Broody Hen Thread!

[chickmeme]

My buff has gone broody at only six months old. she has been laying and egg just about every day but I was taking them. now I have decided to let her brood. I placed two more eggs under her today. As these are my first chickens I want to know how many eggs will she set on and what else should I do? Can I add eggs each day that my others give me some? I have 2 roos so these may hatch.

 

[gimmie birdies]

In warmer weather I would give a bantam 6, in colder weather I would give her 4. a full sized hen in summer 12, and 8 in colder weather. It looks cute when a hen is sitting on 40 eggs but that would be a waste of eggs.

 

[fisherlady]

My buff has gone broody at only six months old. she has been laying and egg just about every day but I was taking them. now I have decided to let her brood. I placed two more eggs under her today. As these are my first chickens I want to know how many eggs will she set on and what else should I do? Can I add eggs each day that my others give me some? I have 2 roos so these may hatch.

You need to collect all of the eggs you want her to sit on, mark them and give them all to her at one time. Do not add any eggs after you give her the planned clutch and remove any extra which other hens lay in her nest.
You also should decide if you want to move her to another nest before giving her a clutch, hens should be moved when it is dark and quiet and then kept dark and quiet for a day or so to let her settle. Doing a move after she has developing eggs is risking the eggs.
Do your research and planning before you set her, she can wait another few days without problem but if you rush into setting her with eggs before having a plan in place you risk creating problems....
And I agree with gimmie birdies suggestions on egg numbers, very wise advice to consider the weather and inexperienced broody.

 

[daxigait]

You can get some from the last couple of days, but from what I have read here a hen knows how long it takes so if you put them under her too long after she starts she will leave them at the end thinking they are not hatching. I am to new to be exact on time. I know eggs are good for several days so if you have a couple extra from like the weekend or today you could give some of those.
Here's wishing you a good broody and a happy hatch.

 

[daxigait]

Overlapping posts. Take fisherlady's advice she sounds much more experienced

 

[PD-Riverman]

My buff has gone broody at only six months old. she has been laying and egg just about every day but I was taking them. now I have decided to let her brood. I placed two more eggs under her today. As these are my first chickens I want to know how many eggs will she set on and what else should I do? Can I add eggs each day that my others give me some? I have 2 roos so these may hatch.

Think about it this way----the first eggs that were under her will hatch first, the ones you put under the second day will hatch the next day-----now you have a hen that has a few hatched, but has lots more to hatch because you kept adding BUT Now she has chicks that are hungry----she gets off the nest to poop and some of the chicks follow her because they are hungry----she gets back on the nest to try to hatch her "MESS" and some of the already hatched chicks can not get back into the nest-----now she has to decide to abandon one or the other------You Get the Picture----Sure you can help---when you are there. Simple thing to do is like fisherlady said-----collect All Eggs and Place All Marked Eggs under her at one time----removing fresh layed eggs daily----then she hatches all at the same time----gets off the nest with all at the same time------works So Good that way. Good Luck!!

 

[chickmeme]

then my broody will hatch those eggs about 24 hours apart in two batches. will she keep adding to her clutch with her own eggs? seven days to candle will be the 14 and 15th of Dec.so they should hatch between Christmas and new years.

 

[fisherlady]

then my broody will hatch those eggs about 24 hours apart in two batches. will she keep adding to her clutch with her own eggs? seven days to candle will be the 14 and 15th of Dec.so they should hatch between Christmas and new years.

Once your hen is really broody and ready to set she should quit laying eggs herself, but if she doesn't for some reason then you would need to remove the new ones.
If you allow her (or any other hen) to add to the nest after she is set you are allowing her to have a staggered hatch, which is a problem, to say the least. Please search this thread for 'staggered hatch' to get an idea of the problems associated with staggered hatches.

To allow your hen the best chance to have a successful hatch and a reduced stress experience then you should avoid staggered hatches and go back about 3 or 4 months on this thread and research some of the potential problems which broodies can encounter and how to either avoid them or deal with them.

 

[daxigait]

I liked the mark the eggs of the hatch and remove any extras that show up idea that I have read about before as a way to keep extras out.

 

[JessLonn]

I date the eggs, the last batch I had were Staggered by about two to three weeks. My hens brooded for 26 days then I had to remove the last 4 eggs because the hens had 5 chicks to worry about and ignored the other egg. Two of the four incubate eggs survived after removing from the nest.
There's are pics of my chicks at a younger age.