broody hen....too good at her job?!?

[kyfam]

Hello!
I'm brand new here, but have been lurking for a few days. We have a wonderful broody hen (an Astralorp) who is doing a wonderful job at wanting to be a momma. The question is: is she too good? We have her separated from the others with her own food and water, but it doesn't look like she's even moved from the nest since we moved her (7 days). No poops visible, but we found one large, foul one in her nesting box.
Is this normal? I know they don't eat or drink much when they are serious about their desire to be mommies, but I would think she'd at least get out of the nest to poop.
Any thoughts? thanks so much....you all are very helpful!

 

[Chicken Cluck]

Its commonly natural for mother hens to just keep sitting on their eggs. Its kind of like an incubator. If the temp gets lower for a short amount of time, the chicks might not survive. ( thats why the hen wants to sit on them al the time).

Good Luck!

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Hey, welcome to the group!

As for your momma hen being too good at her job, well, some are like that. I have two mommas sitting and every morning when I feed I lift both off their nests and set them by the food and water. One of them gets very indignant and huffs and puffs at me but as soon as she hits the ground she chows down like an undernourished piglet. The other one sits in a catatonic state on the ground for a couple of minutes, sometimes longer, then she'll 'wake up' and eat, drink and poop.

Oh, and getting them off the nest has to be carefully done as they can panic and break eggs. I've figured out that if I slide my hand face up right underneath from the front I can quickly hoist them up and off the nest before they realise what is happening (but I still get bitten from time to time).

How many more days do you have to wait?

Barb

 

[Telly]

I have a broody. She's been at it just under three weeks now. I just separated her from the other layers for her safety. I was planning to purchase 4 more chicks and thought if I stuck them under her at night, she would accept them as her own. My question is how can I be sure she will not harm the chicks?

The chicks are easier to find than fertile eggs. So has anyone out there attempted the baby chicks under the broody before and what was the outcome?

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Telly,
Sticking baby chicks under a momma hen is easy. Chicks should be 2 days old or less. I just waited til after dark and slid them under the mom and it was a done deal. By morning everyone was bonded into one big happy family.

Barb

 

[Chicken Cluck]

I hope you mama hen is doing great!

 

[ginasmarans]

I just had a broody hatch 6 chicks and I had a bater going at the same time and hatched 7. After about 2 days,I took the 7 and set them in with the hen and the other 6. She clucked,lifted up and they all scotted under. You could not pick out which ones she did not hatch. It was in the middle of the afternoon. This is a cuckoo Marans hen and they are wonderful mothers. So calm and careful.