Broody hen with UNFERTILE EGGS

[andie]

I have a hen who is sitting on eggs which are not fertile, what should I do with her? Should I leave them with her, or take them away?

All help greatly appreciated

Andie

 

[keljonma]

I think if they aren't fertile, there is no point to leaving the eggs with her. If you want to take advantage of her broodiness, and have chicks, purchase some fertile eggs or day old chicks and stick them under her at night.

If you don't want her to be broody, you can break her. To do this, isolate her in an area without any nesting or bedding material. Make sure she has layer feed, water, oyster shell and grit, if you're going to feed her anything but commercial feed. It takes about 1 week to 10 days. The longer you let her set, the longer it takes to break her. You will know when she is no longer broody, because she will be interested in life outside the nest. She will stop growling and will lose her deep bawk-bawk cluck. She will stop pulling feathers from her breast. Also, if she has been pecking and raising her hackles, that will cease too.

About 10 to 14 days later she should start laying eggs again. I try to give my broody girls extra yogurt and hard cooked eggs when I'm trying to break them, so they can get some extra protein. The protein helps with renewing their lost feathers.

If you let her set on the nest without eggs, she won't lay eggs while she is broody and may continue to pull feathers and lose weight.

Good luck!
regards,
keljonma


if edited, probably for typos....

 

[andie]

that's great - thanks for your help - I'll let you know how things go!

 

[JensHens]

That has happened to me. I had room for 4 more chicks so we bought some fertile eggs and she is sitting on them right now. The eggs should hatch in 2 days. But you can break her, exactly what the other said