sqatkins
Songster
I've searched the threads about broody hens, but none seem to answer my question. For context, this is a rather long story, but it will result in my question.
When one of my Golden Wyandottes (GW) went broody last year, I tried to break that habit, to no avail. So this year I sought out a chicken owner with a rooster and presented GW with 6 potentially fertile eggs. After about 8 days I realized that the number of eggs she was sitting on had grown to about 18 eggs. I hadn't realized that other hens would crowd in with her to lay their eggs, or that she would leave her nest to allow others to get in and lay their eggs. I never saw her off her nest out foraging, except occasionally she would be in the next door nesting box while another hen added to her hoard.
Sadly, one egg got broken when I was trying to remove the extra, infertile eggs. It had a partially developed chick, and broke my heart. Another simply disappeared... probably broken and eaten. On day 21, I found one dead chick in the chicken run, apparently killed by the other hens and taken out like so much trash. I tried moving her and her last 3 eggs into a large dog kennel for safety, but she was too upset to settle. So after a brief trial, I moved her back to the coop and excluded all the other hens, hoping that her last eggs would hatch within a day. Those eggs never hatched, though two had partially developed chicks within.
Meanwhile, my Bielefelder hen (Biele) started brooding infertile eggs in the nesting box next door about a week before GWs eggs were to hatch. I hoped that GW would give up on brooding, as she had already been sitting a week before I got her the fertilized eggs. But she just kept going, sitting on the infertile eggs layed by the rest of the flock.
Wanting to try again with Biele, I went to my friend and got 8 more potentially fertile eggs. I put these eggs under Biele, but I did so in a very large dog kennel in a corner of the covered chicken run. I didn't want hatched chicks to be killed by the other hens, and thought it best to make the change from the very beginning. Biele sorted through the 8 eggs over the next 2 days. One broke. By the next morning, she had moved a group of eggs to a new corner of the dog kennel, leaving 2 to one side with the broken mess of the single egg. I gently tucked these two back under her. Within a couple of hours, she'd moved back to the original corner, this time leaving 3 behind. Since GW was still broody in the chicken coop nesting boxes, I sighed, and tucked these 3 underneath her. The next day, Biele had rejected one more egg, which I tucked underneath GW in the coop. That left Biele with 3 eggs, and GW with 4.
We're two weeks into the brooding period for these eggs at this point, and GW has been broody for 6 weeks. As per her usual, GW allowed other hens to sit in her box to leave more eggs, but one of my older birds laid a very thin shelled egg in the clutch, which was promptly broken, resulting in yolk all over one of the fertile eggs. GW abandoned the whole group, moving into a different box. I cleaned up the mess, and discarded one of the "fertile" eggs, which cracked when I tried to wipe the yolk off it. It did not appear to have been developing a chick anyway. I tucked the remaining 3 eggs underneath GW in her new box, and she has faithfully kept those last 3 warm.
On the advice of a friend-of-a-friend, I set up a second dog kennel next to Biele's kennel, and in the darkness, I went out and relocated GW and her remaining 3 eggs. She settled in and is sitting on her eggs. Both hens have food and water in their kennels, and if they ever indicated a desire to get up and leave their nests, I open the gates and let them out to forage. Because they have been "out of circulation" for so long, the other hens bully them and treat them like interlopers, so they usually run out into the orchard far from the others for a short while, but then return to their nests. Biele's kennel is much more spacious than GW's kennel, but neither bird seems to want to move around within the kennels, no matter how much or how little space they have. It is difficult, but it is possible for me to set up a temporary fence to divide off a corner of my enclosed chicken run to keep the other hens away, though if they are determined, the other hens could possibly get inside by fluttering up to the top of the coop and then down over the barrier.
These are my questions:
*Would it be safe to allow these two broody hens access to the same area together? Their eggs all have the same targeted hatch date.
*Should I possibly open them up to one another now, before the eggs hatch, or should I wait until each hen has hatched chicks with her in her kennel?
*Would one hen accept the chicks hatched under the other hen, or is there the risk that she would kill them?
*Should I keep them separate from each other and from the rest of the flock for a significant period of time after the chicks hatch?
*Now that these two hens are bullied by the other flock members whenever they do interact, will they still be able to protect their chicks from all the other hens?
*I do have a second coop in a totally different parcel of our land that I have used in the past to breed meat birds (skipped that this year). Should I be moving the rest of the layer hen flock (6 birds) out there rather than risk their aggression towards the chicks? That area has fencing with holes large enough for chicks to escape where their mamas could not follow, (2"x4" grid) so for that reason I think it would have to be the other adult birds who get moved if needed. It is less convenient, but perfectly suitable for layers.
We are just 5 days out from the anticipated hatch date at this point.
I know this was lengthy and complicated. I would appreciate any knowledge more experienced chicken owners could share. As I am not allowed to have a rooster within the "city limits" I have never dealt with hens hatching eggs before.
