Broody hen taking all my eggs!

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

She doesn't care about that.


Make sure you check daily and remove any other eggs that get laid in her nest.

Yes, I marked them so I can remove any other eggs from the community nest. Something interesting happened yesterday, when I went out to put everyone up I was collecting eggs. My 2 hens (Lavender Orpington & Barred Rock) that consistently were using the double nesting box, both decided to use it again. They'd both stopped about 2 weeks ago and moved to a nest under the roosting bars & poop board .
Recently I lowered the double nesting box, and added 2 new nesting boxes to my coop - could this be why they are using it? I also added ceramic eggs to the nesting boxes.

I was wondering:
What makes a hen turn on baby chicks and attack them or eggs? A number of people are suggesting I added new chicks to my broody hens new hatch count. This makes me nervous if she may attack them, abandon them, or eat them. I've read a number articles of where it was an unsuccessful transition for an egg or chick to a hen that didn't lay egg or hatch chick and either hen turns on it or just walks away and refuses to care for it and it dies.
Is there anyway to make it more successful and encourage her to continue to be a great mom to her babies? She can't count, right?

 

[NatJ]

I was wondering:
What makes a hen turn on baby chicks and attack them or eggs? A number of people are suggesting I added new chicks to my broody hens new hatch count. This makes me nervous if she may attack them, abandon them, or eat them. I've read a number articles of where it was an unsuccessful transition for an egg or chick to a hen that didn't lay egg or hatch chick and either hen turns on it or just walks away and refuses to care for it and it dies.
Is there anyway to make it more successful and encourage her to continue to be a great mom to her babies? She can't count, right?

More often than not, a hen will accept the chicks she hatches.
If you put extra chicks under her within a day or two after that, more often than not, she will accept them.

But every hen is an individual, so "more often than not" doesn't cover all of them. Some of them just do things differently.

No, hens cannot count, but they can see what color & pattern the chicks are. Some hens don't seem to care, but some hens do. Once they already have some chicks of one color, they may decide that any other color chick is wrong.

I once had a hen with chicks in shades of brown, red, and yellow. She was quite happy to adopt other chicks that were yellow, but absolutely refused a black chick.

I had another hen that was willing to adopt a group of chicks that had various patterns on them (stripes and spots and blotchy designs), but she decided the few solid-colored chicks were not welcome, even though the solid chicks had the same overall colors.

If the chick hatches under the hen, or you put the chick under her during the night, she can spend all night clucking at the chick, and hearing the chick chirp back, and I think this makes her more likely to accept that chick when it comes out and she sees its color in the morning. Putting the chick underneath at night also helps the chick. It spends all night talking to mommy while being snuggly and warm, instead of first seeing the hen as a big scary shape and trying to run away.

 

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

More often than not, a hen will accept the chicks she hatches.
If you put extra chicks under her within a day or two after that, more often than not, she will accept them.

But every hen is an individual, so "more often than not" doesn't cover all of them. Some of them just do things differently.

No, hens cannot count, but they can see what color & pattern the chicks are. Some hens don't seem to care, but some hens do. Once they already have some chicks of one color, they may decide that any other color chick is wrong.

I once had a hen with chicks in shades of brown, red, and yellow. She was quite happy to adopt other chicks that were yellow, but absolutely refused a black chick.

I had another hen that was willing to adopt a group of chicks that had various patterns on them (stripes and spots and blotchy designs), but she decided the few solid-colored chicks were not welcome, even though the solid chicks had the same overall colors.

If the chick hatches under the hen, or you put the chick under her during the night, she can spend all night clucking at the chick, and hearing the chick chirp back, and I think this makes her more likely to accept that chick when it comes out and she sees its color in the morning. Putting the chick underneath at night also helps the chick. It spends all night talking to mommy while being snuggly and warm, instead of first seeing the hen as a big scary shape and trying to run away.

The eggs in the incubator are going to hatch in the next 2-4 days. So brand new hatched chicks can go out into the coop with her and she'll take care of all their needs? Food, water, everything?
Do I offer a waterer that is chick height for them outside and chick feed with chick grit like I would in the brooder?
The eggs she's sitting on aren't going to hatch until early July. So what do I do with those? I haven't even candled those yet to see if they're fertilized or not.
So do I give her chicks that hatched or keep her on eggs?? Can I put her eggs in incubator to hatch?
This is A Lot!!!

 

[aart]

The eggs in the incubator are going to hatch in the next 2-4 days. So brand new hatched chicks can go out into the coop with her and she'll take care of all their needs?

A hen that has been broody for only a few days is not likely to adopt incubator chicks.

 

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

A hen that has been broody for only a few days is not likely to adopt incubator chicks.

She's been broody for 3-1/2 weeks. I tried to break her, but I made some mistakes in the process and then just decided to give her 2 eggs to hatch.

