Broody hen...should I hatch eggs?

[Perris]

Do you think two weeks in already with make her give up by the time the real eggs hatch?

probably not, but to give her the best chance, you should try to get hold of fertile hatching eggs asap. Good luck !

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Thanks, but its getting really cold outside now....so i'm considering waiting for spring or summer. What do you think?

 

[Perris]

it's entirely up to you - whichever way you go there are pros and cons! You could even just let her work it out (that no egg is going to hatch under her) on her own. In any event, she probably will go broody again, in her own time, so if you want chicks then, be ready to implement on her signal.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Ok, but could she still do it in winter?

 

[Perris]

some do, apparently, but I'm currently on my first autumn hatch; the chicks are just over 2 wks old and growing well, and mum is still attending to them well, but temps are falling, and it's been very wet recently. And if she loses interest before they're fully feathered, they may have a hard time of it. The subordinate roo may help (he hangs out with them) but... that's part of the emotional roller coaster of having a broody!

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Ok, yeah...I'm not sure. Can't get the eggs till Tuesday anyway.

 

[aart]

It was not safe enough for at night, so I had to put her back in the coop. That started it all over again in the morning.

There's not room for it in the coop?
Any other place you could put it overnight... shed, garage, in the house?
If you can't fit a crate, in the coop you might not have space for more birds
..and really, hatching eggs is not the way to solve the problem of not being able to break a broody.

 

[Willowspirit]

I had a new broody who sat for about two weeks. I arranged to get some fertile eggs and the day they were shipped she broke. Now I have an incubator. And so it goes...

 

[cluckmecoop7]

There's not room for it in the coop?
Any other place you could put it overnight... shed, garage, in the house?
If you can't fit a crate, in the cop you might not have space for more birds
..and really, hatching eggs is not the way to solve the problem of not being able to break a broody.

I'm not keeping the chicks.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I had a new broody who sat for about two weeks. I arranged to get some fertile eggs and the day they were shipped she broke. Now I have an incubator. And so it goes...

Oh.