I'm having my first experience with a broody hen, and since we have no roosters I took pity on her and bought a dozen fertile eggs to put under her so she could at least have the satisfaction of hatching something. She seems to be doing a great job of sitting on them, although if I had been smart I would have marked the eggs since she seems to have taken advantage of the other hens laying to give her a break, and I know some of the eggs under her now are NOT fertile, but I'm too scared to guess which ones and take them out. So my question is, assuming any of the eggs hatch, how much do I need to do? Do I need to separate her and the babies from the other hens? Will they still need a nest? Does it matter that the nesting box is a couple of feet off the ground? Do I need to provide chick starter feed, and if I put it so the other hens can't get to it, will the "mother" not be able to show them to it?
I feel like there's probably a thread already that addresses this but I couldn't quite find what I was looking for, so if anyone can offer some advice or point me in the right direction for some, I'd sure appreciate it!
I feel like there's probably a thread already that addresses this but I couldn't quite find what I was looking for, so if anyone can offer some advice or point me in the right direction for some, I'd sure appreciate it!