? about 2 hens sitting on a nest for close to 21 days then moving em'

[pouletdile]

So, I've had 2 hens (buff & australorp) sitting together in a nesting box (we're getting close to the 21 days) and who knows how many eggs (but deff. a bunch). This morning I went into the coop to gather eggs and one of the other hens (a rock) had kicked the two hens out of the box and was sitting on the eggs. A few hours ago I went into the coop and the nest box the the 2 hens had been in was empty and they were sitting on the eggs in a different box. I'm guessing that they carried them under their wings? Anyone? Does this often happen? will if effect the eggs? I was pretty shocked.

 

[Nostalchic]

This is a pretty common scenario if you let your broodies hatch in the main coop, and my experience trying it this way is that you get a poor hatching rate, many broken eggs, and a lot of stress on the broody hen(s). I now isolate the broody in a separate part of the coop once I'm certain that she's dedicated, and let her hatch in peace and quiet. I have a screen between the two parts of my coop, so they can all see and hear eachother, and integrating the chicks into the flock at 2 or 3 weeks old has been super easy - in fact the other hens pretty much ignore the chicks at that point. It means I have to give up my feed and storage area for a little while, but it is so worth it!

 

[stilldeb]

I' ve never seen them move them, but they do, sometimes mine will put them on the floor of the coop. I have three broody hens and we aren't hatching anything, so they steal whatever is laid in the nesting boxes, put them all together and sit on them until I go gather them up and move them.

deb g