broody hen picked a bad, but good spot. accommodate or move?

[thebulg]

i also have to say, this particular hen is the kind of hen that makes me... not question science or facts.... but she reminds me that nature knows more than we think it does. we put a lot of absolute statements on chickens, a lot of definitives based on patterns and proof, and i would never just discard those because for the most part they are truths. this is the 4th spot she has tried to make her nest. the first 2 i just ruined by always taking her eggs, she never went broody. but each spot she has picked has gotten better and better for hatching. since her getting off of the other nest of infertile eggs (she abandoned around day 7), she has spent the whole 2 months acting so strange, and based on everything i read, it looked like we were going to need to cull her. i certainly can't rule that out if she abandons this nest as well. but if she hatches this out, i will believe that she knew the first clutch was a dud, and that the spot she was in wasn't good enough, and she got off and did what she needed to do to regroup and hatch out eggs. i believe this chicken has some level of problem solving skills and a bit more intuition than my other chickens. anyway.

magic and stuff haha! but really, chickens are a little magical.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Just to add to the good council you have already received......I feed everybody starter/grower or All Flock.

Blooie, whats the protein of all flock---and the brand---I can not find it here??? Is the price about the same as grower/finisher

 

[thebulg]

Listen, I just do not want my chickens to get a upset stomach from a feed change so even if I change brands "I" mix the last bag with the new bag----so they can move to the new one gently!! If feed change caused a little stomach problem---it could be worse for some of us that have 1000+ chickens compared to some with only a few so I take precautions with a change.

oh man, the idea of 1000 upset stomachs is not appealing! the practice makes sense though, to ease in. in our small flock, egg production is a meaningful thing for us. i would say we can't really afford to lose a chicken, but with 27 eggs set to hatch in the next month, that statement would now be a lie ha! but i don't want to do anything to add stress to the flock, and something like mixing together 2 bags of food is a win win. it certainly can't hurt them to transition, and it takes no time at all on my part to do it.

 

[rebrascora]

Providing the nest is on the floor and there isn't a big lip on it that would prevent the chicks climbing back up into it, they will be fine. They probably won't come out of the nest at all until she encourages them to leave it, but occasionally, especially with large or staggered hatches, one or two fall/climb out and that's when important to create a shallow ramp or platform nest to the nest so that they can get back in.
I'm not clear on what you did to check fertility and did you give her another hens eggs to replace the ones you removed. If so, was this on day one or several days into the brood as that will cause a staggered hatch, so you would be better removing those eggs if you can identify them. 17 is a lot for a first time broody and risks lowering the hatch rate. The broody constantly moves the eggs and if she is unable to cover them all, some on the outside may chill and die but then get moved into the centre of the nest and a different one get pushed to the outside and chill. Better to leave her with about 10.

I have a broody with 9 chicks and another that is a first time broody pullet who is on 13 eggs and in a place that I cannot get to her....she started with 17 but some of them have got knocked out. She is in a broken down old shed and I can see the nest through a hole in the roof if I stand on a ladder! She has 5 ish days to go I think! My favourite broody, Tasha is now down to 9 eggs from 13 started. The welsummer eggs are just a bit too thin shelled and several have unfortunately got broken in the nest, so that may affect the others hatch rate. I know it was a risk, but I really wanted to hatch the willies and if any hen could do it Tasha would be the one. Then I have Dolly on day 2 with 12 eggs and the other two, I have yet to set. Actually I had intended for Portia to have the nest of 12 eggs but Dolly wanted them more! I have been trying to break Dolly as she's already sat 3 weeks on an egg that turned out to be infertile and I am concerned that another 3 weeks will take it's toll on her condition, but she is quite adamant that she wants this nest of eggs more than Portia and is determined to thwart me, just as I am in the process of fabricating a broody buster for her!.

