Broody chicken?

[Clmirabilio92]

I have a beautiful golden buff orpington chicken, she was sitting in the same spot all day long and I thought something was wrong with her so I picked her up and she was sitting on a bunch of eggs, I looked it up and saw that she was being broody. I dont know very much about broody chickens since I'm new at having chickens and ducks, so my question is, does lifting her up and moving her Nd taking the eggs away do anything to her behavior wise? I had to take the eggs away from her bc we have a snake problem so I can't leave eggs out especially over night. Thanks

 

[BYCforlife]

Do you want her to hatch eggs? Taking your hen off the eggs will not affect her if she's determined to be broody, so if you are worried because you plan to let her hatch eggs in the future, don't worry.

 

[aart]

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[Clmirabilio92]

Would it be bad for the other chickens or the egg supply they give if I let her sit on them? I read somewhere that if they sit on infertile eggs that they will sit there for a very long time and can actually starve from being there too long and not getting up enough..

Do you want her to hatch eggs? Taking your hen off the eggs will not affect her if she's determined to be broody, so if you are worried because you plan to let her hatch eggs in the future, don't worry.

 

[lilmillefleur]

I wouldn't let her set if the eggs are infertile. She won't lay at all while she is broody. And you may get pecked trying to collect the eggs.

 

[aart]

Would it be bad for the other chickens or the egg supply they give if I let her sit on them? I read somewhere that if they sit on infertile eggs that they will sit there for a very long time and can actually starve from being there too long and not getting up enough..

It won't matter much to the other chickens, other than taking up a nest.
Yes, they can sit so long that they lose condition.
That's why if you don't want her to hatch you need to 'break' her of her broodiness.

 

[BYCforlife]

Would it be bad for the other chickens or the egg supply they give if I let her sit on them? I read somewhere that if they sit on infertile eggs that they will sit there for a very long time and can actually starve from being there too long and not getting up enough..

The other chickens wouldn't be affected, but she would stop laying eggs completely, and yes, she would become very unhealthy because she would lay on them for too long, as they're infertile and would never hatch.

 

[Ebony Rose]

No better incubator or brooder in the world than a mama hen sitting on fertile eggs. Typically get strong, healthy chicks that way. While brooding, you can try hand feeding her nutrient and calorie dense treats by hand to help her condition. Try to avoid the urge to stick your hand under her while she's brooding to strengthen her trust in your hands, but don't be offended if she 'bites' the hand that's feeding her a couple times before she no longer sees you as a threat to her clutch. I'm a strong advocate of letting broody hens brood, but it's your farm... so it's your rules Blessings to you whichever choice you make.

 

[Ridgerunner]

does lifting her up and moving her Nd taking the eggs away do anything to her behavior wise?

Not if she is really broody. I regularly take broody hens off the nest to check for new eggs under her, sometimes the other hens lay fresh eggs in her nest. That doesn't stop a hen from staying broody once she flips the witch to full broody mode. Sometimes a hen will act like she is broody but really hasn't fully committed. Taking them off the nest can affect them.

Same with taking the eggs away. Once she goes fully broody most will continue to sit on nothing but their imagination. If they have not gone full broody mode it can break them. It may help them end being broody sooner than otherwise if you take the eggs away but don't count on it. Other hens are laying eggs.

I had to take the eggs away from her bc we have a snake problem so I can't leave eggs out especially over night.

Does this one ring a bell! I walked into the coop with a snake in the nest with the hen. It was eating her eggs, talk about creepy. The snake got away and kept coming back for three or four eggs at a time, stayed away for a few days to digest them, then come back until they were all gone. I put eggs in the incubator and gave her baby chicks to raise.

About the hen losing condition. Before a hen even starts laying eggs she builds up additional fat. If you ever butchered pullets and hens compared to cockerels and roosters you'd see that. That extra fat is what she mostly lives on while she is broody. That way she does not have to spend a lot of time off the nest looking for food and water. So the condition she looses is basically fat put there for that purpose. Most broody hens will break from being broody when that fat is used up, which could be weeks longer than the incubation period. You are dealing with living animals so you don't get guarantees, but most eventually will before they hurt themselves. It's always possible you have one of those hens whose instincts don't work quite right.

But before that hen starts laying again she has to replace those fat reserves. The longer she is broody the longer it takes her to replace those reserves so the longer before she starts laying again. For that reason alone I'd break her sooner rather than later. Broodies do take up a nest and create more work for you to deal with them. Again, another reason for me to break one if I don't want her to hatch and raise chicks.

 

[Clmirabilio92]

Right now I've just been picking them up, there's two identical golden buff orpington doing it now lol. And just moving the eggs and carrying them around for a few minutes to kinda get their minds off of it. They try to bite me at first but they are sweet girls so they stop after a few seconds of freaking out. We might want more chicks in a few months ths because the incubator we have hatched one batch then didnt end up hatching the others, so I wouldn't mind if she hatched some babies But my only concern is the snakes, I already caught a snake coming through the older chicks coop to get them. I saw somewhere about making an egg drop in both of my nesting areas. Would that do anything to help the broodiness? They both seem pretty dedicated to doing it and I dont mind it that much as long as they dont get hurt from it, I am pretty attentive to all my chickens all the time so i will make sure they look healthy enough.

No better incubator or brooder in the world than a mama hen sitting on fertile eggs. Typically get strong, healthy chicks that way. While brooding, you can try hand feeding her nutrient and calorie dense treats by hand to help her condition. Try to avoid the urge to stick your hand under her while she's brooding to strengthen her trust in your hands, but don't be offended if she 'bites' the hand that's feeding her a couple times before she no longer sees you as a threat to her clutch. I'm a strong advocate of letting broody hens brood, but it's your farm... so it's your rules Blessings to you whichever choice you make.