Broody hen question

[kylee2katie]

I have a muskovy hen (also a pekin and a mallard hen) who have been laying for several months. I collect eggs daily and this has never been an issue - until today....I let them all out of the night pen this morning and everyone went running out, as usual, except the skovy. She is sitting on the nest (which is a plastic dog house with hay inside). I tried to reach in to shoo her out and get the eggs and she fluffed up and tried repeatedly to bite me!!
I tried for about 3 hours to get her off and get the eggs and finally gave up...
What is the best way to handle this? I do not want babies till spring....If she gets off later, are the eggs still ok to eat or will they not actually be "growing" for several days of her setting?
I don't want to do anything that will traumatize her for future sittings, but I really don't want easter (or new years) babies!!
Thanks for any advice!!

 

[Birdcrazy]

A broody hen usually gets off once a day, so maybe just wait til then to pull out the eggs. If she's only been sitting on them for a day no growth would of started so you can take em out, but maybe eat them straight away as I don't think its good to heat up eggs then leave em at the back of the carton

Hope this helps - my hen lets me take out and put in eggs so haven't experienced this difficulty yet

 

[duckyfromoz]

You really cant see anything of the development in the egg after 36- 48 hours of being sat on. After that- you would most likely see some small blood spots when opening the egg.

Broodies can be tough to stop once they really get the mind set to sit. I have a girl who I tried to get off a nest. Within hours she had found another nest when the broody sitting on that one got up for a drink. Now they are sharing it. I dont want any more ducklings at the moment so would rather neither of them were sitting. I remove eggs daily and they still sit there sometimes. I have found that if I let them sit for a few days- then remove all the eggs- mess up the nest- and cover the area with a board it is usually more successful. It kind of messes with their egg laying routine. Ducks can still lay an egg a day for a few days after they start to sit- once they are no longer laying- thats when I move them- as it takes a few more days before they start to lay again and in those few days they usually have lost their broodiness.

 

[Judy]

I just let them hatch some eggs; we eat some of them anyway. Yesterday I was watching day old chicks that hadn't even learned to eat/drink, out from under mama, not touching her, and asleep in 55 degree weather, on hay. When the chick gets cold it will go under mama. I raise my chicks with broodies; I really wonder how chicks survive 95-100 degree brooders. If your coop is nice and snug and non-drafty you could consider it. Or if you have something like a garage that isn't really warm but not really cold, you could put them in there. Or a shed that you could "insulate" with bales of hay, or the like.