Broody chicken help....day 17

[goldies99]

I have a broody chicken....I don't have a rooster, so I got her some eggs.....I have to take her off her nest everyday to eat and drink, or I don't think she would get up!....I am wondering at what point should I stop doing that.??...I read about the lock down thing but don't know much about that...today is day 17.....should I not touch her after day 18 and just see what she does??..thanks for your help....

 

[Realtree4]

I would say hands off I have my first broody hen and I started the first few days taking her off the nest then someone told me to knock it off and guess what...sure as heck, she gets off when she needs to. It may be only every other day, but I catch her taking a dust bath, sunning, eating/drinking and then about 20 minutes later back to the nest she goes.

They know more about being chickens than we do and wil get off when need

Oh, good luck! Mine has exactly one week

 

[mmclaughlin]

I thought the same thing but my 1st broody did get up when she needed and not when i was around to notice!! she just hatched her eggs yesterday we lost 1 chick and one didn't hatch..still hopeful.... and we have a cute fuzzball!! and she's a great mom so far!!!
good luck.............it was very stressful 3 week lol!!

 

[goldies99]

ok...thanks.....I worry about her not eating and drinking!!!....I will keep you posted ...the hatch day is Saturday the 28th.....I hope she gets some chicks hatched...I am so excited to see what kind of chicks they will be....I friend gave me some eggs, and he has a couple kind of chickens....so this is a box of chocolates, ya never know what your gonna get !!!!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I thought the same thing but my 1st broody did get up when she needed and not when i was around to notice!! she just hatched her eggs yesterday we lost 1 chick and one didn't hatch..still hopeful.... and we have a cute fuzzball!! and she's a great mom so far!!!
good luck.............it was very stressful 3 week lol!!

There is a good reason for this - biology tells them to sneak off the nest quickly and quietly when NO ONE is around to see - because the presence of someone (human or animal) would be a thread to their unguarded nest.

 

[Purpleseabreeze]

I have a Broodie frizzle chicken, she has taken over the nesting from my other bantam pekin who seems to have given up altogether looking after the eggs! It has been more than three weeks now since the first egg was laid and my frizzle and she seems to be spending more and more time in the nest, I have seen her get up and eat and drink but I'm starting to worry for her health as I don't think the eggs are going to hatch now. Do I leave her sit still or do I take the eggs away? There are nine eggs last count yesterday so I don't know if incubation period is over really yet. What do you do? Do you just let her deal with it or do you intervene?