Broody hatching

[uptown hens]

Hey there. I'm new to the forums and wondering about hatching eggs under a broody hen.

I have an older hen that absolutely insists on being broody. I've tried to break her several times and it never lasts more than a week and she's back on the nest.

I do not need more chickens for my coop. However by best friend just bought a new home near me with an empty coop. She's grew up a farm girl and would like fresh eggs.

I thought perhaps I will let my older broody girl sit some eggs. She is about three years old. I have had her since starting my coop this post spring. I have two old hens I call them and several varieties of 6 month old hens.

I do have roosters and I'm pretty sure the eggs are fertile.

Today I left the eggs under her instead of removing them like I do daily. Also I placed a few extra eggs from my other coop under her. She has 7 total under her.

I know nothing about hatching eggs etc. She is setting inside the coop in one of two laying boxes. There are 13 other hens and a rooster in there.

Any and all ideas and suggestions are welcome on how to do this. Also should I leave her where she is or move her to an isolated spot like a dog kennel.

What should I do differently about food and water etc.

I'm pretty sure there's probably several threads already regarding this but felt like it would be good to have some direct advice and possibly support for this endeavour.

Thank you

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are different ways you can go about it. Some people isolate their hens when they are incubating, hatching, or raising the chicks. I don't.

I gather all the eggs I want a hen to hatch, which you have done, and start them at the same time so they should hatch at the same time. That's a rookie mistake often made on here, not starting them at the same time. So you have already avoided a problem. I mark the eggs with a black Sharpie, I put a circle around them the short way and another the long way, so I can tell at a glance which eggs belong. Sometimes hens will lay eggs in the broody's nest so you need to check under the broody once a day after all the others have laid for the day. As long as you remove the new ones daily they are still good to eat.

That's basically it for me during incubation. I just leave everything else up to the hen.

When the eggs start hatching I put food and water on the coop floor where the chicks can get to it. The other adults will probably think that any food you put out for the chicks is a special treat and eat it up so you have to watch that. They will scratch trash in the water, depending on what your waterer looks like. We all use different things. I put a pet bowl filled with rocks so the chicks won't drown for water on a piece of fairly large plywood on top of the shavings. That works fairly well to keep the bedding out of the water. But a lot of what you can do will depend on what your coop looks like.

That's basically it for hatch. I leave everything else up to the hen. She decides when to bring the chicks off the nest and when to take them outside. At night my broodies typically take the chicks to a corner of the coop to sleep.

Good luck!

 

[uptown hens]

Thank you. It's comforting to actually hear how other people go about so I don't feel like a terrible chick mom..lol

I'm excited! At the same time I want to be responsible and productive.

Again thank you!

 

[red horse ranch]

I like what Ridgerunner says but I do things just a little differently. Good brood hens don't happen in every flock. In that you are lucky. But brood hens can be a pain when that's all they want to do. It may be that if you let her raise a few chicks that it will satisfy her broodiness til next year.
I usually try to separate a brood hen when she is on eggs just to protect the eggs. If other hens want to lay in that nest then eggs will get broken in the process. That's sickening if the eggs are pretty much developed but not quite ready to hatch. You have one other nest for 13 hens so you are sure to have problems keeping other hens out. If you have a separate coop it would be ideal. Once she is fully broody after a day or two she may be easy to move to another nest that is protected. I've used pet kennels for brood hens and they work pretty well. I've had some hens that were easy to move and others refuse a new nest even when their eggs are in it.
The kennel would be especially helpful when the chicks hatch after 21 days. If it's large enough you can have the chick starter and water inside with her. I usually keep the hen and chicks separate from the rest of the flock for at least a couple of weeks. Sometimes other hens will harass the chicks. Mama hen will be protective but may not be able to watch all the chicks if she has several.
I know you will have a lot of questions during this process so feel free to ask.
Good luck with your new adventure..

 

[Alicat4244]

I just went through this . I have a reallllllly good broody . She basically did all the work. I left her in the coop where all the others are (she's also my dominant hen I think that helped) the others didn't even try to get near her lol She knew exactly what to do it was me that was panicking, after she hatched her egg she moved herself and her chick to a different location at day 4 and she is as good of a mama as she is a good broody . Good luck!

 

[Hope Hughes]

I agree with everything said... And I move mine to a "nursery" a dog kennel of a small per carrier off the ground in a little run just for them. I would move Some at night because a lot of times they refuse to leave where they are with their eggs. Other move just fine. But it's best for the hen, the eggs and then the chicks when hatched to be in their own environment. I usually let the chicks and momma out with the others when they are about 4 days old.. And they go back to their nursery everynight until momma teaches them to roost then momma will take them to the big coop to roost.

 

[song of joy]

You mentioned that you really didn't want any more chickens in your coop. If that's the case, I wouldn't let her incubate eggs unless your friend (with the empty coop) agrees to take all of the chicks - realizing that she will be accepting males and females.

If you do decide to let her set, I'd move her to a separate broody nest where other hens cannot add to her eggs or break her eggs. This will free up your nest boxes, as 1 available box is not ideal for a dozen laying hens. It will also prevent the broody hen from switching over to the other next box, which would let the fertile eggs cool and potentially die. For the broody nest, I use a 14 x 14" cardboard box with 6" sides, put in a dark, secluded corner of the coop.

I keep my hens separated from (but in view of) the rest of the flock during incubation, hatch, and for the first week after the hatch. Then I let her freely mingle with the rest of the flock so she does the work of integrating the chicks into the flock.

 

[uptown hens]

Thanks for all the feed back. It's very encouraging.

I decided today to separate her because two of my other hens did in fact lay In the box with her.

This particular coop has kitty litter buckets for nests, so I was able to pick the entire bucket up and move her. I placed her in a large dog kennel and sat it next to the run where the other hens can interact etc with her through the wire. We covered the kennel to give her shelter and gave her a feeder and water.
My friend with the coop will take them when they are ready. If anything happens I'm also prepared to keep them in my coop if necessary.
She did not seem bothered at all by my moving her. She has been used to me removing her from the nest and coop daily for a couple weeks. Today she got to take the nest with her and she was ok with that.
I have no way of telling which eggs were the new ones so she has them all. 9 total. Do you think that's too many? They will be a day apart in hatching. But I'm concerned about the amount.

 

[Hope Hughes]

Thanks for all the feed back. It's very encouraging.

I decided today to separate her because two of my other hens did in fact lay In the box with her.

This particular coop has kitty litter buckets for nests, so I was able to pick the entire bucket up and move her. I placed her in a large dog kennel and sat it next to the run where the other hens can interact etc with her through the wire. We covered the kennel to give her shelter and gave her a feeder and water.
My friend with the coop will take them when they are ready. If anything happens I'm also prepared to keep them in my coop if necessary.
She did not seem bothered at all by my moving her. She has been used to me removing her from the nest and coop daily for a couple weeks. Today she got to take the nest with her and she was ok with that.
I have no way of telling which eggs were the new ones so she has them all. 9 total. Do you think that's too many? They will be a day apart in hatching. But I'm concerned about the amount.

The amount is fine... I had a bantam hatch 10 out and did great. Not all 9 of them may completely develop, but again they could all hatch fine. Just have to candle them throughout the incubation period to keep an eye on them.

 

[uptown hens]

Can someone explain how to candle and egg.