Broody hen

[Hollisb]

Hello can some one help me out ? I have a hen and I know that she is broody I just noticed that she has been in her box since this morning I went out there to feed and give them water and she is still in the box .. so I know that her eggs are fertile do I move her out of there away from the rest of the hens and the rooster that I have , I'm really not sure what to do she is the first broody hen I've had , could someone please give me some advice ,

 

[Hollisb]

Hello can some one help me out ? I have a hen and I know that she is broody I just noticed that she has been in her box since this morning I went out there to feed and give them water and she is still in the box .. so I know that her eggs are fertile do I move her out of there away from the rest of the hens and the rooster that I have , I'm really not sure what to do she is the first broody hen I've had , could someone please give me some advice ,

 

[SilverBirds]

It's always advised to have a broody nest away from the rest of the flock. Moving her and the eggs at night to the new cage is best. If she runs off the nest and back to the original site you'll just have to let her sit there. Make sure you are marking all the eggs and checking daily to remove any eggs that may have been layed by another sneaking hen. You don't want to have a staggered hatch!

 

[HumbleAmerican]

Do you want chicks?

I personally pull all eggs and give them a fresh batch all at once to make sure you don’t have a staggered hatch. Mark them with a sharpie so you can take any eggs the other hens lay in there out, and wait.

Don’t feed and water her on the nest. Make sure she doesn’t get confused and set on other eggs. She will naturally come off once a day to have the biggest poo you can imagine, snag some food and water…. Quick dust bath and then beeline for the nest again.

Hatch day, make sure she doesn’t want to kill them. Then let her be a chicken. I’ve never had issue with flock and chicks.

If you don’t want chicks….. search broody jail, or breaking broody.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Do you want chicks? If so, do you want chicks from your flock, or would you prefer to get sexed pullet chicks from a feed store?

There are a couple options if you want chicks, depending on your available resources.

You can separate her if you have another pen, and if she'll stay broody through the move. Unfortunately, some chickens (especially first-timers) will forget the broodiness as soon as they're moved. Some chickens will only set where they've originally put their nests. Most (in my experience, and keep in mind that my chickens, especially my broodies, are very used to being handled) can be moved.

You can leave her with the flock, especially if she's high in the pecking order, and can keep them out of her nest box. There are problems, of course. Two hens fighting over a nest box can break eggs. Also, eggs will be added to the box. You'll have to remove these, as she might accidentally break them if she has too many, and that can lead to egg eating. She also won't be able to cover them all if she's got too many.

If you want her to adopt sexed pullets, just put golf balls or something similar under her, wait a couple weeks (so her hormones start to say "fluffballs" rather than "eggs") and stick a couple day-olds under her at night.

if you don't want chicks, broody breaker/broody jail, as said above.

 

[Hollisb]

Okay thank all of y'all for the advice .. I tried talking to her and she makes herself real big like for me to leave her alone how long does it take for them to hatch an egg

 

[Hollisb]

Do you want chicks? If so, do you want chicks from your flock, or would you prefer to get sexed pullet chicks from a feed store?

There are a couple options if you want chicks, depending on your available resources.

You can separate her if you have another pen, and if she'll stay broody through the move. Unfortunately, some chickens (especially first-timers) will forget the broodiness as soon as they're moved. Some chickens will only set where they've originally put their nests. Most (in my experience, and keep in mind that my chickens, especially my broodies, are very used to being handled) can be moved.

You can leave her with the flock, especially if she's high in the pecking order, and can keep them out of her nest box. There are problems, of course. Two hens fighting over a nest box can break eggs. Also, eggs will be added to the box. You'll have to remove these, as she might accidentally break them if she has too many, and that can lead to egg eating. She also won't be able to cover them all if she's got too many.

If you want her to adopt sexed pullets, just put golf balls or something similar under her, wait a couple weeks (so her hormones start to say "fluffballs" rather than "eggs") and stick a couple day-olds under her at night.

if you don't want chicks, broody breaker/broody jail, as said above.

Thank you for your advice , how long for eggs to hatch

 

[Hollisb]

Do you want chicks? If so, do you want chicks from your flock, or would you prefer to get sexed pullet chicks from a feed store?

There are a couple options if you want chicks, depending on your available resources.

You can separate her if you have another pen, and if she'll stay broody through the move. Unfortunately, some chickens (especially first-timers) will forget the broodiness as soon as they're moved. Some chickens will only set where they've originally put their nests. Most (in my experience, and keep in mind that my chickens, especially my broodies, are very used to being handled) can be moved.

You can leave her with the flock, especially if she's high in the pecking order, and can keep them out of her nest box. There are problems, of course. Two hens fighting over a nest box can break eggs. Also, eggs will be added to the box. You'll have to remove these, as she might accidentally break them if she has too many, and that can lead to egg eating. She also won't be able to cover them all if she's got too many.

If you want her to adopt sexed pullets, just put golf balls or something similar under her, wait a couple weeks (so her hormones start to say "fluffballs" rather than "eggs") and stick a couple day-olds under her at night.

if you don't want chicks, broody breaker/broody jail, as said above.

Thank you for the advice , how long before am egg to hatch

 

[HumbleAmerican]

21 days

 

[SilverBirds]

21 days. You can candle the eggs to see how far along they are if you don't know. Candling is shining a flashlight inside the egg (when it's dark). How many is she sitting on?