Fuss about fertilised eggs with 2 broodies.

[BDutch]

I have two broodies in two nests next to each other. This year I want to keep the broodies (and chicks in 3 weeks) in the flock. The eggs are marked and there 2 extra nests for the other hens.

I put fertile eggs under them on Thursday evening. When I gave the flock some scratch one broody went outside for a break. One not-broody hen (Inimini) took the place of one broody. When I checked later she was still on the eggs and the 2 broodies where sitting in the other nest.
I got Inimini out and put Black on her eggs again. The rest of the day they did fine. There was one new egg extra in a nest , which I took away.

But a moment ago when I checked I was not so pleased. There where 4 marked eggs in one nest + one new egg and 6 eggs in the other nest. The nest are divided. So they moved one egg around over a small obstacle to the other side. And there was a little poop in the nest with the 4 + 1 eggs.

What should I do?

edited: title, typing and a P.S.

P.S. The problem is solved by seperating the two broodies from the flock. They do fine now. For who is interested I will keep this thread as a blog with new info if there is any. I posted a few pics of chicks too from the end of April.

Anyone who wants to ask something or who has tips is welcome to reply.

 

[BDutch]

I tagged a few here that are great helpers
@aart , @Ridgerunner , @rosemarythyme
Hope at least one of then will shine a light on this.

Perhaps the best thing to do is to separate the 2 broodies from the flock. But I would prefer another solution.

If necessary have 2 options to seperate the broodies from the flock.
1 Where they are now and make some changes, build a little to shut off the broody-coop from the roost coop.
2 risk moving the 2 broodies to the second run . I can seperate the second from the larger run. I have a small coop there. The 2 broodies have to share a large nest box.

 

[BDutch]

Checked again. Now Black abandoned the eggs and sits together with Pearl on her nest! The eggs where still warm. But most of the are smeared with poo.

I moved Black back to her own dirty nest. This is not going great at all.

 

[aart]

I wouldn't let 2 broodies go at the same time...I don't have the facility to separate in case of trouble nor do I have whatever it takes to deal with said potential issues.

When I have a broody and want her to hatch I wait until she's been in the nest most the day and all night for 2-3 days...along with those other signs I posted.

Then I put her in the broody enclosure with fake eggs in the floor nest, she won't like being moved, but if she is truly good and broody she will settle onto the new nest within a half a day.
Then I give her fresh fertile eggs and mark the calendar.

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.

I remove barrier about one week after hatch. The chicks are usually safe it's the broody who has to 'fight' her way back into the pecking order...which can be quick or take a few days.

Lots of space helps for re-integration.

 

[50-45-1]

Sounds like this is setup is not going to work for you. They are to close together and other hens are disrupting them with laying fresh eggs.
You can let your hens brood separately elsewhere, and always put them back in the coop with the flock after the chicks are hatched .
This is what I always do and never have integration problems.

 

[abpatchy]

yes, seperate them... sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't that they hatch together. I wouldn't take the chances of eggs getting broken (or other issues).

 

[Ridgerunner]

I typically do certain things but I'm not so hard headed I can't change. It's not going well for you so do something different.

I also never let two broodies have access to each other's nests. Sometimes it works out but I lost half the eggs under a broody one time that it did not work out.

I don't understand where that poop is coming from. A broody hen should know instinctively to not poop in her nest. A hen laying an egg should know the same thing. One of your hens is flawed. Can you figure out which one? If you can she does not need to be hatching eggs.

I think @aart has seen this too if I remember right. I've had a hen that when she laid an egg she'd squeeze out a bit of fresh poop. It happened with every egg. The way the plumbing is supposed to work that should not happen. The poop and eggs come out of the same vent, but when the egg is laid the egg part of that plumbing is suppose to protrude a bit to shut off the poop. I think that plumbing was defective and did not protrude far enough. It took a while to figure out which hen that was but she tasted good.

So what would I do in your case. I'd break one hen from being broody. If you can figure out the poopy part that decision may be easy. I'd isolate the other hen and toss those poopy eggs. Get fresh ones for her to hatch. Poopy eggs compromise the bloom and let bacteria inside the egg. You are highly unlikely to get a good hatch with poopy eggs.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

There was room in the nest so I let my 2 broody Bantam Cochins sit on eggs together.
I did it two times and this is what happened: they overturned the eggs! They were always bickering about who had the eggs. None were broken, they were scrambled with all of the air cells detached. No chicks could ever hatch.

 

[Mutchi]

Aww sorrow

 

[BDutch]

Thank you all for you're reactions.

My Dutch have been good broodies who get along well most of the time.

I had 2 Dutch broodies on 1 nest before and that was really great and succesfull.

Once i had 2 broodies in one nest and another broody in the next nest. This was okay until the first nest hatched. Then I seperated the third broody to a temporary nestbox in the run.

A few years ago I seperated 1 broody because there were 3 hens who tried to claim two nests after about a week. I candled the eggs and had just 4 that developed well. So 1 broody on one nest was the best solution.

10 eggs ( a bit bigger than their own) is too much for one Dutch. Now they both stayed on their nests. I don’t have enough room to make 2 seperated nests , closed off trom the flock. But if I see any trouble again I wil take out the pooped eggs and leave leave one broody with 7 eggs. And close this part of the coop from the others.