Advice on letting broody hen hatch eggs

[MyHenporium]

First off: I'm new to chickens. Got 10 mixed breed day-old chicks in March. Now I think I'm too emotionally involved! lol Last week one of my Buff Orps went broody. I didn't realize what was happening at first. She was sitting on one egg, which I took away from her. Later that day when I saw she was still on the empty nest, I kicked myself for stealing her egg! (I ended up with two VERY active roos and 8 pullets, so chances are good the eggs are ALL fertile!) Anyway, I stole three eggs from other nests, still mostly warm, as our weather is still low 90s, and slid them under her. I did the same thing the next day. Yesterday there was a terrible squabble coming from the coop, and the broody came running out with broken eggs shells dried and stuck to her chest! Obviously the rest either was jealous of her, or mad because she's occupying the nest box (there are 8 boxes). There were two unbroken eggs still in the nest box. So....I gathered her up, washed off the dried egg from her chest, and put her, the good eggs plus more that I took from other nests, and placed her in a small dog carrier inside of a wire crate, along with food and water. The crate is in the coop next to the nest boxes, and she's protected from harassment. She seemed very content at bedtime.
Questions: Am I messing too much with this situation? She broke my heart when the others attacked her! Will anything come of this? Assuming all the eggs are fertile, have I messed with the time schedule too much? I need expert advice, please!

 

[hunter0182]

I do this all the time,take eggs from a non broody hen and just put them under a broody hen, In fact I keep a few game hens just for that purpose..the rest i bring in and put in the incubator...

 

[MyHenporium]

Thanks hunter0182! I'm relieved to hear someone else has done this. I haven't invested in an incubator yet. I don't really want to hatch chicks just for the sake of hatching them. I kind of like my small flock, even though I have plenty of room for more. I just felt so bad for this poor little hen!

 

[fastfel]

I have had a couple of hens that were really broody (we have no rooster). I asked a friend about getting some fertile eggs from her & she brought me 6 for my 2 hens. By the time I got them only one hen was still broody. I placed the eggs under her on the evening of 9/16 & she is doing great with them! I however have a few questions

1. With putting them under her on the 16th, should I be counting that as day 1 of 21? Or at what point should I be counting from? For now I am just figuring that IF we get chicks they will be here this weekend to early next week.


2. It didn't occur to me when I started this that our next boxes are raised. I am figuring I should put the nest on the floor. I am concerned that if I move the nest the hen may not go back to the eggs. She seems to like this particular nest box. We had actually put the eggs under her in a different box. She stayed on them until she needed to eat & didn't return to her eggs but to her favorite box. We caught it right away & moved the eggs to her & she has been faithful to them since. Has anyone had any experience with supplying a little ramp??? LOL! Maybe that's a silly idea. Before I put them on the ground, I am wondering about question #3.

3. The hen that is sitting is a Silkie. She is probably the weakest bird in the pecking order of my flock. Will she be able to rise to the challenge of protecting her chicks? We have a mixed flock.....2 Rhode Islands, 2 Orpingtons, 1 Leghorn, 1 Yokohama, 1 Sumatra, 1 Wyandotte, and this Silkie. A few of those birds are pretty tough! I've seen one of our Orpingtons swallow a mouse WHOLE, lol! So, would it be better to move the Silkie to her own box away from the other hens??? The Leghorn has been pushing her off of the nest these last few days to lay her own egg which I realize can create a whole other problem!

The time is getting close (if this works) so I am starting to get anxious! I've raised chicks before but have not hatched them myself.

 

[Jamandack]

I have had a couple of hens that were really broody (we have no rooster). I asked a friend about getting some fertile eggs from her & she brought me 6 for my 2 hens. By the time I got them only one hen was still broody. I placed the eggs under her on the evening of 9/16 & she is doing great with them! I however have a few questions

1. With putting them under her on the 16th, should I be counting that as day 1 of 21? Or at what point should I be counting from? For now I am just figuring that IF we get chicks they will be here this weekend to early next week.


2. It didn't occur to me when I started this that our next boxes are raised. I am figuring I should put the nest on the floor. I am concerned that if I move the nest the hen may not go back to the eggs. She seems to like this particular nest box. We had actually put the eggs under her in a different box. She stayed on them until she needed to eat & didn't return to her eggs but to her favorite box. We caught it right away & moved the eggs to her & she has been faithful to them since. Has anyone had any experience with supplying a little ramp??? LOL! Maybe that's a silly idea. Before I put them on the ground, I am wondering about question #3.

3. The hen that is sitting is a Silkie. She is probably the weakest bird in the pecking order of my flock. Will she be able to rise to the challenge of protecting her chicks? We have a mixed flock.....2 Rhode Islands, 2 Orpingtons, 1 Leghorn, 1 Yokohama, 1 Sumatra, 1 Wyandotte, and this Silkie. A few of those birds are pretty tough! I've seen one of our Orpingtons swallow a mouse WHOLE, lol! So, would it be better to move the Silkie to her own box away from the other hens??? The Leghorn has been pushing her off of the nest these last few days to lay her own egg which I realize can create a whole other problem!

The time is getting close (if this works) so I am starting to get anxious! I've raised chicks before but have not hatched them myself.

LOL! a mouse?! WHOLE??? laws!!!! lol those are some chickens!

 

[fastfel]

I don't think it's actually all that uncommon. I had never seen it before but my daughter caught our chicken doing it on video.

 

[grammasmitty]

We have raised only 1 batch of chicks. Our broody was a Barred Rock and sat in a nest 18" off the floor for 3 weeks. I told hubby we needed to get her down to the floor right away becuase the eggs would be hatching within a couple of days. He got a cardboard box that fit under the nest boxes, cut an entrance in the side of it, then lifted the whole nest of eggs, straw and all, and set it into the cardboard box. He physically put the hen on them and slid the whole thing under the next boxes. She didn't move from that box with her eggs. The next day we got 5 little chickies, plus 3 that hubby bought that day from the farm supply. She used that box until the chicks were old enough to leave her protection.

 

[schoenherr]

You sound experienced with broody hens. I have a California White that appears to have gone broody in December! In fact she is sitting on one nest all the time. She never comes off unless we force her too. She does not have eggs under her, but she has pulled all under belly feathers from herself. It appears the only time she eats and drinks are when we force her to leave the nest. What should we do? Can she starve herself to death?

 

[heritagegirls1]

My hen has been broody for a month now. Nothing seems to break her determination, and she is so sweet so I couldn't stand to keep her in a rabbit kennel for more than 5 days. she seems to be very dedicated (only leaves her box 2times a day to eat.
She shares her coop with 6 other hens who sometimes share the box with her to lay but then hop right out and she sets on their eggs until I get them.
I worried if I don't give her eggs to set she will eventually die of malnourishment or heartbreak!
Should I get some fertilized eggs and let her try hatching?

 

[immortalight]

My hen has been broody for a month now. Nothing seems to break her determination, and she is so sweet so I couldn't stand to keep her in a rabbit kennel for more than 5 days. she seems to be very dedicated (only leaves her box 2times a day to eat.

Two of my chickens go broody at the drop of a hat. I put them in a chicken tractor with plenty of shade and water for a day (two days tops) and this has broken the broody spell every time. I did let one of the ladies hatch some fertilized eggs last spring. Two of the three chicks turned out to be roosters who had to be re-homed since roosters aren't allowed in my neighborhood, so that is something to keep in mind if you decide to let your girl have some eggs to hatch. My hen was an excellent mom but the roos were very hard to place once they were grown and started crowing (no one wants extra roosters) and I felt like I had been very irresponsible for bringing them into the world without a plan for where they would go if they were males.