Broody Hen at 4 Months Old? She wont let me near her (or the egg)!!

ChickLover98

The Chicken Princess
9 Years
Apr 24, 2010
8,334
23
261
Pennsylvania
Hello! My hen just laid another egg this morning, and when I went in the coop to collect it, she sat down on it and kinda screeched at me every time i got near her. She has not yet moved, but she usually doesnt do this, as for all of my hens like the first box the best and kick one another out. Any suggestions? I will try to get a pic later (if needed).

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Put on a long sleeve shirt, a pair of leather gloves, go out, pick up the chicken and take the egg.

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Well, what if I want chicks? I have to go back out and check on her, but should I let her hatch the egg if she wants to?
(I know the egg's fertile... I saw my roo mount her two days ago.)
 
If you want her to hatch the egg, then leave her alone. Just keep an eye on her that she doesn't get beat up by the other hens.
 
I don't think you will likely end up with chicks from first eggs from a 4 month old sitting pullet. It is very doubtful she has the fat reserves needed to sit the whole time.

I would discourage her this time and wait at least another couple months and let her try again.
 
I suggest you read this thread. It talks about a lot of things other than if you should isolate the hen or not. If you elect to let her hatch eggs and decide to not isolate her, please pay a lot of attention to the comments on marking the eggs and removing new eggs daily.

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218

I would not try to hatch small pullet eggs. Some people do and many do hatch, but the hatch rate is not all that great and the chicks are usually small and don't do as well as chicks hatched from full sized eggs. Those pullet eggs are not big enough to hold enough nutrients for the chicks to develop as they should.

If you elect to let her try to hatch eggs, save up all the eggs you want her to hatch and put them under her at the same time. Otherwise, you are going to have a whole lot more drama than you want.

As far as her not letting you reach under her, who is in charge, you or her? When I was growing up, one of my chores was to gather eggs. If we had a broody setting on eggs, I had to check under her every day to remove any unmarked eggs. Some of those broodies were pretty mean. I really did not want to check under them, but it was something I had to do. I did not have long sleeves or gloves either. With animal ownership, you have certain responsibilities.
 
Yep....after a day or two of removing mine and taking the eggs, they generally get off the nest when they see me coming. I'm none too gentle with a hen that pecks, so I pull her off the eggs any way that I can. There is a time to brood and a time to definitely NOT brood....you choose the times.
 

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