Fuss about fertilised eggs with 2 broodies.

[BDutch]

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.

Sorry this happened.

 

[BDutch]

@Ridgerunner you say “ one of your hens is flawed” but I don’t think so. Last autumn I had a had a hen with a temporary vent problem. She was often stressed being the lowest in the peck order. But after the winter break she is more confident and her vent problem is over.

So I thought the poop was from a stressed chicken. Probably the same easily stressed chicken. But I won’t cull her because she was the one who could have done this.

The two sisters are really broody and stay on their nests now. They get along fine at this moment and make the right noise to warn me to stay away. I do hope the others interfering and wanting to lay an egg in their nest is the main problem. Anyway, I am going to separate these two from the flock now. I can manage that easily.

 

[BDutch]

Done. The 2 broodies (tiny Dutch) have access to a limited ground floor space of about 3 x 6 ft. And upstairs they have another 3x3 ft. next to the nesting boxes.

The flock ( 5 small bantams) has about the same area in the coop and as soon as the sun is up access to the run with lots of space and more covered area’s. The flock has roosted now (8.30 pm here). Tomorrow is another day.

Does anyone how how bad it is to have poop on some of the eggs? If there is barely any chance they will hatch I can make one nest with one broody right away.

But my plan is to candle the eggs in 5-6 days. If >3 eggs are without life I can make one nest and break one broody.

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

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 gor 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 the was a little poop in the nest with the 4+1 eggs.

What should I do?

You might have to separate them (or just one) in a different coop. Good luck with your broodies!!

 

[BDutch]

You might have to separate them (or just one) in a different coop. Good luck with your broodies!!

Thanks. Maybe I wil. It depends on how they behave tomorrow.

 

[FortCluck]

I would put those eggs in the incubator. I don’t think that particular chicken will be a good mama hen. Some of mine are the same way and they abandon the chicks to. You could also give all the eggs to the other one who is sitting.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Glad you got some good responses, I've never let a broody set so can't help here but sounds like separating them into their own area was the best bet in this particular set up.

 

[BDutch]

I would put those eggs in the incubator. I don’t think that particular chicken will be a good mama hen. Some of mine are the same way and they abandon the chicks to. You could also give all the eggs to the other one who is sitting.

Thanks for the response, But I don’t have an incubator. If I order one now it wil arrive too late for these eggs anyway.

After the first panic this afternoon (and an appointment I had to go to) I have been thinking about what happened the last couple of days and it seems the broodies are both commited to hatch their own clutch with 5 eggs until other hens interfere.

Glad you got some good responses, I've never let a broody set so can't help here but sounds like separating them into their own area was the best bet in this particular set up.

Yes. I did get great advices , but some advises I cannot perform because my setup is too small.
The best I could do is to separate the 2 broodies from the flock to keep away the stressful interference of the other chickens. The 2 broodies sit on the eggs as they should now. And I’m still hoping for a good result. Time will tel.

I have been looking for info on eggs who got smeared with some poop in the meanwhile too. There is not much info but what I found was not disturbing. Other breeders had a reasonable - good outcome after this happened.

 

[BDutch]

Update:
Checked on the broodies Black and Pearl twice. They seem to do fine now in their part of the coop.

The rest of the flock is free ranging now. Ininini, my oldest Dutch and boss of the flock, tried to get in the separated coop, but couldn’t . Acted very nervous and was ‘talking’ to me. I showed her the 2 broodies on the nest. I think she is not amused to be excluded. Maybe her behaviour was part of the problem.

 

[FortCluck]

My two broodies swap nests halfway through the day. One of them is a terrible mother hen. Usually she hatches and another hen raises her chicks. She is the best broody though. She hatched quail eggs for me last year.