Broody hen will not leave the nest

[noelgeorgia]

Ya my advice is not really helpful if you are already into the hatching process. Chickens know what to do naturally, just let them be and she will get off when needed, etc. Have you tried candling the eggs to see if they are all good? Are you marking the eggs in case new ones have been laid by other girls? Yes you are probably overthinking it but understandably so! Good luck and let us know what happens

I have not tried candling them but did mark the ones she's hatching and have removed new eggs when she's out of the nest if another hen lays in it (which they seems to love lol). Thank you again! I will report back if any hatch.

 

[Possum-Pie]

If you are dedicated to this, you should mark the eggs (to know that no other hen is sneaking newer eggs in, and learn to candle the eggs. Sometimes in a darkened coop, a cellphone flashlight can shine through an egg. If you see movement or a large embryo, great. If at 1 week or so you see nothing but a yolk, it is fair to say it is infertile. Having an egg break in a broody nest certainly isn't a good thing, but the eggs have a bloom to protect the insides so if you wiped them off and got rid of the broken shells you should be fine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Broody hens have been doing this for thousands of years without human help or intervention. It is possible to get a hen that does not have the correct instincts but that is really rare. I trust my broody hens to know more about being broody than I ever will. They are living animals so you cannot use words like "always" or "never", but mine seldom disappoint me. I find the more I interfere the more likely I am to be the problem.

Before a hen lays an egg she stores extra fat. A lot of that can be in a pad in the pelvic area but it can be spread about some too. That fat allows her to stay on the nest and tend the eggs instead of needing to be out looking for food or water. They do not need to be off the nest much. They will lose weight while broody, but it is fat put there for that reason. It is one of Nature's ways to protect them and allow them to hatch chicks.

I had a broody hen that left her nest twice a day, for over an hour each time. I had one that left every morning for a quick 15 minutes and that was it. I've had several that I never or very rarely saw off of the nest but I know they were coming off as they were not pooping in the nest. They all had good hatches.

If you mark the eggs you can remove any that don't belong. If you collect them every day they are fine to eat. Sometimes after the others have laid I'll raise the hen up enough to see the eggs and remove any that don't belong. Sometimes they peck you when you do that, hard enough to hurt. Some people like to wear gloves and long sleeves when they do that.

Sometimes I'll lift the hen off and set her on the coop floor. She typically sits there for a few seconds and either runs out to eat, drink, or poop or she runs back onto her nest.

I've seen a hen get her chicks out of a ten feet high hayloft. She told them to jump and they did, bounced up, and ran to her. My nests are either 2 feet or 4 feet high. After the hatch is over the broody hen has no problems getting the chicks to the coop floor. They cannot get back up to those nests so she takes them to sleep on the coop floor at night. You can put a nest on the coop floor if you wish. She might use it, she might not. I put food and water on the coop floor where the chicks can get to them and leave everything else to the broody hen.

You have a problem though. Your coop is elevated and with no ramp. Even if it had a ramp the chicks could have problems until they learn how to use it. If you consider your run predator safe you might be OK letting them sleep outside at night, she will be able to keep them warm. But what I would consider is to build a shelter on the ground where they can be locked for a few days and safely sleep at night. After she brings them off of the nest lock her and the chicks in that shelter for at least three days and two nights. After that she should take them back to that shelter every night.

There are a lot of different ways you could do this. I've tried to give you some of my thoughts on how I'd approach it. Good luck!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm sorry, I haven't read all the posts so this may have been asked.
How do you know she doesn't leave the nest? Are you sitting int he coop watching the nest from dawn to dusk? If not, you don't know how she spends her day.
As @Ridgerunner stated, they know more innately about the process than years of studying the topic will tell us,
I've had hundreds of broody hens in my life and none ever died by going on a hunger strike. They don't come off the nest every day and shouldn't be forced to. I've often had broodies in their own little apartment with food, water and new bedding. All I did was make sure the automatic water was functioning. Every time a hen comes off a nest she defecates a huge smelly lump of feces. When checking the apartments, there was feces most days but there were always days with none indicating they didn't leave the nest. A setting hen is in a trance with one job to do. Care for embryos in the best way she can. Disturbing this process causes more problems than it fixes. They are using their internal clock, not yours.
They will come off the nest with varying frequency for different duration based on weather as well. When it is hot, they could stay off the nest for a couple hours. When it is cold, they may only stay off 10 minutes. If you aren't monitoring all hours when it is light, you don't know.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The only time I witnessed a bird actually dying from being broody. A friend of mine had a couple turkey hens. Occasionally they would start setting. She never broke them of this and only on a couple occasions I gave her fertile chicken eggs to put under them and that went well. But one time, she thought the hen would give up on her own but she didn't. (poor animal husbandry in my mind) After sitting for about 3 months, the bird could no longer move on her own. Months of physical therapy and $2,500 of vet bills later, the turkey died.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A poultry science professor said the most common cause of a broody dying was roost mites. She stays in the nest and they suck the blood out of her. It might be a good idea to check for roost mites. I've never had them in my flock but I do check occasionally.

