First time hatching under a broody

[WaddleWaddle]

Give you all give me a rundown of what I need to and don't need to do. My husband ordered me a dozen fertile easter egger eggs to go under my broody. This will be my first time hatching under a broody. I have only had day old chicks before.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You have two different basic options. Isolate the broody or let her hatch with the flock. There are risks with either one but most of us are successful whichever way we go about it.

To isolate the broody, build a predator proof pen big enough to hold a nest, food and water and some spare room so she can go poop. Make the nest pretty dark. I even suggest making it so you can lock the hen in the nest itself. Make that pen secure so the hen cannot go back to her old nest if she wants to.

At night after everything has settled down, move the hen to the new nest using as little light and commotion as possible. Lock her in the new nest with a few expendable eggs or fake eggs. Leave her locked in that dark nest most of the next day, just letting her out a little before dark so she can eat, drink, and go poop. She might not choose to come off the nest until the next day. Remember she is locked in that pen and cannot go back to her old nest. The risk is that she will not accept the new nest and will break from being broody. Since you have eggs coming, you might want to let her out so she can go back to her old nest if it is obvious she is not accepting the move.

If you let her hatch with the flock, mark all the eggs you want her to hatch (unless they are a different color. Then it doesn’t matter) Then every day after all the other hens have laid, check under her and remove any eggs that don’t belong. As long as you don’t skip a day you can use those eggs.

Good luck whichever way you choose.

 

[WaddleWaddle]

@Ridgerunner Thank you that is really helpful. We moved the girls into their new coop we built a little over a week ago. She has been broody for about 5 weeks now and stayed broody even after moving them to the new coop. She is one determined little hen! My idea is to create a pen for her and the eggs/chicks. Here is a photo of our setup which will help make sense of what we are going to do: https://www.dropbox.com/sc/8ldpb2dykapq22b/DBGTKx5L21 I plan to section off the area under the nest boxes on the floor with hardware cloth as her area and I would hang "curtains" to block out a good deal of light. This will allow her to be in the security of the coop while having her own space. The babies would also be on the floor so there will be no need to move them for safety reasons since our nest boxes are high up.

Once I get the eggs in the mail do I just stick them under her or do I need to do anything to them first? I heard somewhere about letting them sit out to acclimate? At anytime during the incubation period is there any reason I should candle them or is it best to go by her instincts and let her kick any bad eggs out?

 

[midget_farms]

All good questions. Shipped eggs get beat up pretty badly so some people like to let then rest. In my opinion they will do the same either way & it's better for the hen to get eggs under her early vs late.

You can candle as much as you like. Some people can't seen to leave them alone others never check. Up to you.

Don't mess with them in the last few days before hatch