Three Broodies 15 eggs... and

[megsmum]

I was not actually ready to breed any young chicks. However I was given 15 ?fertile eggs of different breeds, blue egg layers, green egg layers dark brown etc etc

I have three excellent broody hens 2 Cochins and a Brahma. All three have been “sitting” on fresh air for the last two months intermittently, only leaving house because I put themout for feed and water, they promptly go back in.

Back to eggs! So yesterday a friend ( we live in rural Spain) dropped off said eggs for my girls to incubate as he had to many. So of course, the girls are in the main house, one on a nest box, one smack bang in the middle and one in the back corner. I tried moving them but they all promptly went back to where they were. I’ve popped the eggs under them 6 under the Cochin in the nest box, the other 7 divided between the other two.

I have read the various pros and cons re keeping them in the main house but I’m not sure what to do now. I do have a spare shed where all three could go in but I don’t want to upset them and stop the brooding. I was thinking that the girl in the box is ok the Brahma stuck in the middle of the coup is the dodgy one,but so far she’s not budged, despite the other hens popping in to lay. I have two options. Leave well alone and simply move the mothers and babies into the separate house after the 21 days. Or move now and risk them all abandoning and lose the lot.

Obviously I would have done this differently had I have known the eggs were coming !

 

[megsmum]

Any advice......?

 

[Jbently28]

I had the same problem with 2 of my hens, a bantam Cochin and a turkey (yes I said Turkey lol). I have always housed my turkey with my chickens. I seriously believe that she thinks she's a turkey. She went broody the same time as my bantam and kept stealing her eggs so I decided to give her some chicken eggs since I dont have a tom for her. Between stealing each other's eggs, crushed eggs, and my other hens pecking at and cracking the eggs, something had to be done. I didn't want to disturb them so I relocated the rest of my chickens. They now free range during the day and have a temporary coop that they go into at night. I also had to block off their brooder boxes to keep them away from each other's eggs. Luckily, my husband custom built our coop to where they were able to nest together yet separately if needed. Neither one has had a successful hatch yet but they have been very dedicated and determined broodies. They only have 3 eggs left between the two of them. After that, I'm forcing them to come off the nests.