Broody hen help please

[wormtowndavis]

I don't know if this is where this post belongs, so please move it if necessary.

This is also my first post, so Hi all my name is Julie.

I have a flock of 9 hens and 1 rooster, a mix of Arucanias and light Brahmans. 2 of my hens have gone broody and have been sitting for a while, so we've been waiting to see if any of the numerous eggs under them would hatch. Well it turns out that at least one of them did as evidenced by the dead chick that I found on the ground this morning.

Here's my question/dilemma. The hens are sitting in the nest boxes we have mounted on the wall about 3' off the ground. Obviously this chick got out, and couldn't get back in to its mama. At this point in time can I move the hens and their clutches to boxes on the floor? They're both pretty protective and won't let me near them to check and see what's under them. I'm afraid that if I were to move them, that they'd abandon their eggs. I don't have an incubator, and can't have the chicks in the house.

So, what do I do? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Julie

 

[dianneS]

I wouldn't put them in an incubator at this time anyway.

I've had the same problem with an upper level nest box as well. The good thing was that I had given the hen refrigerated eggs that I wanted her to set for me, so they all hatched on the same day. Before mom got off the nest with the chicks, I moved her and the chicks, at night into a lower level nest box, and they were all able to hop out of the nest just fine.

If she layed each of these eggs days apart, you will have chicks hatching days apart. If she already got off the nest with just one chick, she may not stay on the nest long enough to even hatch the remaining eggs. I assure you that the chick did not get off the nest by itself, mom got off the nest and the chick followed her and since chickens don't have arms, she couldn't carry the chick back up to the nest with her, and you're right, that is why the chick died. I would be concerned that she may not stay on the nest for all of the eggs to hatch, if the hatch is going to be that staggered.

What I would do and have done in the past, is check her several times a day. As the chicks hatch, take them from her and bring them inside and put them in a box under a heat lamp. Continue to do this until all of the eggs hatch. You could raise them indoors yourself, or if they all hatch within a few days of one another, try putting them back under mom one night after dark, in a lower level nest box.

This method has always worked just fine for me.

One more thing... What color eggs do your Amerucana/Light Brahma hens lay? I'm crossing Easter Eggers with light Brahmas and have to wait several months to find out what my chicks will lay some day!

 

[wormtowndavis]

She's not off the nest, both of the hens are still sitting, I don't know how the little one escaped. I can only think that it happened when she got up to eat or drink. I know that the eggs were laid days apart, only because we had no intention of hatching eggs at all. She sat, so we let her. (Can you tell that we're really new at this

)I can't have the chicks in the house here, but may be able to get a friend to take them and raise them at her house. I'll have to check that out.

So moving them now wouldn't be a good idea?

 

[dianneS]

If you want to move her and the eggs to a lower nest box for now, that could work if you do it at night so she'll stay on the eggs. If you can't take the chicks from her as they hatch, she will eventually hatch a few, or maybe even just one, and abandon the rest and leave them to die. Once she has chicks to care for, she will be focused on doing that, and not so much on setting eggs anymore. After a few days she will have to leave the nest to take the babies out scratching and eating. Any remaining eggs will get cold and die.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

If there are eggs under these hens that are maturing at different times it's because there were OTHER hens adding their eggs to the clutch after the broodies began to set. A broody hen doesn't begin to set until she's finished laying the eggs for her clutch. She will lay one a day until she reaches her magic number, and only then begin to set. After that she won't lay any more. That way all her eggs will begin to develop at the same time and are due to hatch on the same day. If there are other younger eggs then they were laid there by other hens who snuck in when the broody was off the nest on her break.

The way to prevent this from happening is to either isolate/barricade the broody from the rest of the coop, or mark her eggs with a pencil and check daily to remove any other eggs laid there.

At this point you could mark the eggs already under the hens, and begin daily to remove any new ones. Then wait to see if any of these marked eggs hatch. Wait about a day from the time the first chick hatches. Then move the hen with all the hatched chicks to their own ground-floor pen. You could put the remaining eggs under the second broody, and repeat the above. Then when the second hen has some chicks, just leave the rest of the eggs to cool, then bury them.

The next time one of your hens goes broody you should try to put her in a separate place or put a barricade around her nest spot.