first time with a Broody hen - questions

[KDchickenmomma]

I have a one year old 1 Bantam Cochin Hen, Dorothy, who is currently broody for the first time. I have a Cochin Rooster, so her eggs may be fertilized. I decided to let her try to hatch them. I have several issues.
1) I just added 16 new chicks to the flock this spring. (4 groups of 4 hens, two weeks apart each.)
They are still working on the pecking order. Dorothy seems to rule the roost.
2) I also have a Production Red hen than prefers the same egg laying box as the Cochin. I think she is still laying in the same box Dorothy is held up in. I have caught her laying on the eggs while Dorothy is getting a bite to eat. I do not want her adding to the eggs as they will not be at the same stage in development and I'm not sure if hers will be fertilized.

Should I move Dorothy and the eggs to an other nesting box? If I do, will they stay there? Should I mark the eggs so I know if new ones are added? If so, how?

 

[sumi]

Hens don't like being moved when they're broody and sitting. Rather leave her where she is.
Mark the eggs you want her to hatch with a non-toxic pencil, like a make-up one.
She'll probably re-establish the pecking order once she's up and about again.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[KDchickenmomma]

Thanks, I am just worried about the other hen laying on her and breaking her eggs or adding new eggs and I don't know.

 

[nurse_turtle]

I had the same problem. I have a large plastic dog house that ALL 6 girls were using as a nest box. So when Sissy went broody on that nest, all but 1 decided to lay elsewhere. Homegirl, Jersey Giant, demanded on laying where Sissy was siting. I would peek in to find Homegirl perched right over on Sissy. I was so worried about broken eggs, but there were never any. I marked the eggs I wanted Sissy to hatch out. I have found that crayon and colored pencil wear off after some time, so I use a black sharpie to make an "X" on the eggs I want to keep and every day I had to look under her to remove any unmarked eggs.

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

Actually it is best to move the broody hen to her own broody box. I wrote a blog post about it here: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2011/07/03/building-a-broody-box/ but here's the excerpted information about a separate box:

"In order for a broody hen to hatch eggs in a coop with a resident flock, it’s generally necessary to move the broody to a separate area. If she stays in a regular nest box, other hens will get in the box with her to lay eggs; and will likely break some - making a mess of the whole situation. It’s better to set up a separate “broody box” within the coop; and since we’re hoping that several of ours will eventually exhibit broodiness, we decided to build a semi-permanent broody box in a corner of the coop.
Besides a nest box within the broody box, the hen needs room to get off the nest and relieve herself; and needs food and water. In order to accomodate all this, a good size broody box is about 2′ wide x 2 1/2′ long, and it’s a good idea to raise it off the floor to allow for ventilation. A hardware cloth floor is a good idea because it doesn’t collect dust or droppings."

As for moving the hen, move the hen and her eggs into the new broody box at night, if she's serious, she should settle into the new nest box.

Hope this is helpful, and good luck on her hatching some peeps!

 

[KDchickenmomma]

Thank you, that was very helpful! I went out to check on the girls and found Chelsea sitting in the laying box where Dorothy is held up. Dorothy was sitting in the next box over. I removed the 7 eggs and placed them under Dorothy in box #2. When Chelsea was done laying her egg, she left the box. Dorothy seemed happy to sit in the new box. I also marked the 7 eggs, only one of which was hers, with a eye-makeup pencil. I'm going to candle the egg tonight and see if any are fertilized.