Broody Buff Orpington Setting Three Eggs

[New Flockman]

Our lead hen, a Buff named Aunt Bea, went broody about 10 days ago and is setting three eggs... one of her own and two from some of the other hens. We have a roo, who regularly mates all the hens (there are five), but we don't really know if the eggs are fertile. My first question is, can we tell? Will those eggs go bad while she sets them and give us (or her) some indication?

She caught us by surprise with this and she is setting in the main coop. The only indicator was that a few days before she started setting, we found her sleeping in a nest box at night rather than on the roost bar but she would go out in the morning as normal and stay out all day.

The next question is what do we do when the eggs hatch and what happens if the eggs don't hatch all at the same time? I've been reading up here and other places and the general consensus is to let mom be mom, unless she proves to be a poor one, but what do we need to do in the coop. The rest of the flock roosts there at night but I can set up an alternative roost bar in their coop "patio." Should we close off the coop at night and let the momma and chicks have it? We have a chick feeder and waterer we could set up in the coop BUT we have no alternative nest boxes and the other hens need to be able to access them to do their own duty. They might be tempted to partake of the chick feed on the way. We really have no other suitable place to put Bea on short notice.. plus i think it would be a bit traumatic to move her halfway thru her "set." Thus far, I am leaning towards the patio roost bar idea but letting the other hens come in and lay during the day (they free range a big yard and only come in to lay during the day). We worry a little that Bea may defend the coop and prevent the hens from coming in to lay.Suggestions welcome. We are preparing to move the chicks after hatching if need be, but we would prefer to have them bond to their mom and start life within the flock. Suggestions or advice welcome and appreciated.

PS- Another question: What if we only get one chick? Anything special we need to do vs multiple (a max of three in this case)?

 

[sumi]

You can check if the eggs are fertile and if anything is happening in them by candling them. Wait until it's dark and use a strong flashlight, hold the eggs snug against the light, so it shines into the egg. You should be able to see some veins and possibly the embryo by now, depending on how good your light is and how dark the egg shells are. Here are some pics for reference:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

If the eggs are clear by 10 you can toss them. But with one rooster and 5 hens I'm pretty sure they will be fertile. Especially if he's been doing his job.

Did you set the eggs under her at the same time? Then they should hatch if not on the same day, over a 2 day period. She will stay on the nest until around 3 days after the chicks started hatching, to give them all a fair amount of time to hatch and leave any unhatched eggs to take care of the chicks.

If the rest of the flock accept the newcomers (they do most of the time, though there are exceptions) and she is a good, protective mom, leave them where they are and let her raise the chicks in with the rest of the flock. This is the best way to do things. The chicks will be part of the flock from the start and will find their place in the pecking order eventually with the minimum fuss. In the late afternoon your hen will either return to her broody box for the night or find another spot in the coop to sleep with the chicks and will be out and about with them most of the day. So she won't be interfering with the other hens and their laying. After the first day or 2 walking around with the chicks she will free range with them, probably not straying too far from the coop, and should not bother the rest of the hens when they come into the coop to lay or roost. From my experience with broodies I found that they often go "to bed" awhile before the rest of the flock.

The rest of the flock can eat the chick feed. The chicks must not eat any layer feed though, as the high calcium content harms their kidneys when they are young and not near laying yet. If you leave feed in the flock and there is layer feed chances are the hen (Bea) will offer some of that food to her chicks, even if you put it out of their reach. An easy way round this is to feed the entire flock an "all flock" or grower feed and provide crushed oyster shell or egg shell in a separate feeder for the layers' calcium needs.

Best of luck with your broody hatch and keep us posted!

 

[New Flockman]

Thanks.

Upon further research, the candling thing is pretty basic and I should have found that on my own without wasting bandwidth on basic questions. Unfortunately, the eggs are too dark to see thru with the lights we have here but Bea did rather well letting me reach under her and take them out one by one to look. Will try again with a better light. We made another basic mistake in not noting exactly when we put the other eggs under her. Best we can tell... 2-4 days after she laid the one of her own that started her off. That might complicate the hatching process but this is a learning process for us. I hate to see living creatures suffer even for our honest mistakes but that's also a part of life I suppose.