Broody pullets

[AmsoilJim]

So this is my first time experiencing broody hens. It’s appears that I have one Buff Orpington and one Welsummer pullet gone broody. They are both 7 months old. They are both attempting to sit on eggs in my roll away nest.
I had found an egg with little holes in them in the collection area and then I realized the chicken was trying to retrieve the eggs from the collection area and accidentally breaking them.
So I have a separate coop/run that I plan on moving them to tomorrow. I collected all the eggs today and plan on collecting all the eggs tomorrow and placing them all in the separate smaller coop.
I only have the one rooster which is a cuckoo maran. So only a few on the eggs will be pure cuckoo marans and the rest will all be a cross.
So hope it all works out I guess.

 

[Broodygranny]

Hope all goes well!! Post pictures of the fluffballs in three weeks!

 

[bobbi-j]

Before you give them actual eggs to sit on, put golf balls or fake eggs in the nests to make sure they truly are broody. Could be they're trying to eat them instead... I don't call a hen broody until she's been in the nest box for 3 days and nights straight, only getting off for 20-30 minutes to eat, drink, poop, and dust bathe. If they are broody, moving them could also break their broodiness.

 

[AmsoilJim]

Before you give them actual eggs to sit on, put golf balls or fake eggs in the nests to make sure they truly are broody. Could be they're trying to eat them instead... I don't call a hen broody until she's been in the nest box for 3 days and nights straight, only getting off for 20-30 minutes to eat, drink, poop, and dust bathe. If they are broody, moving them could also break their broodiness.

Yes they have been sitting there for several days and yesterday when each one did leave the nest box they left the biggest poop ever, bigger then my dogs poop .
As far as moving them, they gotta go because they are disrupting the 17 others that want to lay eggs, if it breaks them then so be it.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I personally WON'T let pullets sit...

Their bodies aren't yet fully mature and neither are their minds. I don't like them to sit and lose condition. They become shaky and they just aren't as well equipped as a fully mature hen will be. They are like 14 year olds right now... in human terms. Smaller bodies and less life experience.

So for ME... I would break BOTH of theses ladies and KNOW they will likely go broody again in the future.

Yes, broody poops are awful!

Although I think they are not ready... if I do want them to raise chicks without sitting for that long... I adopt feed store chicks in the middle of the night to them. This way they only occupy the nest for a couple days and take the chicks out all day long. I just have to refresh it early before others lay that day for any chick poos left behind. I also get to try other breeds I may not already have by doing this.

If you do let them sit... make sure your eggs are all set on the same day... and that NO new deposits can be made by other still laying hens. If other hens can get in there... you will want to have your hatching eggs CLEARLY marked and collect any fresh deposits at the end of the day. Pencil fades and rubs off so I suggest marker.

Good luck!