Broody hen abandoned most of the eggs - can we introduce eggs?

[LuckyJim]

We have a 1st time broody hen that was sitting on 8 eggs. Yesterday we discovered that 2 of the eggs had hatched and the new mother was running about with 2 chicks following her. I felt the other 6 eggs and they were fairly cold, so we took them into the house and warmed them. There are signs of life in all of the other 6 eggs.

The 1st chick hatched at around 07:00 this morning. We made sure it was dry and then attempted to introduce it to the new mother at 14:00 but things didn't go well. She pecked and scratched the chick with her feet and we needed to remove the chick as we were sure the hen was going to kill it. Another chick has hatched at 20:30 and a 3rd one could hatch in an hour or two.

The mother hen is isolated with her 2 original chicks. We don't want to risk putting the 2 newly hatched chicks with the mother tonight as she may kill them. Is it worth putting the 2 unhatched eggs under her now?

We only started with hens 6 months ago, so don't know what the best plan is. Thanks in advance for any advice...

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hi! You'll need to brood them on your own.

 

[janiedoe]

We have a 1st time broody hen that was sitting on 8 eggs. Yesterday we discovered that 2 of the eggs had hatched and the new mother was running about with 2 chicks following her. I felt the other 6 eggs and they were fairly cold, so we took them into the house and warmed them. There are signs of life in all of the other 6 eggs.

The 1st chick hatched at around 07:00 this morning. We made sure it was dry and then attempted to introduce it to the new mother at 14:00 but things didn't go well. She pecked and scratched the chick with her feet and we needed to remove the chick as we were sure the hen was going to kill it. Another chick has hatched at 20:30 and a 3rd one could hatch in an hour or two.

The mother hen is isolated with her 2 original chicks. We don't want to risk putting the 2 newly hatched chicks with the mother tonight as she may kill them. Is it worth putting the 2 unhatched eggs under her now?

We only started with hens 6 months ago, so don't know what the best plan is. Thanks in advance for any advice...

I would not. She will be and running with the other chicks. The new babies won't be able to keep up.
If you are determined for her to raise them, you may be able to put all the newly hatched chicks under her at night, but it still is a risk that she won't care for them.

 

[janiedoe]

BTW, whenever I put chicks that I've hatched indoors, under a hen, I put spent eggshells and all. It seems to trick them into believing they did it.
Some hens won't adopt no matter what you do. Others will adopt any and all chicks, even those introduced during daylight.

 

[LuckyJim]

Hi! You'll need to brood them on your own.

I hoped I wouldn't need to do this as I don't have any equipment for brooding - no incubator, heatlamp or thermometer. I managed to cobble together a way of keeping the eggs warm using a desk lamp. It has a 150W halogen bulb where the brightness (and heat) can be adjusted using a variable resistor. I've been guessing the temperatures of the eggs just by feeling them. The eggs were fairly easy to heat as they don't move but looking after chicks will be another matter.

We have another broody hen that is sitting on 11 eggs and these will be (hopefully) hatching in 7 days or so. We haven't been able to candle these eggs yet, as this hen doesn't leave the nest for long.

The 1st hen left her eggs sometimes for 1 hour and TBH I thought they weren't going to hatch as she was leaving them for too long. We have 6 nest boxes - 2 rows of 3 boxes one row on top of the other. All the hens use the bottom 3 nest boxes and the top boxes were unused. We put the eggs in the top box to give the broody hen some more peace. She sometimes had a habit of returning to the nest boxes and sitting in one of the bottom ones, so I needed to lift her back to the top nest box to go back to the eggs. She also had 11 eggs to sit on, but 3 of the eggs weren't viable and were removed last weekend.

 

[janiedoe]

I hoped I wouldn't need to do this as I don't have any equipment for brooding - no incubator, heatlamp or thermometer. I managed to cobble together a way of keeping the eggs warm using a desk lamp. It has a 150W halogen bulb where the brightness (and heat) can be adjusted using a variable resistor. I've been guessing the temperatures of the eggs just by feeling them. The eggs were fairly easy to heat as they don't move but looking after chicks will be another matter.

We have another broody hen that is sitting on 11 eggs and these will be (hopefully) hatching in 7 days or so. We haven't been able to candle these eggs yet, as this hen doesn't leave the nest for long.

The 1st hen left her eggs sometimes for 1 hour and TBH I thought they weren't going to hatch as she was leaving them for too long. We have 6 nest boxes - 2 rows of 3 boxes one row on top of the other. All the hens use the bottom 3 nest boxes and the top boxes were unused. We put the eggs in the top box to give the broody hen some more peace. She sometimes had a habit of returning to the nest boxes and sitting in one of the bottom ones, so I needed to lift her back to the top nest box to go back to the eggs. She also had 11 eggs to sit on, but 3 of the eggs weren't viable and were removed last weekend.

You can brood using a heating pad if you have one. If you Google "mama heating pad" you'll find instructions here on byc and on several youtube videos and blogger sites. I've used a heating pad to brood several times. I generally brood mine in the coop and they go in with the flock at 4 to 6 weeks without any trouble.

 

[janiedoe]

Also I've had hens stay off their eggs for long lengths of time without problem.
If you have broodies it's always a good idea to have a small incubator for emergencies and a brooder too. Good luck!