Did I do it wroug?? Broody chicken question

[Mrs Chickens]

Hi all Ive never had a chicken go broody on me so much to my excitment one did. So I happily set her on a couple of orbington eggs and over the next 3 days added 1 /2 more a day - is this wroung???

Last hatch day past yesturday and only one chick has come out of 7 eggs, one she pushed out of the nest, another looked like it tried to hatch then died, the others this morning although she was still on them are cold so I have taken them away. No pipping inside so I'm sure they are dead - the first and only hatch on Saturday.

I want to if possible use her broodyness to my advantage and see if I can set her again is this ok to do too - the new chick and her are very attached at the mo will she still sit if she can hear the other chick. I need a couple of days to collect more orbington eggs before I will sit her again if this is ok to do????

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

You want to set all her eggs at once, because usually once a hen has chicks (or even 1 chick) she stops setting, the remainder of the eggs get cold and dry, and that's that. If she's already got a chick, she's probably done. If you take it away, she'll more than likely just return to laying in a week or two. If you're lucky, she'll be like my silkie broody and want to set again soon, but if she's anything like my wyandotte broody, she'll do it once and never again...you'll just have to wait and see. One word of advice though...if it's a lone chick, let her keep it a while, or it will drive you batty with all its peeping if it's in a brooder all by itself! Good luck!

 

[Mrs Chickens]

Thanks Cloverleaf, I think I will leave her a week with the chick and collect eggs in the mean time then see if she will sit on them in one go this time!!! I've got a friend who also has a broody hen so can always pass the eggs her way if it doesn't workout

 

[Supermommy486]

Yea I did the same thing, I didn't know either. Just in case I have a homemade incubator set up for the ones I added in later. Good luck!

 

[elmo]

Quote:
The best thing to do would be to let her go ahead and raise the chick she's hatched out until it's old enough to be on its own. That's the way it would work in nature. You really don't want to have to set up an artificial brooder for only one chick....it will be lonesome, and that's a lot of bother for you, too. My hens started pecking and shooing away their chicks when they were about 5-6 weeks old, then they started laying eggs again.

Sitting on eggs for three weeks is stressful for the hen, and she's probably lost weight. It's not the best thing for her, either, to go right back to being broody again so soon.

 

[Mrs Chickens]

Thanks elmo I will follow your advice thanks. Don't want a lonely chick I had one in the past and had to buy it a friend coz it was so sad!!! Even gave it a rubber duck for a few days to stop it feeling so lonsom however it decided that I was mum and followed me everywhere until I got the other chick