Broody hen on clutch.... 1st TIME for us!!

[dozen chickens]

Hi there- Our black australop has been off/on broody for the last month, sitting for a few days at a time, etc and as of 7-8 days ago she has been on 11 eggs and hasnt moved. (The eggs were fresh that day). We do have a ROO so I imagine some of the eggs are good. We actually had to move her and the clutch from our old coop to the new one that is being built and she is still doing great.

My questions are.....

Do I let her hatch them completely, or do I have to move them into an incubator at some point?

If she hatches them, do I need to remove her from the coop? It is possible for me to screen her an area in the coop that would keep the others from accessing her and chicks, but would she be stressed out?

The eggs/hen are in the next box, so I imagine I will at some point need to move her and the eggs to a lower level.

Anything else that you think I need to know???

Thanks so much!

 

[BirdBoy88]

I would let her hatch them out her self...once the chicks hatch you don't need to keep her away from the other chickens.. the mother hen does a great job at keeping the other chickens away from her babies.. if she is in a high level nest box i wouldn't move her until the chicks hatch..some hens will stress if you bother them to much during incubation...

only thing you need to keep an eye on is that since there are 11 eggs in the nest make sure it stays that way.. sometimes when the hen gets off the nest to eat drink etc... another hen will try an lay her egg in the nest.. i've had that happen sometimes to my hens when there incubating eggs... but other than that just try not to bother her

Good Luck

 

[dozen chickens]

Quote:
Thanks SOOO much Mark~ I really appreciate it! I will certainly follow your advice, and I hope she hatches some. We actually had to move her from the old coop to the new coop, and I was SOOO worried that would cause a problem but she did wonderfully. Daughter carried mama hen and I carried the eggs in a basket and we walked together to the new coop, I placed the eggs in the next box and then DD placed her in and she has been fine since. However, yesterday mama hen was eatting/drinking in the coop and DD walked in, picked her up and put her back in the next box. Mama hen immediately started pecking and eatting 1 or 2 eggs! Since then, I have had a talk with DD about leaving her completely alone and mama hen has been sitting and seems to be doing well. I hope we can do this!

Thanks again!!!

 

[BirdBoy88]

Your Welcome

You will do fine an you will have little babies sooner than you think

my niece did the samething but the hen attack her and she never went back in the barn

Good luck and keep us Posted with everything

 

[Kelly FG]

good luck!!!!!!
my broody only has one egg left, the others broke & i'm afraid it no good

 

[dozen chickens]

Quote:
Thanks so much! I can be a bit of a worrier! Poor mama is sitting on the eggs in a coop/tackroom/barn that is being built so there is construction each and every day. But, she seems to be just fine with it all and I hope we have some little fuzzy surprises! Thanks for all your help!

 

[dozen chickens]

Quote:
Thanks! Best of wishes to you guys...