 

[Possum-Pie]

While these last few posts are "mostly true" People tend to forget that domestic chickens are NOT the same Red Jungle Fowl that lived in the wilds of Southeast Asia for millions of years, but they have been specifically bred to human needs. Whole-genome sequencing has shown that the chicken was domesticated from red junglefowl about 8,000 years ago.

Selective breeding of Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus) for egg production and meat production has produced our modern hens (gallus domesticus) who lay almost daily (for eggs) and are overly heavy, (for meat).
NO bird will lay 300+ eggs/year in the wild...most birds lay 4-8 —this is genetic engineering by selective breeding by humans who want more eggs.

Having said that, chickens "mostly" still can adapt to this, but chickens that have been bred for 8 thousand years to produce almost 1 egg/day don't "do what comes naturally" "Naturally" has LONG been bred out of these birds...From observation, my broody birds sacrifice a lot to sit on a clutch of eggs. Be kind to them. The great great great… grandmother of your domestic hen laid one or two clutches of 4-5 eggs per YEAR.

 

[Anon112]

I have a similar issue. I have a broody hen. She is on her own in a dog kennel in my barn sitting on about 5 eggs. She pooped on Day 2. Yesterday was Day 5 and she pooped when I made her get off of the nest, but had not pooped between. The Day 5 poop was pretty loose and not like the big solid poop from Day 2. I am seeing little evidence of her eating/drinking. She will eat treats like pieces of straawberries/blackberries/blueberries if I offer them to her, but I see no sign of her eating her regular food. Her comb is not pale, at least.

I know you're not supposed to have favorites . . . but this chicken is my favorite and I'm nervous for her health. It would be one thing if she was getting off of the nest even for just a few minutes once a day. But it seems like she's not getting off of it at all. I've never let a hen hatch a clutch, and I'm nervous that I don't know the difference between a "normal" hatch and something going wrong.

She's gone broody a few times in the last few years, and each time I talked her out of it (moving her from the nest, and maybe one gentle cool bath?). This time I thought I'd let her hatch some chicks, but now I'm having second thoughts.

I guess my current plan is to candle a few of the eggs tomorrow to see if they are even developing. If yes, I'll probably be back for more advice!

 

[aart]

She will eat treats like pieces of straawberries/blackberries/blueberries if I offer them to her,

Probably what caused the loose poop.

but I see no sign of her eating her regular food.

If you don't give her anything else she will eat it, not much and maybe not often.

 

[Possum-Pie]

I know you're not supposed to have favorites . . . but this chicken is my favorite and I'm nervous for her health. It would be one thing if she was getting off of the nest even for just a few minutes once a day. But it seems like she's not getting off of it at all. I've never let a hen hatch a clutch, and I'm nervous that I don't know the difference between a "normal" hatch and something going wrong.

There is no need to feel bad about having favorites, I think if we were all honest, we all have a few that we like the most.

Keep an eye on the poop amount. You may not be able to see how much she eats/drinks, but she should be pooping each day. Sometimes it is runny (like someone else said-maybe the berries) but you should also see some "monster poop" where she has saved it up all day and let it all out at once. Keep water close as a chicken will dehydrate faster than she will starve. I agree that candling is a humane way of seeing if she is wasting 3 weeks of her life for nothing, or whether she will hatch a few eggs. If there is no development, it is cruel to allow her to sit for 21 days for nothing...Sometimes some "unhealthy" treats such as black fly larvae or cracked corn can stimulate a bit of eating...