Encouraging a broody

[MelissaRose]

Hello!
I have a welsummer chicken who is going broody. She is at the stage where she sleeps in the box at night, but she has switched boxes a few times. I am going to hatch some spring chicks and I would prefer to do it under a hen. I was planning to start my eggs on the thirtieth which is in about two and a half weeks. Will she wait that long and then hatch eggs? and do you have any tips for encouraging her to go broody.
Thanks in advance!
~MelissaRose

 

[sylviethecochin]

I wouldn't let her wait that long. Most of the hens I have would wait that long, but it's hard on them. They lose body fat and feathers.

Technically, you can do it. I would just prefer to not do so.

You can't make a hen go broody, though you can encourage them to do so by giving them a nice, dark, secluded place to hide eggs. It's highly unlikely to make a hen spontaneously go broody.

 

[MelissaRose]

Thanks @sylviethecochin!

I wouldn't let her wait that long. Most of the hens I have would wait that long, but it's hard on them. They lose body fat and feathers.

Technically, you can do it. I would just prefer to not do so.

You can't make a hen go broody, though you can encourage them to do so by giving them a nice, dark, secluded place to hide eggs. It's highly unlikely to make a hen spontaneously go broody.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello!
I have a welsummer chicken who is going broody. She is at the stage where she sleeps in the box at night, but she has switched boxes a few times. I am going to hatch some spring chicks and I would prefer to do it under a hen. I was planning to start my eggs on the thirtieth which is in about two and a half weeks. Will she wait that long and then hatch eggs? and do you have any tips for encouraging her to go broody.
Thanks in advance!
~MelissaRose

That's too bigger gap imo. The health risks are just not worth it.
I would just wait until she goes broody again.
While there is no foolproof method of making a hen go broody a pile of her own eggs is a good start.

 

[chickens really]

If she is Broody now..Give her eggs now. It's never easy to plan things for us. Set her up in a separate quiet Brooder with a nest and her feed and water.

 

[centrarchid]

A hen changing locations during what appears to be broodiness is not a sign I like to see. She is likely to be a high risk parent assuming you can get her to bond with chicks.

 

[MelissaRose]

A hen changing locations during what appears to be broodiness is not a sign I like to see. She is likely to be a high risk parent assuming you can get her to bond with chicks.

could it be because she is just in the coop with everyone else? I've seen another hen trying to get in her box.
I think I'm going to try moving her to her own place outside the coop ( I have a little broody hen house that we put in our barn for broody hens) and maybe she'll decide to hatch some eggs.

 

[MelissaRose]

Is it possible that taking her eggs away discourages her?