Broody hen keeps stealing more eggs!

[The Chicken Whisperer]

Thanks, everyone! Super helpful!

 

[Peppercorngal]

We've had lots of broodies before, but most don't just keep getting more eggs!

I had a very sneaky broody who would leave the nest, get on the roost and watch the other chickens lay in her nest. Then she would hop back on the nest with more eggs each day! I checked everyday and ones I hadn't marked for her to hatch I removed. One day I watched her do this!

 

[The Chicken Whisperer]

Well... moving didn't go as planned... She decided those weren't her eggs and wouldn't touch them until we moved her and the eggs back to the origional spot. Hmmm... suggestions?

 

[bobbi-j]

Well... moving didn't go as planned... She decided those weren't her eggs and wouldn't touch them until we moved her and the eggs back to the origional spot. Hmmm... suggestions?

As others have said - mark the eggs she's sitting on. Check her nest daily and remove all extra eggs. I use a Sharpie and draw a circle around the hatching eggs so I can see at a glance if there are any additions to the nest. Lift hen up, glance, remove extra eggs, put hen down. Takes about 15 seconds.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Well... moving didn't go as planned... She decided those weren't her eggs and wouldn't touch them until we moved her and the eggs back to the origional spot. Hmmm... suggestions?

Yes, broody mamas are very particular. I had one hatch two last year (out of 6, but that's another story) and they hatched during the day. I was there to be sure the other chickens didn't get aggressive with them for the first day. Then I took them from her. She was using the second row of the nesting boxes and the chicks couldn't come and go. This year the chicks (she used the same box) hatched during the night and I found them on the coop floor the next morning. They were dead. One was pecked up pretty badly with a broken leg. Be sure you are around for the hatch! I've also never heard of such a short gestation, they hatched at 18 days! I know, I put the date on them. I wish you the best of luck, new chicks are fun!

 

[The Chicken Whisperer]

I have marked the eggs, but my Americauna named Sean Po keeps grabbing her and yanking her off the nest so that she can sit on them. I think she is broody too? She is being super mean and she is a whole lot bigger. Sean Po is now in a separate enclosure. Darcy (original broody) will not tolerate being moved. She leaves the eggs and tries to escape.

 

[50-45-1]

Always move your broody after dark, make sure her new spot is dark and cozy. I use an old rabbit hutch with one end enclosed. My broodies love it.

 

[The Chicken Whisperer]

Yes, broody mamas are very particular. I had one hatch two last year (out of 6, but that's another story) and they hatched during the day. I was there to be sure the other chickens didn't get aggressive with them for the first day. Then I took them from her. She was using the second row of the nesting boxes and the chicks couldn't come and go. This year the chicks (she used the same box) hatched during the night and I found them on the coop floor the next morning. They were dead. One was pecked up pretty badly with a broken leg. Be sure you are around for the hatch! I've also never heard of such a short gestation, they hatched at 18 days! I know, I put the date on them. I wish you the best of luck, new chicks are fun!

So sad about your little sweeties... we are normally around when they hatch out, but last time one hatched early and fell from the box and didn't make it. Only one hen has been broody before, and she is such a great mama that she hatched pretty much the whole flock! But she is super old now, barely laying at all, so she hasn't been a mama for a while... and she was never so greedy with her eggs!

 

[Shezadandy]

Yes, broody mamas are very particular. I had one hatch two last year (out of 6, but that's another story) and they hatched during the day. I was there to be sure the other chickens didn't get aggressive with them for the first day. Then I took them from her. She was using the second row of the nesting boxes and the chicks couldn't come and go. This year the chicks (she used the same box) hatched during the night and I found them on the coop floor the next morning. They were dead. One was pecked up pretty badly with a broken leg. Be sure you are around for the hatch! I've also never heard of such a short gestation, they hatched at 18 days! I know, I put the date on them. I wish you the best of luck, new chicks are fun!

Yes- generally ours hatch on day 19- we've had multiple day 18 chicks too. If we have one that refuses to leave "her" nest and settle into a crate on day 17 (I hatch mine inside in a crate on a nice tall table, no more bending and twisting) - we put a hardware cloth frame in the front of the nest so no babies can fall out, and no other hens can enter to bother the new mom and hatching eggs.

Most do the crate transition well, though a couple seem to like the small cat crate better than the bigger crate while waiting for the chicks to hatch. Once the babies hatch, the hens don't seem to care where the next spot is - so I move mine to the front of the coop where they can see but not be touched- and around day 5 for the youngest of the chicks out with the flock supervised. We've had so many now that the flock barely blinks at a broody with chicks.