 

[NatJ]

The eggs in the incubator are going to hatch in the next 2-4 days. So brand new hatched chicks can go out into the coop with her and she'll take care of all their needs? Food, water, everything?

Generally, yes.

You can probaby take the chicks straight from the incubator, tuck them under her during the night, and she'll take care of them. She will probably stay on the nest the next day, with the chicks mostly under her but sometimes popping out, and they'll all come off the nest the day after that. (Different hens time it a bit differently, but it's common for them to sit for a certain amount of time after the chicks hatch.)

Do I offer a waterer that is chick height for them outside and chick feed with chick grit like I would in the brooder?

Yes.

The eggs she's sitting on aren't going to hatch until early July. So what do I do with those? I haven't even candled those yet to see if they're fertilized or not.

Remove the eggs when you give her chicks.
You can discard the eggs, or put them in the incubator. Of course it's fine to candle them before making the decision.

So do I give her chicks that hatched or keep her on eggs??

She's been broody for 3-1/2 weeks. I tried to break her, but I made some mistakes in the process and then just decided to give her 2 eggs to hatch.

If she's already been broody that long, I would give her chicks.

For the two eggs with only a few days of incubation, I would probably discard them. Putting them in the incubator would also be fine, but then you are likely to be raising 1 or 2 chicks at a different age than the others.

 

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

Generally, yes.

You can probaby take the chicks straight from the incubator, tuck them under her during the night, and she'll take care of them. She will probably stay on the nest the next day, with the chicks mostly under her but sometimes popping out, and they'll all come off the nest the day after that. (Different hens time it a bit differently, but it's common for them to sit for a certain amount of time after the chicks hatch.)


Yes.

Remove the eggs when you give her chicks.
You can discard the eggs, or put them in the incubator. Of course it's fine to candle them before making the decision.


If she's already been broody that long, I would give her chicks.

For the two eggs with only a few days of incubation, I would probably discard them. Putting them in the incubator would also be fine, but then you are likely to be raising 1 or 2 chicks at a different age than the others.

Update:
I successfully hatched out 5 of 6 eggs in my incubator and slid them under my broody hen the night before last. I moved her and into a large dog cage inside the coop and then that night I tucked 5 chicks under her. She's doing well other than she's still sitting on the nest. How long before I can expect her to get up with her chicks and come out to meet everyone? Tomorrow I am picking up 3 new chicks that I ordered months ago at the hatchery. My plan is to tuck these 3 new chicks under her tomorrow night, as well. That will give her 8 chicks total.

 

[Mrs. K]

Is the dog crate open so that she can come out? Mine tend to leave the nest within 12-24 hours.

 

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

Update:
I successfully hatched out 5 of 6 eggs in my incubator and slid them under my broody hen the night before last. I moved her and into a large dog cage inside the coop and then that night I tucked 5 chicks under her. She's doing well other than she's still sitting on the nest. How long before I can expect her to get up with her chicks and come out to meet everyone? Tomorrow I am picking up 3 new chicks that I ordered months ago at the hatchery. My plan is to tuck these 3 new chicks under her tomorrow night, as well. That will give her 8 chicks total.

Update to the update:
Hatchery warned against adding the 3 new bantam chicks picked up yesterday to broody hen, so I've setup another smaller brooder in the house. I'm just going to let her raise the 5 she's was originally given. She doing great with them. They came out for the first time this morning - she brought them out to the dustbath area and to the place where I pass out the kitchen scraps.
I made them a safe place in a large dog pen inside the coop. After a few days with her chicks I opened the door so she could come out, and she immediately setup her nest outside the pen back in her original nest. I pulled out the dog pen and allowed her to use her nest in the corner of the coop. She's so far protected her brood very well if another hen goes near her nest or chicks. So next I worried she may take over the whole coop, but she stayed in her corner and everything was quiet last night . Success, so far...
See photo from this morning (there are 5 chicks, 1 is behind her, another is difficult to see against the dark mat - Black Copper Marans x Dark Brahma)

 

[Cookies-Chickens2004]

Update to the update:
Hatchery warned against adding the 3 new bantam chicks picked up yesterday to broody hen, so I've setup another smaller brooder in the house. I'm just going to let her raise the 5 she's was originally given. She doing great with them. They came out for the first time this morning - she brought them out to the dustbath area and to the place where I pass out the kitchen scraps.
I made them a safe place in a large dog pen inside the coop. After a few days with her chicks I opened the door so she could come out, and she immediately setup her nest outside the pen back in her original nest. I pulled out the dog pen and allowed her to use her nest in the corner of the coop. She's so far protected her brood very well if another hen goes near her nest or chicks. So next I worried she may take over the whole coop, but she stayed in her corner and everything was quiet last night . Success, so far...
See photo from this morning (there are 5 chicks, 1 is behind her, another is difficult to see against the dark mat - Black Copper Marans x Dark Brahma)View attachment 3158507

She's being a good Mom I'm so happy
I thought she'd never stop being under the broody trance.