New Broody - I am thrilled! Lay some wisdom on me please .

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themenagerie

themenagerie

Songster
8 Years
Jun 8, 2011
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I have an 11 month old Wyandotte that appears to be broody. She has not left the nest box in three days, she hasn't gotten aggressive towards me yet, I'm able to remove the eggs out from under her without any fuss, but she's not budging from the nest. I would love to hatch out a few chicks, but I have some questions.

1. I've read to both separate her from the others (20 hens, 2 roos) or to leave her where she is because to move here may make her go off the nest. Your thoughts? If I do separate her out...I have a large dog kennel that will not fit in the coop..it's still in the 40's here at night. Too cold? too isolated? The benefit to it is that she could have her own space with food and water. I only have four nest boxes presently, and they pretty much only use three of them, the Wyandotte chose the most favored nest of course.
2. If I do keep her in the current nest, I'll have to mark the eggs I want her to set and remove the others daily. What do I mark them with? And how stressful will this be to her to have me do this every day for oh three weeks or so? Will I need to invest in those cat gloves? ;)
3. My understanding is that I can collect the eggs I want her to hatch for a few days and then slip them under her and start the countdown. Is that correct? I have an assortment of hens, but would only like to reproduce from a few...luckily their eggs are easily identifiable. So..I would need to collect for a few days. Is there a magic number of eggs? Don't want to overwhelm her as a first time mom, but would like to optimize the experience too.

THanks everyone in advance for your advice.
 
It is always best to leave the broody hen where she is since moving her "could" break her from her broodiness.
I usually move the broody when the chicks begin to hatch.
If you're collecting eggs for her to hatch, do it now.
Don't wait too long (like I would collect as many eggs as I can within 3-5 days).

Mark the eggs you want to hatch since the other hens will still lay their eggs in her nest.
Just use a sharpie marker to put an X on the egg.
Make sure the eggs you put underneath her are warm to touch since cold eggs will cause her to get off the nest.
If you can catch her off the nest, that's a good time to do whatever you need to do with the eggs.

I have four hens that all of a sudden decided to go broody.
I put some guinea eggs under one of them and I have no idea what the others are hatching.
They are all outside in the pole barn nesting in large flower pots set on top of a small coop there.
Good luck with your broody hatch!
smile.png
 
The magic number I have heard is 7-days and no more(six is a little better)............ The longer the time since being laid the lesser the possibility of hatching, that being said, a hen will usually accumulate a 'clutch' so a few days delay before serious setting is part of the way nature works.

good luck with your hatch.
 
Whether you move her or not is really personal preference. Keep in mind that if you remove her completely from the flock, you're going to have issues reintegrating her back in. If she is fairly high in the pecking order, she should be able to protect them. My roosters don't allow fighting and are great at protecting the babies. I've separated a broody to a private area within the coop before, but only because she was in a nesting box 2 ft off the ground and one of her chicks fell out and couldn't get back in the nest. I have a broody right now that I'm allowing to raise her babies with the flock.

Mark the eggs with a sharpie and set them all at the same time. Collecting over several days is fine, just store them at room temperature. (not in the fridge) Every broody is different, but most will let you raise them up to have a peek. You don't need to pull her off the nest to check, just slip your hand under her to raise her up enough to see the eggs.

Every hen is a different size, and not every hen can cover the same amount of eggs. I have some hens that could cover 14 and others that can only cover about 8. I wouldn't give her less than 4 in case of fertility issues - you don't want her to sit for 3 weeks and have nothing hatch. Also keep in mind your weather (not that it's usually an issue this time of year) - she needs to be able to keep the chicks that hatch warm.
 
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