Broody Lucy on fertile eggs

[DonaldFan]

Been too busy lately to gather eggs every day. Ever since we added Brewster the Rooster to the coop the hens have been laying like crazy. My Lucy has been sitting on eggs for over a week. I snuck in there yesterday morning while she got up for food and marked them. She had 21. The other girls keep adding eggs to the nest but if they aren't marked I take them back out to give the original eggs a chance.

My question is should I let her hatch the eggs while she is in the same coop with 14 other hens and a rooster?

 

[Judy]

Your choice. Many remove then hen at least while she is sitting, to prevent so much jostling, and prevent her from returning to the wrong nest, among other things. I have done it both ways, but I want the hen in with the flock after the hatch. This way when she stops mothering them around 4 or 5 weeks of age, they are integrated with the flock. If you separate her, I would recommend having her food and water a little distance from the nest so she has to get a little exercise in order to eat and drink. There are lots of threads in this section about managing broodies.