Broody hen

[Maryeb]

One of my hens has been laying on eggs for about 2 weeks. The eggs have all hatched but she is still sitting there. My muscovy has laid 5 eggs but isnt sitting on them. Can I slip the duck eggs under the hen? What will happen when they hatch? Will the hen keep them or will Duchess take back her ducklings?

 

[nuthatched]

it takes 3 weeks for chicken eggs to hatch and 35 days for muscovy. if shes been sitting long enough to hatch her chicks (btw, is she not taking care of her chicks?) and tries to sit long enough to hatch muscovy, she will likely die since setting is hard on a hen (they don't eat too much) and that's almost two months of setting. You need to break your broody if she's done hatching :]
The duck will not take her babies back since she will have no clue they are hers.

 

[Maryeb]

it takes 3 weeks for chicken eggs to hatch and 35 days for muscovy. if shes been sitting long enough to hatch her chicks (btw, is she not taking care of her chicks?) and tries to sit long enough to hatch muscovy, she will likely die since setting is hard on a hen (they don't eat too much) and that's almost two months of setting. You need to break your broody if she's done hatching :]
The duck will not take her babies back since she will have no clue they are hers.

I've been giving her food and water. Our other hen is taking care of the chicks. Ok. How do I break her from sitting? How do I get Duchess to sit on her eggs? Right now there are 5 duck eggs. Should I just leave them alone, hoping she will sit on them?

 

[Maryeb]

I got Rooster(my kids named her) off the nest and closed the nesting boxes. Good or bad idea?

 

[nuthatched]

I've been giving her food and water. Our other hen is taking care of the chicks. Ok. How do I break her from sitting? How do I get Duchess to sit on her eggs? Right now there are 5 duck eggs. Should I just leave them alone, hoping she will sit on them?

You can't make any bird sit on eggs, it's a hormone thing. You can get/build a incubator though. :] Don't buy a cheap one off of Amazon/ebay, they don't work well.
You can break her by shooing her out of the nest and letting her cool off.

 

[nuthatched]

I got Rooster(my kids named her) off the nest and closed the nesting boxes. Good or bad idea?

I can work if no other hens are laying.

 

[Maryeb]

You can't make any bird sit on eggs, it's a hormone thing. You can get/build a incubator though. :] Don't buy a cheap one off of Amazon/ebay, they don't work well.
You can break her by shooing her out of the nest and letting her cool off.

I got her

I can work if no other hens are laying.

No other hen laying right now. I have the ducks in another pen w a nesting box but she wont lay on her eggs.