Broody Hen

[Blessing]

I think my hen might be broody so I have a few questions on broody hens

1. How often does a broody hen eat a day?

2. Is it safe for a hen to hatch chicks in the coop with the other chickens? (I have a rooster and two hens in the indoor coop where she is laying on eggs)

3. My hen is young, about 10 months. Is she too young to raise the chicks?

This is my first time having a broody hen some any advice would be appreciated. I have hatched eggs before( in the incubator) the broody hen was my first and I now have a chick in the brooder that hatched last week

 

[LRH97]

1. It really kind of depends. Usually, a hen will get up every 20 minutes or so to eat, poop, etc. (and boy do they poop!). However, I have heard of some hens that more or less starved themselves because they never got off the nest. This has never happened to me, though. As long as you have an easily accessible feeder, you should be fine.

2. Once again it depends. It depends on the personality of your older birds. I've had some who could care less, and I've had some who were downright nasty. Personally, I wouldn't even take the chance of having an older bird kill a newborn chick. Plus, isolating a broody greatly reduces her stress and pretty much guarantees the safety of her babies.

3. If a hen is old enough to go broody, then she should be old enough to raise the chicks. It's all hard-wired in the hen's head. However, I've had some first-time mommas abandon their clutches a week or two into the incubation time.

I hope I helped you!