Broody abandon 1st nest, but sitting on another

[Noelle Micka]

Hello All! I wanted to stop in here because I’m fairly new to broody hens (I’ve had one) and one of my ameraucana hens went broody just before memorial weekend. She went broody, fairly obvious. We added some eggs under her and let her sit. She was doing well, not aggressive, she let me pick her up and take her to water/ food. She would click around and go right back to her nest. Day 7, 2 of our other hens started messing with her in her nest box, so we locked them out and prepped our smaller coop with fresh bedding and planned a move. That night, we moved her and all her eggs to a smaller coop, all by herself. We also cansled the eggs, and there was development. When we set her on her eggs she got up, ate, drank, and within about 5 mins she went back to the eggs to sit. I thought all was well. In the morning, I checked on her to see her up again. The eggs were cold, and She seemed pretty done. After about 30 mins of seeing her not sit, I took her back to the flock. To my surprise, she ran straight back to her original nesting spot, where there was an egg, and sat on it…so I went in the house and grabbed about 8 eggs (fertilized) and placed them in the box with her. She immediately started pushing the eggs under her with her beak and settling in to the new eggs. It’s now been 3 days since and she’s still happily sitting.

This whole process has me confused. I assume the move caused the abandonment of the first clutch. Now that she’s on new eggs, will she sit 21 days? Should I just let nature take its course? I’m so anxious for these babies to hatch!! Has anyone had this happen before? I would love feedback!

 

[Noelle Micka]

Ok so update on my broody!
My white broody has been wonderfully sitting on her eggs for 7 days and doing perfect. Yesterday another of our hens came in hot with her puffing up and clucking and took over the broody nest!! Yesterday we locked out the black hen. We opened the coop for them to sleep and when we came in this morning the black hen was on the eggs and the white one wasn’t…pic attacked…any advice? Should I let them brood together? Should I let the black hen take over? I’m so confused!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Pick one and break the other hen. 2 hens sometimes works and most times doesn't.