity to grab some food and drink some water. I placed her nest box in a good location in the pen, and then I moved a few of the eggs she was on in there. When she returned, I directed her to her nest box in the pen. She was hesitant, but decided to go in the box. A few seconds later, she came right back out and started clucking, and I don't think she was saying nice things. I tried directing her back again to which she did go in a second time, but quickly left again. As time went on and with it looking like it was not going to come easy, I decided to put her nest box back in the original location, and within 30 seconds or so, she was back in the box and sitting down again, completely content. This was just a bit of an experiment and for me, and this first time, it's more important to have the experience than take a chance on upsetting her enough that she loses interest. If my own hens would go broody so I had other chances in the future, that'd be one thing, but in 5 years of having chickens, not a single one of my flock has ever gone broody. It's also not the end of the world if she's prefers where she's at, we can make it work.

What I did do, that will hopefully take the pressure off the nest box she's in, is built a "double-wide" nest box that I put in the pen area for the other hens. My hope is that they'll see the new box as a fitting alternative and look to lay there. If it doesn't go that way, then we'll just pull the new ones every day or so that they put in her nest. I can roll with it.

For the eggs, I'm looking to get some Salmon Faverolle, Crested Cream Legbar and a few Olive Eggers. I was planning at like 8-9 total.

Thanks so much for the replies and the people that have decided to follow along. I'll be looking to add a few pics in the future and keeping timely updates.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I thought I'd post an update here - it's been a few days and we've had a few developments. The broody hen and I have come to a few compromises.

Early this week, I was gone for a few days. I left her be in the nest she has chosen with a few unfertilized eggs to keep her busy. I made a new nest box for the other hens to use, and I let it roll for three days. When I came back, she was still sitting on her nest, grumpy trance stare and all. I put her out in the run on Thursday morning so I could see how she behaved and get a look at her nest. The eggs in her nest were covered in a bit of yoke and there were more than when I left, so some of the hens still muscled their way in to lay next to her. It wasn't bad, though, as some chose to lay elsewhere. Not in my nicely crafted nest box, but a corner of the coop. Sigh. Anyway, Thursday morning she did her 15 minute routine or so and then came back in the coop and went to the nest. I left for the local farm that sells fertilized eggs and picked up six Crested Cream Legbar and four Olive egger eggs.

Friday morning, I went out and put her in the run, and when I got back into the coop, two other hens had taken that 1 minute opportunity to go into the coop and straight to her nest and settle in to lay. Seeing that, I just decided that I'm going to be too nervous to have her deal with the other hens and her nest. Given that while I was away, an egg was broken, I think I'd feel bummed if that happened while she was sitting on fertilized eggs. I totally get that she herself could cause some breakage, and there certainly are no guarantees, but, for this bunch, I think keeping her in the coop, but sheltered from the others will be the best bet now that I have more observations. So, I did some quick measuring and built a new panel that would cover the only open area I had left under the droppings boards. Late Friday afternoon, I put her out in the run again, installed my new panel and moved an existing one (so thankful - and lucky - that space is pretty modular) and fashioned an 8 foot long by 2 foot wide pen area for her. None of the other birds can get to her, but with it being open wire, her area is still visible to the rest of the flock. I made a feed and water station for her and also a short roost bar she can hop up onto if she wants. When she does her 15 minute routine in the run, it's usually eat, drink, hop up on roost bar and preen for a short bit, then back in. I thought if I could give her all of that in her space, it might be a good idea. With her out in the run, and everything quickly installed, I took out the unfertilized eggs, I put in the real, marked eggs, and then turned her nest box 90 degrees so she could enter it without having to squish her way in. With the addition of the last panel, it made getting into the nest box the way it was currently facing, a tight squeeze - if not impossible. By turning the box 90 degrees, it now faced the right way for the pen layout. Within about 30 seconds of me finishing it up, she was at the pop door and coming back in the coop. She right away saw there was a panel blocking the way to where her nest box was located. She wasn't too upset, but not happy either. I gently guided her through the door to the pen and got her to the edge of her nest box. She stayed there while I closed the door behind her, and then I left the coop for her to figure it out. Outside the coop, I could hear her pecking at the fence which I knew meant that she wasn't going in to her box yet. This went on for a couple minutes. I thought that maybe she couldn't see very well because it is dark under there. I went to get a small flashlight that I was going to shine in there so she could see the entrance and her eggs. But, when I opened the door to the coop, she had already figured it out herself and was back sitting on the eggs. Quite a relief.

