A Bad Mother?

[BrumBee]

Hello all!

I have two purebred Australorp hens, named Acoma and Dispy (who are also sisters). Acoma went missing for three days, i feared the worst but i eventually found her underneath my fathers boat because she was broody. Didn't last after we put her back in the coop, we put fertalised eggs under her when she was on her other eggs and she ditched them and stopped being broody. Now her sister Dispy is broody but she only stays on the eggs for about and hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. I was going to put some fertile eggs under her but im too worried she wont stay on them long enough. I wanted to borrow my neighbors rooster so i could breed them but I'm worried they might be bad mothers, any advice?


~Thank you!

(i'll put some pictures up tomorrow!)

 

[ThePRfan]

If she isnt sitting daily,she isn't that broody.Or she doesn't realize she has to stay on the eggs....

I doubt they'll be bad mother.

 

[ChristieB]

My gleanings from reading the many articles on this site are If she's not sitting all day she's not yet broody. If you want her to sit just wait, put in some fake eggs and then when she's staying there most of the day and all night then put her in a dark nest on her own or section off that nest so she doesn't get interrupted or distracted, give it a couple days (moving her might break her, though from my reading they only seem break that easy when you want them to sit. If you don't want them to sit nothing will break them lol) then once she's sitting all the time put in the fertile eggs.

 

[donrae]

Hens can practice brooding before they actually settle down and set. My criteria is they have to spend two days and more importantly, two nights in a row on the nest before I give them eggs. Before that, they're just messing around.