I am also new to the broody hen deal. Just had one hatch 5 about 1 week ago. Like @Chickengene said move her well after dark where you want her to stay. You can try opening the coop door in the morning to let others in with her you will just have to see what she does. Might put you back at square one if she gets run off the nest with the others coming in. If the others don’t phase her then I would let them come and go. You might want to put a few fake eggs under her where she is sitting and collect the eggs up for several days. After how ever many eggs you want to collect is completed.
Step 1 mark all the eggs you want to set.
Step 2 set all the eggs under her at the same time.
Step 3 check under her every couple days for broken eggs and to make sure she is not still adding more eggs.
When you set all the eggs at the same time they will all hatch very close together, usually within 24 hours.
If you let her keep adding eggs you will have a staggered hatch that may take up to a week or more for all of them to hatch.
I had other hens adding eggs under the broody with only one week until hatch time. That would have been a mess for sure if I was not removing all the newly unmarked eggs from the nest.
When marking eggs I prefer to mark the tips with pencil. That area seems to not wear off so easily.
What say you @aart?? Does that about sum it up?? @aart has been a great deal of help to many on this site including myself.
Good luck with your broody!!
Report back in 21 days.
Step 1 mark all the eggs you want to set.
Step 2 set all the eggs under her at the same time.
Step 3 check under her every couple days for broken eggs and to make sure she is not still adding more eggs.
When you set all the eggs at the same time they will all hatch very close together, usually within 24 hours.
If you let her keep adding eggs you will have a staggered hatch that may take up to a week or more for all of them to hatch.
I had other hens adding eggs under the broody with only one week until hatch time. That would have been a mess for sure if I was not removing all the newly unmarked eggs from the nest.
When marking eggs I prefer to mark the tips with pencil. That area seems to not wear off so easily.
What say you @aart?? Does that about sum it up?? @aart has been a great deal of help to many on this site including myself.
Good luck with your broody!!
Report back in 21 days.
so we can stay on the OP's issues here.
