Broody hen help, please

[kana9]

There are a total of 11 eggs and I do have space for that number of chicks in the coop and run. My friend can take the extra cockerels. From candling it looks like some of the eggs are fertile. Three of the hens have been sitting for a week or more and one just started two days ago. My plan is to move the three with the 11 eggs tomorrow. The upper nesting boxes are about 12-16 inches off the ground. The grow out pen has its own run so the hens will have access to their own run, food and water. The grow out pen also has low perches because that is where I have put two week old chicks from the brooder that is in the house.

 

[kana9]

Oh and some older hens chase the cockerel away and others do not.

 

[Mvan42]

I also move ,y broody to the floor. I made a cardboard box (cut one side out of it and put hey in it for a nest. Put eggs in then broody. Both have settled back on the eggs once moved.

 

[aart]

How can I candle olive egger eggs?

Most are impossible to candle, you'll just have to
Any candling should be done in a dark as possible space,
will make it much easier to see.

 

[aart]

Honestly, starting out with 4 broodies all at once... there will be issues.

No kidding!
I would never have that many at once...crazy!


When I have a broody I wait until she's been in the nest most the day and all night for 2-3 days...along with those other signs I posted.

Then I put her in the broody enclosure with fake eggs in the floor nest, she won't like being moved, but if she is truly good and broody she will settle onto the new nest within a half a day.
Then I give her fresh fertile eggs and mark the calendar.

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.


@kana9 there is another option:
Break a few of those broodies. Move them to where you want them, some may give up and some may not.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[kana9]

Thank you, Aart! This is what I did this morning: decided to limit to two broodies and break two. Moved the marked eggs to the two bottom nests and put two of the broodies in them. One stayed in right away and the other settled in after coming back out twice. I will use dog crates as suggested to break the other two broodies. I have lots of wire dog crates of different sizes. I was thinking that moving the broodies just to the lower nests instead of a different area would be less of a change. I did this before reading your response, sorry. Should I move them again into the grow out pen? The other hens are already coming to lay their eggs in the upper nest boxes.

 

[DobieLover]

Thank you, Aart! This is what I did this morning: decided to limit to two broodies and break two. Moved the marked eggs to the two bottom nests and put two of the broodies in them. One stayed in right away and the other settled in after coming back out twice. I will use dog crates as suggested to break the other two broodies. I have lots of wire dog crates of different sizes. I was thinking that moving the broodies just to the lower nests instead of a different area would be less of a change. I did this before reading your response, sorry. Should I move them again into the grow out pen? The other hens are already coming to lay their eggs in the upper nest boxes.

If you've marked the eggs, you can just inspect the nest when your broodies leave.
I allowed my broody to continue to come and go in the flock. I did have to evict a hen from her nest a few times when the broody was off for her break. No eggs were laid in her nest.
I would carefully remove my broody twice daily. Her morning breaks were quick, about 15 minutes. I would check to make sure she made it back to the correct nest after being moved. She had to be corrected for the first three days after the move then she always returned to her new nest site.
Her late afternoon breaks were always longer. About 1 - 1 1/2 hours. This was the time she would eat, scratch, dust bathe and preen. But she always returned to her nest.
On day 19 I stopped removing her.
All this being said, if you have the ability to monitor their excursions off the nests, you can manually manage your broodies until they hatch their clutches. Then just make sure you have the flock converted to something appropriate for all of them like Flock Raiser or All Flock or any brand chick starter with a container of oyster shell on the side for the active layers.
It may take a while to break your two broodies. It took 8 days to break one of mine. She was very stubborn. If your two are still broody after 3 days in the crate, consider dunking their bellies in a pan of cool water and putting a fan on them to help cool them off and break them. Do that in the mornings.
Good luck with the broody breaking and broody hatches. You are going to have your hands full for a while.

 

[aart]

Should I move them again into the grow out pen?

Up to you.
Might depend on whether they stay in the lower nests.

 

[kana9]

I moved the other two broodies and left the two in the lower nests with the rest of the flock. So far they are staying in the lower nests. I can keep monitoring and will remove all unmarked eggs from all the nests daily or more often. Thank you for the advice on broody braking. I will try the water if needed.

 

[kana9]

Update three days later: two broodies, the Olive Egger and Marans are broken and back with the flock, acting normal. One of the remaining ones, a Silver Gray Dorking, stopped sitting on her eggs today, even though she did so for two days after I moved her. I took her eggs and put them under the remaining broody hen, a Barnevelder. There have been four eggs that I have discarded because they were oozy and smelly. Now there are seven eggs remaining. I have looked at the candling pictures here on a nice thread, but cannot tell if the remaining eggs are ok. One has the bloody appearance with two black stripes I saw on one post here and there was a name for that. Should I discard that egg? All the eggs are now at the stage where it is just all dark inside with an air pocket on one side, so with none of the eggs being white, I can't tell very much detail with candling. Are there other things to look for when deciding when to discard eggs? Do broodies sometimes just stop sitting because it has been 21 days? I do not know if any of these eggs are good. I have had chickens go broody and then get out of it on their own after three or so weeks before I ever had a cockerel/rooster.