That brings us to tonight, which is end of day one. I checked on her several times, and she was holding tight with the trance look. She hadn't touched her water or food that I could tell, so I'm thinking tomorrow if that's still the case, I'm going to need to put her in the run to do her thing. If it comes to that, I'd set her out there, then close her pen door so none of the other birds could get in there, then when she returns, open her pen door and let her go back in. Hopefully, she'll venture out on her own to her feed and water. Oh, taking the advice of others, her feed and water station are about 3-4 feet away from her nest box. With only 8 total feet to work with, it was the best compromise I could do in the 15 minutes I had to install everything. I've added pictures here at the bottom to give more detail and context to the setup.

Once again, thanks to everyone following along and offering advice. It's exciting to have "real" eggs under her now and know that tomorrow morning is "day 2". Long ways to go, for sure, but it has really started. I'm also seriously entertaining the idea that was suggested of watching for day old chicks in my area in case I need to supplement the hatch. My wife really wants a Buff Orpington and I'd like a Speckled Sussex, but I couldn't find those eggs around here and our time was limited. We'll just see how things shake out over these next weeks, but I think preparing for that possibility might be a good idea.

 

[Mrs. K]

I just want to laugh, AArt is a respected poster by me, and we do things so differently.

I WOULD want her out in the run with the other birds at least every other day. She needs to stomp around and terrorize them. She needs to dirt bath, and she needs a little sunshine and fresh air. This keeps her part of the flock. Keeps her status high in the flock for when she brings the chicks out. This is a good time to sneak a peak with the eggs.

BUT you will need to make it a time, that you can make sure she goes back to the right spot. Set a timer on your phone. Once the hearts starts beating in the eggs, they do create some of their own heat, and an egg is a lot of water, which tends to cool slowly, so that keeps them alive for some time without the added heat...

Longest 21 days ever. And often times, it is closer to 20 days with a hen brooding them. I never have much luck candling them, but I tend to have colored eggs, and browns can be hard to see through. If an egg sloshes, toss it, it is done. Being as you want a couple different kinds of chicks - I would order them to come about day 21. You can add them in the dark at night, after the eggs have hatched.

Not all eggs will hatch. Once on here, they kept a running total of eggs set and percentage that hatched. People all over contributed data, and when it got up to a thousand eggs - well a 50% hatch was the average. So I figure anything over a 50% is a good hatch. If none of them hatch, you can give the live chicks, and still enjoy the hen and chicks without having to break her from being broody.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Maybe today when I put fresh water in it, I’ll make a fill line on the side for reference so it’s easier to monitor the level.

Absolutely!
And smooth the top of the feed in the cup so you can see if she's been at it.
Broody poops will be obvious.

I WOULD want her out in the run with the other birds at least every other day. She needs to stomp around and terrorize them. She needs to dirt bath, and she needs a little sunshine and fresh air. This keeps her part of the flock. Keeps her status high in the flock for when she brings the chicks out. This is a good time to sneak a peak with the eggs.

Good points, if you have time to supervise....so on other birds get into the nest and that the broody goes back to the right place.

My broody enclosure has it's own separate run, I forget that sometimes when advising others.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

So, short update here. Yesterday was the 3rd full day since she's last gotten off the nest - and that was me taking her off and putting her in the run. My plan today is to take her off her nest, but keep her in her pen area and make sure she sees the food and water. She should be used to that waterer and feeder, but my thought is to show it to her again today and thinking she'll be thirsty and hungry enough to eat and drink. If all goes as planned, she'd be reminded where she can easily get feed and water, and she'd also get some. She's been under camera watch 24/7 and I leveled the feed out as Aart suggested as well as marked the line on the water - neither of which have been touched. Certainly not panicked that she hasn't gotten up, but at the same time, a lot of the consensus (here and in Storey's guide) seems to be you may need to help them help themselves occasionally. I think this seems like a safe move and not overly disruptive to her.

 

[Mrs. K]

She is not eating because she does not have food and water available or does not know about them, she is not eating as she is in an almost hibernation state.

I would let her out into the run with the other chickens. SHE knows where the food and water is there. She will be almost unable to stand when you first take her out, your heart will drop and think she is dying, (and be very careful, taking her out as sometimes they stick an egg up under the wings.)

Not to worry though, she will puff up, wake up, and go out into the run for a dust bath, to eat and drink, and terrorize the layers. She REALLY needs that relationship to be maintained that she is part of the flock. Having food and water inside the mini coop will defeat this. To me, this is a case of trying to be kind, and interfering with the natural state of affairs.

Just do this at a time you can either spend 30 minutes down there, or set a timer to come back in 15-20 minutes. As getting her back on the right nest, if the most tricky part. Once she is on the eggs, she will resume her trance. If you do this every 3rd day she will be fine. She has put on fat, prior to going broody, and does not need the same amount of food as an active layer hen.

However, if none of the eggs hatch - well then you need to break the broody, but you are a long way from that.

For the success of the broody hen bringing her chicks into the flock this is important, I think.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Great advice from @Sussex19
I'd close off all access so the other birds can't interfere.
Open the broody pen doors about a week after hatch.