Broody help?

[natalie katja]

I have 8 hens and 1 rooster, and one of my 4 black copper marans went broody a while ago. If I came near her she growled and puffed up, and I didn't want to upset her and make her leave the eggs, since both of my incubators are full (over 100 eggs!), so I left her with the others. Well I saw her leave the nest for a bite to eat last week and crept in ,with the grace of a ninja, to examine the eggs... To my surprise, there were 23!! Suspecting "fowl" play (bad pun, but I couldn't resist!

), I decided to investigate further. Yesterday I went in to find my Buff Brahma sitting on the eggs and thought 'wait a second... wasn't the hen on this black with feathered feet?

' I chased the intruder off of the eggs to find... 26 eggs!? I was flabber-ghasted. I removed one egg that I knew wasn't one of the original 23 (it was unbelievably tiny!), and a broken egg

. Any suggestions for how to either separate an aggressive broody hen, or keep the others off of her nest? Thanks in advance

.

 

[Judy]

These kinds of problems are why many people put a broody and her eggs in their own area, separated so others can't get at her.

 

[The Chickeneer]

We get broody hens alot, I mean alot.

We have a ten month old hen that hatched last year already broody and her mom is too. They both hatched their brood succesfuly last week so here are some tips: isolate her in her own little pen with her nest full of eggs with fresh food and water always avaliable. If she is realy agressive and your not sure how to move her, put on some gloves and have a single nestbox with you if the one she is currently in is atached to the wall or other nest boxes. If she is already in a single nestbox that you can easily carry to the isolated pen with her inside, than thats what you do. But if she is not, then have a single nesbox at hand and pick her up and out of the one she is in and hold her aginst your side with one hand, with the other, place the eggs in the single nestbox and carry them over to the isolated pen and put the box down first then put the hen inside and keep an eye that she doesent go outside for the first few minuits so she knows that this is her nest, because sometimes they want to go back to were their nest used to be and dont know that you moved it with her( this has happened to me) I hope this helps.Good luck

 

[ScissorChick]

Quote:
I agree with ddawn. Get some heavy duty gloves, and put the broody in her own space.

Large dog crates seem to work very well.

~ScissorChick

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Separating is what I do also... but if not possible then mark the eggs you want her to keep with an indelible marker and remove any unmarked eggs every day.

 

[sonew123]

candle all eggs-toss bad ones-put mom and fertile eggs in seperate housing-I have a huge brooder cage that I keep in coop so everyone can see them but can't get to them-works great when trying to introduce them to the others down the line-and they accept the broody mom back in much easier when its time

 

[natalie katja]

Thanks everyone

. I'm looking for some good gloves now, lol. I just got a new candling light (super bright) so I can candle even the dark BCM eggs and toss any early quitters

. And I found medium/large-ish dog crate for her, so yay! Should I move the crate inside of keep it in the coop??

 

[natalie katja]

It took about an hour, but I finally got her isolated. I went to find gloves and when I came back she was out eating. I quickly candled the eggs, and 14 are viable. I put the others in a ziploc bag, and covered that one with another ziploc bag... and repeated the process 5 times

. Then I became a chicken stalker and waited outside for the broody to go back to her eggs... that's when I snatched her up (using gloves, of course)! I put her in the now re-purposed dog crate (full of hay and eggs in a little nest... aww!). She has now settled right down and is flat as a pancake over her eggs! However, I still need help deciding whether or not to put her inside the basement where I have my incubator and brooder full of silkies... Will she appreciate the darkness? Will the chicks chirping bother her or make her think her chicks are hatching?

Or does she want to be outside with around friends?

So many questions!

 

[NotAFarm]

natalie, I'd leave her where she is used to being. My broodies can hear the other chickens but can't always see them when I separate them. There just isn't enough room inside their coops for a separation. I have the large dog crate inside the barn where my coops are though. I think the chick peeping might be disrupting to her, especially if she is a first timer. Good luck, broodies are so much fun!!

 

[stonykill]

my broodys reject being moved every time. My Sumatra girls are stubborn, but great moms. My success rate for moving broodys has been zip,zilch,nada. It never has worked for me. But your results may vary...........