Broody hen now has no eggs, can I give her some?

[MaineChick]

I have a Speckled Sussex 10 1/2 months old that went broody about the 12th of this month. I didn't realize it til the 15th, so took her eggs away so she was only setting on one. Today she startled me when I had her egg and another in my hand, (someone had laid another in her box and I was checking to see which was which) and the egg she's been brooding got cracked.

Not totally broken, but definitely damaged shell.

When she first went broody, I didn't realize I could just take a few recently collected eggs and stick them under her. Can I still do this, with fresh eggs that won't hatch for 21 days, when poor Little Chicken should have hatched the one I cracked in 12 or 13 days? Is that too long for her to brood, an extra 10 days?

If I can't give her eggs as they will take too long, what do I do with this poor chicken who is broody but now will have no eggs?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kittymomma]

If she's in good shape it shouldn't be a problem. Sometimes they get really poorly because they don't eat so if your going to keep her on the nest for an extra couple of weeks you might want to start bringing her out a scrambled egg or some other high-value treats once or twice a day.

ETA: A lot of folks have good luck slipping day old chicks under a broody hen too. You have to do it at night and it doesn't always work so if you go this route make sure you are prepared to brood them yourself.

 

[MaineChick]

Thanks, Kittymomma. I can wait on her hand and foot if need be to keep her healthy, I just didn't know if nature would take over and have her going "huh??" and hopping off to go do other chicken business when her egg didn't hatch "on time".

The four or five days' worth of eggs that I will put under her tomorrow will all hatch at the same time, more or less? Seems strange...

I have some day olds ordered for the end of April that I was planning to brood myself - if another hen goes broody, I might try getting the hens to do the work. They are so much fun to take care of yourself, though!

My husband is sick of the whole thing and says to just stop her from brooding, which would probably be simplest at this point - but I feel that if she wants to brood a few chicks she ought to be let to. She seems to take the whole thing very seriously.

Are there any ill effects from taking her off eggs now and trying to break it?

 

[Kittymomma]

No, you can break her of it without hurting her. I think it's better for the hen to break them if they aren't going to be allowed to sit on fertile eggs--not your case, but generally speaking. Some can be broken by just taking them off of the nest several times a day and putting them on the roost at night. Stubborn broodies need more direct methods though. The one that seems to work the best is to put her in a wire bottom cage (old rabbit cages are good) large enough for her to have food/water but no nest or anything to make one out of. Put the cage up on blocks so there is good air flow underneath. Getting their belly/bottom cooled off seems to be key in shutting down the broody hormones. A couple of days should do the trick, but a really stubborn hen can take up to a week.