Chicken in nesting box for hours...anything to do?

[donrae]

From the sounds of it, you don't have space for another bird, or for the hen to brood. I'd break her so she'll start laying again. You can do as Egghead said, put her in a cage with no nest, or some hens you can just kick them off the nest repeatedly, if you mess with them enough they quit.

 

[griggy]

We have a lot more room for birds, but just not in that coop. We have another big coop and space for another. Here's a question..if we hatched Dominique eggs in the hopes of getting a rooster to make our own fertilized eggs, would our hens (over a year old..not sure the exact time) be too old to breed with the rooster once he was old enough? Could one rooster be with the four hens we have now? We thought about getting some Dominique eggs and then trying for a rooster to make more Dominiques. Hope that makes sense

 

[randerson846]

No, once the rooster is of age and the hens are layin, it will have a go at all of them lol, age doesn't matter in the chicken world

 

[randerson846]

And yes 1 hen will make all the hens eggs fertile the best ratio is about 8 or 9 hens to a rooster, you could have more hens but the chances are the fertility rate would be lower, so it should be fine in with the four u already have, and the fertility rate should be higher

 

[griggy]

Thanks for the help! So do I just stick the eggs under her and hope for the best? How many is best for her to sit on?

 

[randerson846]

No problem and yea ahah guess thats how it works lol around 8 or 9 is comfortable it really depends on the size of chicken bigger chicken more eggs smaller chicken less eggs , if u sent me a pic i could probably give you a better answer

 

[randerson846]