Fayoumi Hen - Broody & AWOL

[AStCyr]

Help! We had a Fayoumi hen disappear about 5-6 days ago. Through some intense detective work, we found her and come to find out she has been accumulating eggs (16 to be exact) and has been sitting on them. Sadly, there would be no way for these eggs to have been fertilized. We have brought her home and placed her in the coop with the eggs in a nest box and ‘locked her in’ the coop. Should we allow her to keep some of the eggs? Take them all? Should we get her some fertilized eggs? Looking for recommendations... I feel really badly that we hijacked her and her nest back to the coop...

 

[Buffy Brahma Mama]

I have one of those hens too. Sadly, she will be misearable if confined. I let her jump the fence and she free ranges all day. She is becomming more tame and comes to the door every day begging for her greek yogurt treat.

I found about 20 eggs piled up behind my un-used emergency coop. I chose to dump the eggs, as she was not sitting on them yet and no embryos would have developed at that point.

If your eggs aren't fertile, I would dump the eggs you found into the compost. Then she will likely lay in the same spot, or somewhere new each day. Starting from scratch, you can take the eggs each day as she lays them, so you know they are still good.

If she really is broody and you wanted to hatch eggs, you could add fertile ones to the ones she lays, but remember you will likely get 50:50 mix of hens and roos, so it really depends on your goals and how much room you have to care for them.

If your main concern is her well being, I definitely would suggest letting her free range. It is what she was born to do, and even though predation can be an issue, she will have lived well

 

[AStCyr]

I have one of those hens too. Sadly, she will be misearable if confined. I let her jump the fence and she free ranges all day. She is becomming more tame and comes to the door every day begging for her greek yogurt treat.

I found about 20 eggs piled up behind my un-used emergency coop. I chose to dump the eggs, as she was not sitting on them yet and no embryos would have developed at that point.

If your eggs aren't fertile, I would dump the eggs you found into the compost. Then she will likely lay in the same spot, or somewhere new each day. Starting from scratch, you can take the eggs each day as she lays them, so you know they are still good.

If she really is broody and you wanted to hatch eggs, you could add fertile ones to the ones she lays, but remember you will likely get 50:50 mix of hens and roos, so it really depends on your goals and how much room you have to care for them.

If your main concern is her well being, I definitely would suggest letting her free range. It is what she was born to do, and even though predation can be an issue, she will have lived well

I love this reply. I was really tempted to leave her as she was. Thank you for your response. I’d rather her live her best life and be as ‘happy’ as possible. She sure found a very safe and out of the way location for her nest, so if she wants to be a wild chicken and come visit when she feels the desire, she is welcome to do that. We felt an obligation to ‘protect’ her... however We are new to this chicken thing and I’m totally ok letting her follow her instincts.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Help! We had a Fayoumi hen disappear about 5-6 days ago. Through some intense detective work, we found her and come to find out she has been accumulating eggs (16 to be exact) and has been sitting on them. Sadly, there would be no way for these eggs to have been fertilized. We have brought her home and placed her in the coop with the eggs in a nest box and ‘locked her in’ the coop. Should we allow her to keep some of the eggs? Take them all? Should we get her some fertilized eggs? Looking for recommendations... I feel really badly that we hijacked her and her nest back to the coop...

You have options so you need to make a decision on what you want to do.

If you want more chicks and can source hatching fertile eggs quickly, then by all means let her sit.
You could also let her sit for another 14-15 days or so, then place day old (feed store?) chicks under her hoping she will take them, but be prepared to brood the chicks yourself if she rejects them.

With hatching eggs do keep in mind you will end up with males - have a plan for them if you don't want males.
With feed store chicks (IF you can find them when you need them) you may be able to get sexed chicks which gives you a good chance there's no males. I would not put chicks under her right this minute though, she needs to sit for close to the 21 days then you have a much better chance of a hen accepting chicks.

If you don't want more chicks, then break her broodiness. Some are not that committed and can be broken easily. Others it may take several days. If you want to break her, cage her with no bedding and no eggs, preferably where she gets air flow underneath her to help cool her.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...rates-a-good-tool-for-every-chickeneer.72619/

 

[Buffy Brahma Mama]

I know she will appreciate it! I have built several lean to's to help all mine find cover from predators. They work great to protect against hawks.
I even have some steps for our escape artist to get back over the fence a little bit easier, but mostly she just flies right over and then out again!