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Hi There!
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL REPLIES. GOSH I WISH SOME OR ONE OF YOU WERE CLOSE TO ME AND COULD "LEAD ME BY THE BEAK".

Cruella seems very happy digging up my entire shrub garden and under hedges, running about after me in the yard, and clucking away. We pet and have treats twice a day. How does a chicken hen let you know she is "broody?"
Okay - how do I find/get some fertile eggs? What do I do with them - put them in the nest box (maybe 2-3?) and lock her in there? Apparently there is a very good auction place near me in Stillwater, OK on Saturdays...maybe i could go over there and meet some chicken folk.
How would she know to sit on them??? How long should she be sitting on them? How long til they hatch? I think I would have a wonderful exploded heart watching her hatch chicks. With colder weather coming on I have laid some hay over the wire ledge to cut down air flow and her hutch is pretty sturdy. She has 4 nest boxes to sit in.
Anybody in Oklahoma??
So many blessings to all you kind people. What a lovely site!
 
You will know they are broody when they start to hang out in the nest box and stop laying. She will growl at you and will get all fluffed up. If you take her out, she will go right back in. And when she does come out, she will cluck cluck cluck all over the place.

Broodiness is driven by hormones. You can't really stimulate them into it by leaving eggs laying around. And this is not the best time of year for it either. Too cold. Spring time is when the broodiness usually starts up and goes through to early or mid fall.

When you know she is thoroughly broody, and what most people do is leave fake eggs under her for a few days to test her, then slip the real thing under her. She will set on them for 21 days or more. 21 is not a set date, just an average. Some eggs take longer to hatch. She will get off the nest a couple times a day to eat, drink and poop. Maybe dust bathe.

Stop by your state thread if you want to chat with others in your state...https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/2842/oklahoma-anyone
 
Thank you for this GREAT information! I am going to my first local chicken auction/sale this weekend. I was wondering, what would happen if I introduced a rooster in with her? Would she welcome his company and maybe breed in the spring, or is that a BAD idea???
 

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