hatching under a broody for the first time

[LittleMoss]

Hi,
We have very little experience of hatching eggs - but the one hen we have kept which we hatched ourselves in an incubator is now broody! She has been broody for quite a few weeks, but as we were away for a week, I delayed getting her some fertile eggs until today.
At the moment, the eggs are resting, and I have moved the hen into her own little coop, where she is happily sitting on two eggs which are not fertile. I intend to swap these eggs for the fertile ones tomorrow morning.
I just wondered if anybody had any tips? I'd be glad of any advice, thanks.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I would swap eggs after dark when she is asleep, and make sure she has access to food and water, space to get off the nest to poop and walk a little. Make sure she and her eggs are safe when she is on and off the nest and just let her do her thing, in 21 days, give or take you should have chicks. Good luck

ETA: Make sure she can fully cover the number of eggs you put under her.

 

[LittleMoss]

Thank you! I have put the eggs in now, and Rosie is sitting on them happily. I will have another peep later to make sure she can fully cover all the eggs. She is an average size hen and there are nine eggs. When I looked in earlier, I could see one or two eggs peeking out round the back of her wings. I read somewhere that up to a dozen eggs is a reasonable number??
Yesterday, my little girl helped me put in the two infertile eggs for Rosie the hen to "practice" sitting on. My daughter accidentally dropped one of the eggs lightly onto the other - one ended up with a little crack, but as they were just for practice, I left both in. This morning, there was only one egg! Rosie must have noticed that one egg was damaged and eaten it all up. So at least she's had a good dose of protein! After she'd been sitting on the fertile eggs for a while, and came out to feed, I peeped in and there were still nine, so she hasn't eaten any of those

 

[LittleMoss]

Hi - back again. Our hen did eat a few of the fertile eggs, but I wonder if I hadn't got a thick enough layer of sawdust underneath her and they got cracked because of that. I've given her more bedding now and there are still six eggs...
I think they should hatch next Sunday and I wanted to ask about food. When we used an incubator, we fed chick crumb - is that the same with a broody - or does the hen regurgitate food and feed it to the chicks? If you feed chick crumb, does that mean the hen has to eat chick crumb too, or do you give her pellets? If so, do you have to put those where the chicks can't get them?
The broody is in a little coop of her own, with a run. There is sawdust in the coop, but the ground in the run is rather mucky. Should I put sawdust in the run before the chicks hatch?
Thanks for any advice!

 

[JanetMarie]

Chicks and mom eat the same food. Moms raising chicks don't lay eggs, so the chick food will be okay for mom to eat too.

Make sure the floor is clean and dry, but I would not use sawdust because the chicks can easily eat the sawdust instead of their food. Large pine shavings would be better.

I never keep my broody hens and chicks separate from the flock, that way when the mom is finished raising them the chicks are already integrated.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

You could try to add more bedding to cover up the eggs, that might work to keep her from pecking and eating it.