Broody Hen, Need Advice.

[aart]

Thank you all for the advice.
I was thinking of ordering from a hatchery, but the breed I am looking for likely wouldn't arrive until April 8th-April 10th. By then my hen will have been sitting for four weeks on her golf balls. Is this too long for her? Will she throw in the towel after the 21 days is up? She is a new broody, this is her very first time, but she does seem to be doing quite well with her golf balls.

I hope you are able to determine if she's leaving the nest each day to eat, drink, poop.......
......she may stay broody without health consequences for 4 weeks if she's getting enough nutrition.

It's rare, but broodies can sit themselves to literal death.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I have a bit of an update to report today.

It gave me a good laugh, so I had to share.

So here is a photo of my original broody hen (her name is Dixie). This is the one who has been broody for a couple of weeks now.



Just a couple of days ago, I witnessed Dixie being bullied by two of her flock mates who are also bantam hens and just so happen to be her sisters, Trixie, and Pixie. As Dixie ever so determined, sat on her two golf balls in one of the coop nest boxes, Pixie, out of nowhere, stood on the roost bar in front of her and pulled her right off of her nest. As the two had a fight on the floor of the coop, Trixie decided to sit on Dixies two golf balls.
Pixie went around the coop and searched for her perfect nest box, while the real broody hen, Dixie, took a few minutes to get a drink and some food. Dixie finally returned to her nest and Trixie got off of it and allowed Dixie to reclaim what was rightfully hers. I returned about 1/2 hour later to find that they took the broody hen, Dixie, off of her nest AGAIN. I was fed up with such harsh treatment, so I began to set up a new nest for Dixie in full privacy and away from the flock. I was about to get Dixie and show her the new environment, but that is when I found that somebody laid a new egg in Dixies nest! I assumed it was one of the hens who had taken her off. Dixie sat on the new egg and her two golf balls and finally began to settle down. I waited until night time and I removed my sleepy hen from her original nest and I gently placed her inside of a small dog carrier in the storage part of my coop (Boy is it easy to move a sleepy hen!).
The next day, I decided to let Dixie have a break as she appeared agitated by being confined in her new nest. That was a big mistake, because Dixie got startled and flew on top of the loft of my coop! It took hours to finally catch her and place her back into the comfort of her new nest. Later that day, I placed Dixies dog carrier inside of a large dog crate where she has access to food and water whenever she felt she needed it. Dixie is beginning to accept her new nest as the days progress. She remains on her two golf balls for the most part.

So, all is well, right? Ha! So I thought!

This morning I walk into the coop and observed my flock. The broody hen seemed agitated so I allowed her to visit the flock for a while as I watched. Suddenly, I felt as though something was missing... that's when I realized that my two bantam hens, Trixie and Pixie were missing! I couldn't find my two bantam hens anywhere. There are not many hiding places in my coop. Did they somehow get out? Surely nobody would take them! Where in the world could they have gone off to?
That is when I bent down and looked behind my nest boxes and saw this:




There, BEHIND the nest boxes were my two evil twin broodies. Back to back.

I removed the nest boxes and here is what I found next.

A total of 14 eggs!!!

I asked them how long they had been hiding it! Surely, they had been planning this surprise for at least a week!

I gathered up all 14 eggs and I candled them inside of my house, they do not seem to be very far along, I suspect that these hens just began sitting today, I had seen them both out and about yesterday.

I have three Easter Egger chicks arriving around April 8th, so I decided to move my broody hens to a new enviroment and give them fake eggs, temporarily, until the chicks arrive, which is when I will allow each one of my broodies to raise one chick.


I set up a large dog crate for my two twin broodies and I gave them both two fake ceramic eggs. They were agitated, and unhappy with the new nests. Trixie even laid an egg in her nest.

It concerns me that she laid an egg, I realize broodies generally don't lay eggs, but they both appear broody to me. Unless of course they decided to start to save eggs for the easter bunny!

Kidding!

The good news is that Dixie, my original broody hen is doing very well in her new environment.

Assuming the twin broodies calm down and sit on their new nests, will it be okay to let them brood together once the chicks arrive? They seem like a team. I've heard of broodies stealing and killing chicks before, so I figured I would ask.

Thanks all for the advice, and I hope the pictures brought a smile to your face like they did mine. Never a dull moment in that coop!

 

[Den in Penn]

Last summer I put three broodies together in a shed and let them set. One broke brood and I gave her eggs to the other two. When they hatched both took care of the chicks with no notice of who hatched which chick. It usually works that way, however it is usually the bad times that are remembered and is passed on.