1st ever broody Buff orp-questions, advice,please!!!

[waitin on eggs]

Okay so, i have a broody buff orp that has been sitting tight on 6 golf balls for 5 days now. I have put her in her own little coop..after reading through some threads i think thAts the right thing to do or is it better to leave her with the flock??? All my girls free range she doesnt get off the nest. Should i let her have access to free range or keep her contained?? Shoukd i move/force her off the nest to get exercise and chase bugs or just leave it up to her? Her little coop is divided into 2 rooms one is her nest and the other is food and water she seems to be pooping on that side. She doesnt get off the nest much maybe 2 x/ day! Is that normal? What should i be feeding her??? Right now she is on layer crumbles as usual, do i supplement her with greens, corn, scratch, offer her eggs to keep up her strength? I have fertile EE eggs coming and they will be here wed. When do i put them under her?? Nightime, daytime? Should i try dtondo it secretly or doesnt it matter? How many eggs can i put under her? I'm getting 12 but my neighbor is taking the extras i dont want to overcrowd as i want a successful hatch of course. My kids are so EXCITED!! Well i am too i just want to get everything right. So far the way shes sitting so tight i think our little "nugget" will be a great mom. YIPPEE!!

 

[BarnChick]

I would definitely keep her separated. You can put all twelve under her, but once they hatch and start to grow, it will be harder for her to keep them all warm if you are going to let her raise them. My BO is doing awesome, even though I only gave her three eggs to hatch out. She gets very territorial and keeps a very watchfull eye on them, but lets me in to clean the fenced area and has never charged me. I feed them hay, chick feed and lentils. They are starting to get treats now, though not too much.
While she was setting, I gave the hen chick feed not layer, because I figured she would need the extra protein. Hasn't hurt her doing it this way.

You can put the eggs under her as soon as y ou get them. I put my eggs under her during the day and she didn't seem to mind.
Hope this helps

 

[HEChicken]

Wow, so many questions! I've had precisely one broody hen and her chicks are 3 weeks old today so take this advice for what it is worth....

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That's what I did and it worked great. When she first went broody she was in the favorite nest box trying to commandeer all the eggs the others laid (and breaking a few in the process). The problem was that my girls lay infertile eggs and once I obtained some fertile eggs for her, I didn't want to put them under her and then have the rest of the girls continuing to add eggs to the nest so....I put her in a separate small coop and run and that way there was no confusion over which eggs were which.
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I would keep her contained. If she is truly broody she won't be interested in free ranging anyway.
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I would leave it up to her. Nature tells her how much time she needs to spend on and off the nest.
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Yep! Mine had been sitting two weeks before I ever saw her off the nest. I wasn't even seeing any poop so worried she wasn't taking care of herself at all. I was actually excited the first time I saw her off the nest but the second she spied me watching her she screeched and hurried back onto the nest.
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I gave mine a feeder full of grower/developer. That way she and the chicks, after they hatched, were able to eat the same food. She doesn't need layer food while she is sitting because she isn't laying.
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I picked mine up from a local farmer and arrived home at dusk so that made the decision easy. I set up the new nest in the broody coop, then lifted her off the nestbox in the regular coop and carried her swearing all the way (the hen, not me) to the broody coop, where I put her on the nest and turned and walked away. I resisted temptation to check on her until morning for fear my attentions would distract her and make her give it up. I held my breath to check her next morning but there she was, sitting on her eggs, looking inwardly.
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I put the full dozen under her. 8 hatched but one was malformed so she has 7 chicks to tend. If you are getting shipped eggs, I would definitely recommend putting them all under her with the knowledge that more than likely some of them won't develop/hatch.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[waitin on eggs]

I'm sorry for all the questions i'm just trying to make sure i get it all right

Thank so much for the responses, i appreciate them greatly! BYC PEOPLE ARE AWESOME

 

[busyteacher]

I have a broody Buff Orp right now as well! Here is a pic of her sitting on her current nest. We don't have enough room to make a separate broody pen so she just stays in with the other hens. We only have 5 others in a huge room ( a bobcat got ahold of our flock a month ago so we are short on chickens). She recently hatched out 6 eggs, but she was in a nesting box that time and we were afraid the chicks wouldn't be able to get out so we took them up and put them in a brooder. We moved her next this time to the ground so when they hatch hopefully she can take care of them! We are not feeding her anything special. She has been getting off her nest some this time to dust bath and scratch outside, but she does not get off long. She is our highest ranking hen so no one really messes with her!

 

[Ozchicken]

She looks very determined, doesn't she? I hope the other hens in with her don't injure the chicks. Sometimes they are fine, sometimes it can be a problem. Keep a close eye on it.

Good luck with the hatch.

 

[busyteacher]

We have been watching her closely. When one of the other hens gets even remotely close to her nest she runs them off squawking and flying at them. Then right back on the nest she goes. We will definitely watch her and the chicks when they hatch, but I felt horrible taking the last chicks away from her so we wanted her to have another chance to raise them and maybe break this long-term broodiness.