Broody Behavior

[Cetawin]

Okay here is this deal...fianlly I have a broody. She is a tad over a year old, Salmon Faverolle and amaingly a nasty bit of goods on the nest. So, Speckledhen sent me Suede eggs.

Last night I took the eggs down and not knowing which method would work I did the following:


1. Sat the eggs near her and left the coop for about 15 minutes. When I went back in the eggs were just where I had placed them.

2. Moved the eggs near her so that they were touching her wings and body. I left the coop again and waited. When I went back into check about 15 minutes later...eggs still there.

3 and finally, I raised her up and slid the eggs under her (getting my hand annihilated in the process) and I sat in the corner of the coop watching her. About 3 minutes later she rolled one of the eggs out...I watched her as she rolled every single one of the 12 eggs out from under her, leaving only the 3 she was sitting on. My plan was to slip the new eggs under her and today when she got off to eat, remove the three she had been sitting on.

She is having none of it. She wants her three eggs (2 of which she stole from other hens) and she discarded my Suede eggs.

So...now what? My incubator I ordered will probably not be here now until Monday and she will not take the eggs. Anyone else have a picky, confused broody? What did you do? Advice suggestions or opinions welcomed.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Can you put them under her at night? Maybe that would be better.

 

[Cetawin]

It was about midnight last night when I tried.

 

[Kev]

Either wait for her to get off the nest or just be brave and place your hand under her and carry her away from the nest. She will have a bad fit sounds like from her evil broody personality. But no matter.

With her off, remove the 3 old eggs and leave only the eggs you want to hatch.

If the eggs were shipped, candle them to discard any that show floating air bubbles. 12 is kind of close too many. The problem is they seem to cover a lot of eggs when several eggs are actually just not under the breast but still covered by a wing or stick out behind her butt.. those can get chilled.

I never do egg changes at night. Too much risk of hens going into battle mode.. or some hens lose their wits and fly off the nest, etc.. during the day it's much easier to simply remove the hen and do whatever you want with the eggs and she will come back and settle/manage the whole nest to her liking before sitting.. not sure if they get to do that in the dark.

She WILL accept the eggs. I think it being at night was not to her liking. Remove her three eggs and she will have no option but to accept the new eggs and sit on them. Hens kind of don't care too much about what eggs are put under them.. unless they are drastically different color.. I had some hens that refused to treat Marans eggs as being actual eggs when the only eggs they had seen were tans, greens, blues.. likewise the Marans hen had trouble accepting peafowl eggs as being eggs- because she was isolate in pen and only saw dark eggs in her life. She hatched the peafowl eggs though..

If she seems to complain about the change of number of eggs in her nest.. If the nest is secure from other birds, you should walk away.. let her settle on on it eventually(she will if she does not have access to another nest with smaller number of eggs) or leave only 6 and she will settle on them.. add the rest a little bit later.

 

[Cetawin]

Kev, thank you I will try today then.

I think the real problem is that this is her first time and she is totally confused...she will get off the nest and back on...sit on nothing right beside her three eggs...then back on them.

that it works in daylight.

 

[Kev]

Hmm. that's a weird but can be explained by being a first timer. I hate to say this as rearranging the nest can make some hens extremely unhappy.. if you can, make it so the hen cannot settle in the other part of nestbox away from eggs. Nothing too drastic or she'll have a major fit and either take way too long to come back to nest. If you are using hay or straw for example, just put a lot on that side.. essentially making a clear bowl shape for the nest with eggs in it. Hens do much better in nests with a clear bowl shape, and worse on nests where the nestbox is big, flat and with either not much or very loose, not so binding material(like sawdust). I use straw or pine needles in nests, they easily form cup shaped nests and the hens seem to love that.

If you have saw dust in the box, maybe put a brick on the far side and cover it with sawdust..

 

[speckledhen]

I sent Ladyhawk a dozen just in case some were damaged in shipping. That is quite a few for one hen to sit, though, especially if they are added to the other three. I think she is just being a first timer and quite confused as to exactly what she should do.

 

[Cetawin]

She is a SNOT! She not only would not take them during the day but she bit my hand several times. I even threatened her with the stew pot and she bit anyway. She just does not give a dang...she is keeping her three and I best leave them alone or else she will give it to me.

WENCHES!