Broodies on eggs? Broodies with babies? Post here.

[Roosteroops]

We have 5 hens and two roosters (one of our "hens" bloomed late and became a rooster - hence my BYC Username - since this is the second time this has happened - the 2 roos get along but I need to find a new home for one of them! )

Anyway - one of our hens has been broody (sitting on 4 eggs) for about 15 days now. Since this is a small flock (free range and cooped for the nights) do I need to move her to a separate half way house now? Or should I wait till they hatch (if they do) - will the roosters hurt the chicks?
I read the article,'Let Mamma do it" from these posts - but that farm has hundreds of hens. Does my very small group still require me to separate her now, later or never?
She seems to be a good sitter. However, her belly is a bit bald but she looks healthy otherwise and boy can she peck if you try to touch her eggs!
Thanks for ANY advice!

 

[Teresaann24]

Quote:
I always remove my broody hen...I have left roos with momma and babies before somtimes it went good somtimes badly. I have never left other hens in. I learned my lesson the hard way when one of the chicks legs got broken from the roo. I now remove my broody!

 

[Teresaann24]

I also need to ask a question..Today will be day 16...Last time I candled was on day 10...I had 4 eggs that had developed out of 10 I tossed 6 ungood eggs. I was wondering should I candle again or wait??

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Roosteroops, your broody's belly is bare on purpose, she sheds those feathers so her egglings can rest against her skin, getting the moist heat they need to develop. Isn't creation marvelous?

While sometimes you can leave a Mama hen with eggs or chicks together with other hens & roos with no problems, I think it's better to be safe than sorry. Is your hen's nest on the ground or in a moveable container? Ideally, I try to get my broodies to begin the job in a box or bucket, then one night I can move the entire container to the secure location. I find it more difficult to move the nest by itself, sometimes the hen won't reconcile herself to the move.

Another thing you can try is to build a barricade around the hen's nest where she is, using fence wire or wood or something that will give the broody a bit of room to get out & poop and access her food & water, but keep the others out.

Or if the other hens & the roos are not bothering her at this time, just wait until the chicks hatch and move the new family then. The hen will probably stay on the nest an entire day while the chicks are hatching before taking them for their first outing. Before she does, you can move them all to a secure pen, she'll be sure to stay where her chickies are.

 

[Roosteroops]

She is in a heavy 4 nest metal nesting box. Neither rooster or any other hens are bothering now. She means business too! She has not come off that nest except for one very mild day of 75 here (North Carolina) - we actually thought she was dead until we tried to remove her and realized that she is very much NOT dead! (yes..... we are very new to this aspect of raising hens! Although, we have been caring for mature hens for over 4 years now with no broodiness) Since she has been setting, our once friendly roo has become evil - so I am very worried that he'll attack the babies. We are going to brave the cold tonight to candle them as has been suggested.
I guess since she is not being bothered we'll keep a close eye on her and just let her stay there? We will build a "half way house" this week; and try to move her when it is finished.
(You all are so great with your thorough and quick responses! We so appreciate it)

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

My broody is in one of 3 nesting boxes in the coop. I know she's sitting on at least 12 eggs, but today I only got 1 egg from the rest of the girls. Is it possible that they are laying in the broody's box and she's just scooting them under her? I have seen a second hen up there occasionally but haven't seen them lay.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
Oh yeah, for sure! Hens like to follow the popular fashions of the day, it's much easier than thinking for themselves. That's why a nest egg can encourage them to lay in a new nest box, and why they tend to lay in a select few boxes no matter how many others are available. It's like they say "Oh look, someone else thinks this is a great place to leave an egg, so it must be nice!"

There's something about seeing a broody hen that really gets them interested in the same location. "Wow, she's even incubating eggs there, that must be the best place of all!" and they squeeze in, push the broody aside and lay their eggs there too.

This is one big reason why I try to separate my broodies from the other hens, so they don't get interrupted, so their hatching eggs don't get shoved aside/broken, so the broody doesn't get confused on her return to the nest & go back to set on a different nest, leaving her egglings to grow cold.

If you can't separate the broody, at least mark her hatching eggs with a pencil (I draw a line all around the middle so it's visable no matter the position) and slip out the new eggs every evening.

 

[OHMYCHICKIES]

Quote:
Yup, and that is why my broody is sitting on about 30 eggs now. I finally blocked her off. Hopefully one will hatch any day now. It's hard to tell because of all the additional eggs that were put in there and not sure what date.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Quote:
This is what our hens were doing. I gave my broody about 8 eggs to start with. By the time we moved her she had 18. The others were kicking her out and laying in there.

I wonder if this is part of nature's way. If they were wild, would all the hens lay in one or two nests and let just a couple of the flock's hens do the hatching and brooding? That would make sense, wouldn't it?

Anyway, that was one of the reasons we needed to separate her.

 

[gckiddhouse]

2 questions!!

My broody is has been in her cage with eggs for 5 or 6 days. I have only seen her poop 3 times. Is this normal?

Also, we had talked about feeding the broody scratch. If I am doing that, shouldn't I also give her some grit since she is not foraging it herself?

Any advice on candling eggs? I don't have a clue how to do it, or what to look for.

Thanks!