When one of my Golden Wyandottes (GW) went broody last year, I tried to break that habit, to no avail. So this year I sought out a chicken owner with a rooster and presented GW with 6 potentially fertile eggs. After about 8 days I realized that the number of eggs she was sitting on had grown to about 18 eggs. I hadn't realized that other hens would crowd in with her to lay their eggs, or that she would leave her nest to allow others to get in and lay their eggs. I never saw her off her nest out foraging, except occasionally she would be in the next door nesting box while another hen added to her hoard.
Sadly, one egg got broken when I was trying to remove the extra, infertile eggs. It had a partially developed chick, and broke my heart. Another simply disappeared... probably broken and eaten. On day 21, I found one dead chick in the chicken run, apparently killed by the other hens and taken out like so much trash. I tried moving her and her last 3 eggs into a large dog kennel for safety, but she was too upset to settle. So after a brief trial, I moved her back to the coop and excluded all the other hens, hoping that her last eggs would hatch within a day. Those eggs never hatched, though two had partially developed chicks within.
Meanwhile, my Bielefelder hen (Biele) started brooding infertile eggs in the nesting box next door about a week before GWs eggs were to hatch. I hoped that GW would give up on brooding, as she had already been sitting a week before I got her the fertilized eggs. But she just kept going, sitting on the infertile eggs layed by the rest of the flock.
Wanting to try again with Biele, I went to my friend and got 8 more potentially fertile eggs. I put these eggs under Biele, but I did so in a very large dog kennel in a corner of the covered chicken run. I didn't want hatched chicks to be killed by the other hens, and thought it best to make the change from the very beginning. Biele sorted through the 8 eggs over the next 2 days. One broke. By the next morning, she had moved a group of eggs to a new corner of the dog kennel, leaving 2 to one side with the broken mess of the single egg. I gently tucked these two back under her. Within a couple of hours, she'd moved back to the original corner, this time leaving 3 behind. Since GW was still broody in the chicken coop nesting boxes, I sighed, and tucked these 3 underneath her. The next day, Biele had rejected one more egg, which I tucked underneath GW in the coop. That left Biele with 3 eggs, and GW with 4.
We're two weeks into the brooding period for these eggs at this point, and GW has been broody for 6 weeks. As per her usual, GW allowed other hens to sit in her box to leave more eggs, but one of my older birds laid a very thin shelled egg in the clutch, which was promptly broken, resulting in yolk all over one of the fertile eggs. GW abandoned the whole group, moving into a different box. I cleaned up the mess, and discarded one of the "fertile" eggs, which cracked when I tried to wipe the yolk off it. It did not appear to have been developing a chick anyway. I tucked the remaining 3 eggs underneath GW in her new box, and she has faithfully kept those last 3 warm.
On the advice of a friend-of-a-friend, I set up a second dog kennel next to Biele's kennel, and in the darkness, I went out and relocated GW and her remaining 3 eggs. She settled in and is sitting on her eggs. Both hens have food and water in their kennels, and if they ever indicated a desire to get up and leave their nests, I open the gates and let them out to forage. Because they have been "out of circulation" for so long, the other hens bully them and treat them like interlopers, so they usually run out into the orchard far from the others for a short while, but then return to their nests. Biele's kennel is much more spacious than GW's kennel, but neither bird seems to want to move around within the kennels, no matter how much or how little space they have. It is difficult, but it is possible for me to set up a temporary fence to divide off a corner of my enclosed chicken run to keep the other hens away, though if they are determined, the other hens could possibly get inside by fluttering up to the top of the coop and then down over the barrier.
These are my questions:
*Would it be safe to allow these two broody hens access to the same area together? Their eggs all have the same targeted hatch date.
*Should I possibly open them up to one another now, before the eggs hatch, or should I wait until each hen has hatched chicks with her in her kennel?
*Would one hen accept the chicks hatched under the other hen, or is there the risk that she would kill them?
*Should I keep them separate from each other and from the rest of the flock for a significant period of time after the chicks hatch?
*Now that these two hens are bullied by the other flock members whenever they do interact, will they still be able to protect their chicks from all the other hens?
*I do have a second coop in a totally different parcel of our land that I have used in the past to breed meat birds (skipped that this year). Should I be moving the rest of the layer hen flock (6 birds) out there rather than risk their aggression towards the chicks? That area has fencing with holes large enough for chicks to escape where their mamas could not follow, (2"x4" grid) so for that reason I think it would have to be the other adult birds who get moved if needed. It is less convenient, but perfectly suitable for layers.
We are just 5 days out from the anticipated hatch date at this point.
I know this was lengthy and complicated. I would appreciate any knowledge more experienced chicken owners could share. As I am not allowed to have a rooster within the "city limits" I have never dealt with hens hatching eggs before.
