Broody hen

[Rcasady]

I have a 3 year old buff orpington I think had gone broody. She's been laying in a nesting box for about 1 week only coming out for a few minutes and going back in. She was laying on 5 eggs and then just yesterday randomly moved to a different nesting box. Is she abandoning her eggs? Can I put other chicken eggs under her or with it cause issues for her? This is my first broody hen.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have a 3 year old buff orpington I think had gone broody. She's been laying in a nesting box for about 1 week only coming out for a few minutes and going back in. She was laying on 5 eggs and then just yesterday randomly moved to a different nesting box. Is she abandoning her eggs? Can I put other chicken eggs under her or with it cause issues for her? This is my first broody hen.

I would go ahead and put eggs under her as she won't know her eggs from their eggs. How many boxes do you have and how many hens? I'm wondering if you could block off one or two so she goes back to the right nest. I'm not sure why she did that as they usually know which nest they were sitting on. That sounds like something a new hen would do yet she's 3 so is weird.

 

[Rcasady]

I would go ahead and put eggs under her as she won't know her eggs from their eggs. How many boxes do you have and how many hens? I'm wondering if you could block off one or two so she goes back to the right nest. I'm not sure why she did that as they usually know which nest they were sitting on. That sounds like something a new hen would do yet she's 3 so is weird.

This is her first brooding so I'm not sure she's confused or just undecided or something. She's not in the way of other chickens but blocking the other boxes would become a problem. I have 7 other hens that use those boxes. Maybe we'll leave her be and not mess with it and see if anything hatches?.

 

[Debbie292d]

This is her first brooding so I'm not sure she's confused or just undecided or something. She's not in the way of other chickens but blocking the other boxes would become a problem. I have 7 other hens that use those boxes. Maybe we'll leave her be and not mess with it and see if anything hatches?.

I only ask as for instance, we have way too many nest boxes. They say to build one for every four hens. So in our case, I could block off about 5 of 10 of them lol.

I see now that it's her first time. If she's been on them for a week, I'd think she'd go right back to them so maybe just pick her up and put her there rather than moving eggs from one nest to wherever she goes. I wouldn't be giving her any new eggs though as these would be hatching in two weeks, then she'd get off the nest to get them food/water and leave the others behind.

If you have issues with other hens laying eggs in her nest, you could use a pencil and mark the broody one's eggs, so that way you'd know no other hens snuck one in there.

I sure hope you wind up with some chicks!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I assume you're hoping she'll brood? Were the eggs she was sitting on fertile? If you're going to put eggs under her, best to mark them clearly so you don't have hens adding more to the clutch or her moving eggs around, so they all hatch at the same time.

 

[Perris]

when one of my broodies does what you've described @Rcasady , it's because when she got off the nest to eat and drink etc. another hen went in to lay, so when the broody came back the nest was occupied. Her instinct to resume sitting is strong, so she finds and sits in another nest.

The eggs in the original nest might still be viable, depending on how long they were left exposed and how cold they got, and you can just sit back and see what happens, as you suggest. But studies show that about a week into incubation is a critical time, and from that point of view it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

If you really want her to raise a clutch, I'd start again with fresh fertile eggs asap, and mark them as rosemarythyme said, so you'll know if any other hen comes along and adds to the clutch (you want to avoid a staggered hatch, with eggs started and therefore hatching many days apart). And in this case, if you can, monitor the nest while she's off to ensure no-one else is sitting on it when she comes back, so she can resume on the right nest.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had as much good luck with first time broodies as I have with hens that have not only been broody before but have hatched and raised a brood. I do not let how many times they have been broody in the past influence whether I give a hen eggs or not. That said, if a hen messes up her first or second time I do not give her eggs in the future, even if she was successful the first time.

Most of my broody hens have no problems sharing a nest with a hen that wants to lay an egg. But occasionally one will. Most of my hens have no problems going back to their nest when they return from their daily constitutional but occasionally I see what Perris mentioned, if another hen is on that nest she may find another nest. If it happens once it can happen again with that broody.

When that happens I put her back on her real nest. I've always had some eggs hatch. I remember one time I did that the 11 eggs were ice cold to the touch when I noticed what was going in. Not only did all 11 eggs hatch they were a day early.

I'd suggest waiting a few days and candling the eggs to see if you can tell anything about development before starting over.