 

[thebulg]

Providing the nest is on the floor and there isn't a big lip on it that would prevent the chicks climbing back up into it, they will be fine. They probably won't come out of the nest at all until she encourages them to leave it, but occasionally, especially with large or staggered hatches, one or two fall/climb out and that's when important to create a shallow ramp or platform nest to the nest so that they can get back in.
I'm not clear on what you did to check fertility and did you give her another hens eggs to replace the ones you removed. If so, was this on day one or several days into the brood as that will cause a staggered hatch, so you would be better removing those eggs if you can identify them. 17 is a lot for a first time broody and risks lowering the hatch rate. The broody constantly moves the eggs and if she is unable to cover them all, some on the outside may chill and die but then get moved into the centre of the nest and a different one get pushed to the outside and chill. Better to leave her with about 10.

so, timing. i tell ya, this hen is a genius. we have been merging 2 flocks and that meant going out every night for 3 nights to make sure everyone was on the roost and nobody had been harmed. on the day of the 4th night my husband and i were out planning out the new coop and discussing the merged flocks and agreed we were safe to clip wings that night after everyone went to roost. she must have heard we went out to clip that night, and she was gone. i thought she had possibly died or been taken by an animal somehow or gotten lost, but we did a flashlight search of the yard anyway, and on a whim i checked the garage and found her in the corner. so i took 3 eggs off the side and cracked them open. 2 of the 3 were fertile-- nice clear bullseye. and then i just replaced those 3 with eggs from my buff and ameracauna from the last 2 days, because those two are always fertile. dumb luck, honestly.

i thought 16 was a lot! i have read that normal clutches are closer to 10-12. we're on day 5 now.... should i take a few out? i'm not really concerned with this hatch having a huge success rate. do you think if i can candle twice before day 10 and try to mark duds that it might help?

 

[rebrascora]

Like you I have faith in hens with natural instinct. Tasha is one of those and her granddaughter in the shed that I can't get to, is another. I have to say, my daily egg collection is actually an egg hunt and involves ladders and crawling into attic spaces and all sorts of nooks and crannies....my flock free ranges in an old farm yard. I just found 13 eggs today under the eves in the loft above the hen house. A year gone Boxing Day I found a mountain of 47 little blue and pink eggs that had been laid by Tasha and one of her daughters over a period of weeks when I assumed they had knocked off for the winter. Amazingly, all were still edible! Now I watch the wily ones closely and make a note of the direction they head off in and then do a search later. I've foiled a few would be broodies as they were at the stage of assembling their clutch.

 

[PD-Riverman]

do you think if i can candle twice before day 10 and try to mark duds that it might help?

If its a sure dud---remove it---that will lesson the eggs in the nest.

 

[thebulg]

Like you I have faith in hens with natural instinct. Tasha is one of those and her granddaughter in the shed that I can't get to, is another. I have to say, my daily egg collection is actually an egg hunt and involves ladders and crawling into attic spaces and all sorts of nooks and crannies....my flock free ranges in an old farm yard. I just found 13 eggs today under the eves in the loft above the hen house. A year gone Boxing Day I found a mountain of 47 little blue and pink eggs that had been laid by Tasha and one of her daughters over a period of weeks when I assumed they had knocked off for the winter. Amazingly, all were still edible! Now I watch the wily ones closely and make a note of the direction they head off in and then do a search later. I've foiled a few would be broodies as they were at the stage of assembling their clutch.

this sort of sounds like a dream to me! i check about 5 spots every day. there is certainly something very nice about being able to do your chores quickly and gather eggs, but there is something whimsical about letting chickens be chickens and being subject to their lives and happiness like they are to ours. we have poop all over our sidewalk out back and some on our porch, but i wouldn't change it.

how old is tasha? what breed is she? i hope you get all the babies you are hoping for!

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, I would candle and remove any clears and then leave her to it after that and let nature take it's course. The nest she abandoned may have been infested with mites rather than her actually knowing the eggs were infertile. I've had that happen before and now I always dust their nests with DE when I set them. Broody hens can be a sitting target for lice and mites, which is why having access to a dust bath is so important for them..

I can't bring myself to clip wings. With them free ranging, it might be the difference between life and death.

 

[PD-Riverman]

oh man, the idea of 1000 upset stomachs is not appealing! the practice makes sense though, to ease in. in our small flock, egg production is a meaningful thing for us. i would say we can't really afford to lose a chicken, but with 27 eggs set to hatch in the next month, that statement would now be a lie ha! but i don't want to do anything to add stress to the flock, and something like mixing together 2 bags of food is a win win. it certainly can't hurt them to transition, and it takes no time at all on my part to do it.

Well the bag of each mixed together was for you with a few chicken---LOL--- I usually mix about 300lb of the old with about 300lb of the new, then when they eat that I mix about 100lb of the old with about 300b of the new----LOL.

BUT with just one hen---a hand full of the old with a hand full of the new!!!