Broody araucana

[crsch1888]

Hi, I got 2 araucana hens & 1 rooster a few days ago, well one of my hens is broody. There was 3 eggs on the ground, not cracked or anything, & I put all 3 in the nest box & the hen immediately came up, accidentally rolled one out but she got it back in & is now sitting. I have never had a broody hen before so this is all very new for me. There's not very much straw in her nest, they had scratched most of it out. Should I put more in there for her? And can I add more eggs? Like if they lay any eggs today, can I add those to the 3 she has? I put a bowl of food by her, but I don't have a way to actually separate her from the rest & I don't know that she would like that even if I did. Any suggestions and help would be great! Thanks!

 

[Poultry parent]

She would like it if you could separate her, as they get really protective of their nest.

You generally don't want to add more eggs because they'll hatch at different times, and the hen might leave the nest before the other eggs have hatched.

You can add straw.

It really would be good if you could separate her, or at lest get her In a nest on the ground. That way the chicks won't fall and die

 

[aart]

Hi, I got 2 araucana hens & 1 rooster a few days ago, well one of my hens is broody. There was 3 eggs on the ground, not cracked or anything, & I put all 3 in the nest box & the hen immediately came up, accidentally rolled one out but she got it back in & is now sitting. I have never had a broody hen before so this is all very new for me. There's not very much straw in her nest, they had scratched most of it out. Should I put more in there for her? And can I add more eggs? Like if they lay any eggs today, can I add those to the 3 she has? I put a bowl of food by her, but I don't have a way to actually separate her from the rest & I don't know that she would like that even if I did. Any suggestions and help would be great! Thanks!

How long have you had these 3 birds?
Do you have other birds?
She will get down to eat on her own.

First, gather all eggs daily.....then wait 3 days and 3 nights.
If bird is still sitting on that nest most the day and all night then you can call 'broody'.


You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.
Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?
Do you have the space needed? She may need to be separated by wire from the rest of the flock.
Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?
If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.
It a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/496101/broody-hen-thread

 

[crsch1888]

I got them on Tuesday, so 4 days, and there's actually 4 hens & 1 rooster, I am going to go get 2 more hens from her in the next day or two, want to make their coop a bit bigger today so they have more room. I don't think that she's actually ready to be called "broody", she shows interest, but I don't believe she's totally there yet. I do have a incubator, but there's eggs in it now, & not due for couple weeks. I will let her hatch chicks if she goes into full broodiness, I've just never dealt with a broody hen before & this is my first time ever having araucanas as well. I think I'll make a better, more comfy nesting box as well, maybe add some pine shavings. I can build a separate pen for her, if she does go broody. I had read thou that people haven't had good experiences with doing that, so wasn't sure.
I do have a couple more questions though 1)my rooster is clean faced, if I put him with my double tuft hen, is it possible to have babies that will be double tufted? 2) when I went to check on the hen that I thought was broody, I caught one of the other hens eating one of the eggs, I don't know if it rolled out or if she rolled it out, she ate just the inside of it, well that's when I caught her anyway, not sure if she would have eaten the rest or not, but I immediately took the egg & got the other 2 out. I'm not sure what to do about this. When I went out yesterday evening, I put out oyster shell for them, and there was another egg, on the ground, it had not been bothered though, so not sure why she ate that one. I'm feeding them layer feed & flock feed.

 

[azygous]

These new chickens are just settling in. I wouldn't trust any behavior as being what you can normally expect after they do settle in. That would be your first order of business - letting them get acquainted and adapted with their new surroundings before you make long range decisions as to your flock expansion.

As aart mentioned, you don't know for sure this hen is broody. Collecting all eggs for the next week would be the wise thing to do while you make infrastructure accommodations. If you do wish to entertain a broody and have her safely sit and raise chicks, think it through beginning with a nest on the floor in an area that can be barricaded so other hens can't come in and lay their own eggs and break the incubating ones and the hatchlings protected from other curious adults.

Do you know the signs of a broody hen as opposed to a hen who merely enjoys lounging in a nest box? Usually, a hen going broody will display particular behaviors a normal hen does not. They become increasingly irritable, making a fretful popping cluck softly and persistently. They may fluff up and shake themselves periodically while letting out a startling scream. When touched while occupying a nest, they typically puff up like an angry badger, duck their head, and growl, maybe even trying to bite your hand.

You mentioned you're incubating eggs. If this hen is broody for real, the timing of your incubating eggs hatching would just about coincide with eggs that might be incubated under this broody. You have the option of placing the newly hatched chicks under the broody rather than have her sit eggs, too, and she could then take over brooding and rearing the artificially hatched chicks. This would give you time to know if you really have a broody hen and if you do, you aren't then dealing with two separate batches of chicks and not knowing how to deal with those logistics on top of everything else.