Coming up with a game plan with 3 broody hens...

[BallsEleven]

I will have some fertilized eggs coming in later this week and want to come up with a plan.

My original plan was to put them all (8) under 1 hen and keep her with the flock until the chicks hatched then determine if they needed to be separated. This particular one is the most pissed off when I come raid the nesting boxes so I figured she might be the most protective when it comes to the other girls and her chicks.

Should I instead be giving some eggs to another (or all 3) hens to evenly spread the load to them? I have 4 nesting boxes so I could (theoretically) split them up to where they have their own nest, even if they don't stick to that.

Also, should I be worried about the layers coming in and breaking eggs when they inevitably come in and try to add more eggs to the pile?

 

[All4Eggz]

I would recommend sticking with just one hen, because it's less work for you. I would recommend 2 at the most, if 1 is not enough to cover and heat the eggs properly/evenly.

And yes, you should be worried about the layers coming in and breaking eggs. Sometimes they decide to eat the eggs, and kill the chick prematurely. Sometimes their egg they just plopped out will hit the others on accident, and potentially crack the shell and harm the chick inside.
Unfortunately, I know what this is like:

We had a broody hen sitting on almost 10 eggs. She had her own nesting box, and we would cover the opening so no other chickens could get in. The divider fell, then a chicken came in and cracked open all the eggs, ate the shells, chased away the mother, killed ALL the chicks, and made a mess in the nesting box. Lesson of the day: keep any and all chickens away from the mother and her eggs. I had to keep my broody in the nesting box because she refused to brood anywhere else. If possible, keep her separated in her own little coop, but make sure she could still socialize with the other chickens.

Or if you have a smaller flock, maybe close her nesting box area in the morning when all the other hens are laying eggs, then open it in the afternoon ( so she could get out to eat, drink, poop, etc.), and close it again at night.

 

[All4Eggz]

Let us know how it goes
I'll be waiting to see what you decided to do. Good luck!

 

[BallsEleven]

Gotcha. I guess I will stick with my original plan then. I’ll try to see if I can rig up a separate pen for the momma and chicks.

I will definitely keep y’all updated in a separate thread. I just got my eggs in tonight so I am letting them sit now.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Gotcha. I guess I will stick with my original plan then. I’ll try to see if I can rig up a separate pen for the momma and chicks.

I will definitely keep y’all updated in a separate thread. I just got my eggs in tonight so I am letting them sit now.

Oh, yes! Update us when you can!

Good luck!

 

[BallsEleven]

One last question. I just realized that if I were to put them under my hen tonight, the hatch date would fall a day before I'm supposed to go out of town for a wedding. I'd be gone a little over 24 hrs.

Would it be better to keep them off the nest until Sunday or go ahead and put them on tonight and hope they hatch before I have to leave.


Edit: On second thought I'll probably go ahead and lock the other girls out of the coop by closing the door. I have a large enough perch in the enclosed pen where they can sleep and still be safe.

 

[BallsEleven]

I posted this in my hatch a long but I’ll do the same here also:


Ok so first issue.

I put all the eggs under my production red in box A last night. I’ve also got 2 leghorns broody that were in box D last night (those 2 always sit next to each other).

Well I just went to check that everything was ok and my red moved to box B with no hatching eggs and now the 2 leghorns are in box A with the hatching eggs split 4 a piece between them.

Should I leave them alone and let them sit?

 

[All4Eggz]

I posted this in my hatch a long but I’ll do the same here also:


Ok so first issue.

I put all the eggs under my production red in box A last night. I’ve also got 2 leghorns broody that were in box D last night (those 2 always sit next to each other).

Well I just went to check that everything was ok and my red moved to box B with no hatching eggs and now the 2 leghorns are in box A with the hatching eggs split 4 a piece between them.

Should I leave them alone and let them sit?

You should probably separate them and make sure they stay in one box and do not move, or that will risk the health of the embryo

 

[Feathercrazie]

I would recommend sticking with just one hen, because it's less work for you. I would recommend 2 at the most, if 1 is not enough to cover and heat the eggs properly/evenly.

And yes, you should be worried about the layers coming in and breaking eggs. Sometimes they decide to eat the eggs, and kill the chick prematurely. Sometimes their egg they just plopped out will hit the others on accident, and potentially crack the shell and harm the chick inside.
Unfortunately, I know what this is like:

We had a broody hen sitting on almost 10 eggs. She had her own nesting box, and we would cover the opening so no other chickens could get in. The divider fell, then a chicken came in and cracked open all the eggs, ate the shells, chased away the mother, killed ALL the chicks, and made a mess in the nesting box. Lesson of the day: keep any and all chickens away from the mother and her eggs. I had to keep my broody in the nesting box because she refused to brood anywhere else. If possible, keep her separated in her own little coop, but make sure she could still socialize with the other chickens.

Or if you have a smaller flock, maybe close her nesting box area in the morning when all the other hens are laying eggs, then open it in the afternoon ( so she could get out to eat, drink, poop, etc.), and close it again at night.

Make her a small cage in the pen around her nest so she can get off and eat and drink and bathe (dust bath). The less room the better so she doesn't have to leave the eggs very long. She does not want or need company.

 

[BallsEleven]

Make her a small cage in the pen around her nest so she can get off and eat and drink and bathe (dust bath). The less room the better so she doesn't have to leave the eggs very long. She does not want or need company.

Well her box is in the coop. So I either can move her into a new cage/pen that I could rig up (sounds risky since she has the eggs) or close off the coop/enclosed pen so only she has access. The others could be in the larger fenced off area that surrounds the coop/pen.