Broody pullet: day 2

[chickenlittle21]

I have a broody pullet who is about 7 months old and has been partly broody since she has started laying and now she is fully broody. I bought her at tractor supply as a black sex link but is black with barely feathered grey legs so I am guessing she is a black copper maran mix. Also, her name is Trixie.

Anyway, Trixie became fully broody the day before yesterday and only got up once (yesterday morning) since she became fully broody. She is sitting on 9 eggs. Also, this my first broody so any help would be appreciated.

Oh, I also made some curtains for her

 

[MarkJr]

Pencil will rub off. Use sharpie and mark where quickly identified. Other chickens will lay in with her.
My broody will peck, but never draws blood. Long sleeves are handy.
Don’t be convinced by her pleading eyes to move food and water closer to her. It’s important she gets off eggs once a day to poo. It’ll be enormous and smelly. If that enormous and smelly pop lets loose in the nest, that will raise a whole different set of issues. If she is forced off to eat and drink, she will place this land mine right in the path of your left shoe. After strategic placement, she will eat, drink and have a good dust bath. Takes 20 minutes to 1.5 hours. Try to keep the nests empty of eggs. Mine will come back to an occupied nest and find the nearest available egg to set on.
Decide now if you are going to separate her from the flock, or let her coexist throughout setting/hatching/raising the eggs. My preference is leaving them all together. So far I have had nothing but awesome experiences this way.
Ground level nest is good. She will bring fresh hatched chicks back to this nest (if it’s clean) each night after terrorizing the world. Look closely and imagine a 2” tall chicken going for a drink, food, dust bath then bed. A 6” vertical ledge becomes a big obstacle. Give them a way around it. Ramps??? It’ll take them some time. I stack pieces of firewood so they can parkour their way back to momma

Take a close look at your space requirements. If they are free range, you won’t have many issues that broody mamma cannot handle. If they are penned into a run, you will need about 5-6’ in all directions from wherever the broody decides to be at the moment. They are seriously a territory sucking vacuum of terror in a run. Seriously though, I’d guess broody and chicks will need 25 or so sqft to themselves. Plus 10 sqft per additional flock member MINIMUM.

Other than that, set back and enjoy them. I have my broody tamed finally. She brings the mob to me for treats. If I have to handle them, they are shy for a few days after. I wouldn’t grab them to handle them at all if I could help it. Three weeks into my last batch I can cradle them on the keel bone withlegs sticking between fingers and set them on my arm or hand. They hang out, get a few scratches, then jump down to terrorize the dog some more. So far, I think they will be easily handled as adults.
Her last batch, pre taming momma, still doesn’t let me within 20 feet. They are 17 weeks old.

 

[chickenlittle21]

UPDATE:

 

[bobbi-j]

If the other hens have access to her, I’d mark the ones she’s sitting on and check the nest daily to remove any contributions to the nest. I draw a circle around the egg with a black Sharpie, and once a day I go out, lift the broody up a little with one hand, look quickly and remove any uncircled eggs.

 

[sourland]

Keep flock mates from bothering her/adding eggs to her clutch , and let her do her thing. Good luck.

 

[MarkJr]

Sorry for the novel!!!

 

[MarkJr]

Today's day 6 I think. Trixie was on break and just got back into the nesting box a few minutes ago. She now is sitting on 12 eggs.

Any eggs added to clutch after 24-36 hours after she started setting probably won’t hatch. From first pip to walking away with clutch of chicks is about that long. Did you mark the originals??? If not, mark them and remove any further eggs.

 

[City Farmer Jim]

I like the novel ...maybe you can write an article

 

[bobbi-j]

Im not buying chicken condoms lol..."splain me that one Lucy" ?

You don’t have to. Collect your eggs daily, and no chicks develop. If you get a broody, break the broodiness, and no chicks. As you can see, it’s pretty easy to avoid having chicks.

 

[chickenlittle21]

Day 18! I lifted Trixie up and at least one of the eggs were pipped!