Having trouble moving broody hen

[Amina]

I have the same issue. I have a silkie, first time brooder, sitting on 5 eggs. She's in the one box out of 7 that they all choose to lay in.

It's about 3 feet off the ground, but has a high lip, so I think I'm going to leave her in there. We went out today and her sister was sitting with her, so maybe I'll have co-mommies.

I did mark the eggs she was on so I can pull the new ones out. She jumped off the nest when we did this, ate, drank, pooped and preened for about 5 minutes and then went back on the nest. I have high hopes for a hatch on 5/4/16!

I have 7 eggs in an incubator due in 6 days, so I ordered a second 'bator in case she stops sitting. If so, I'll grab the eggs and finish them in the 'bator.

Good luck with yours! Keep us posted.

Juli

I hope your hatch goes well too! At least if you're keeping your broody with the flock, you won't have integration issues later on. I'm hoping that re-integration won't be too bad for me, but this is a fairly low-ranking hen, so we'll see.

I'm supposed to get NPIP testing done for my flock in about two weeks, so hopefully this hen won't abandon her nest from the disturbance of being poked and prodded at that time. Like you, I do have an incubator that I can use as backup if I have to.

 

[nchls school]

Well, we tried moving my broody again this evening, and I am cautiously optimistic that we were successful! We moved her chosen nest box, made sure there were several golf balls in there, and then stuck the hen on them. She stayed put this time, and didn't make alarm calls like last night! We got growled at, but that stopped as soon as she was back in her box. Guess I won't know for sure til tomorrow whether she's going to stay, but I'm hopeful. If she stays put all day tomorrow, I'm planning to give her the eggs tomorrow night.

The nest is about a foot off the ground due to how it's built (2 nest boxes, one on top of the other, but everyone just likes the top box). I guess that won't be too bad a fall for the chicks, though.

I hope the move was successful. When the chicks hatch you will be able to move her down. You don't want to have a chick fall out while other eggs are still hatching.

 

[Amina]

Yep, looks like it was successful! She is sitting tight on her golf balls this morning. Now I just need to decide how many eggs to give to her. I'm thinking I'll give her 6-8 eggs, and start the same number of eggs in my incubator at the same time. If it turns out that she's a good mom, then I'll add the incubator chicks to her when they hatch. If not, then I'll take her eggs/chicks away and raise them myself.

 

[nchls school]

Yep, looks like it was successful! She is sitting tight on her golf balls this morning. Now I just need to decide how many eggs to give to her. I'm thinking I'll give her 6-8 eggs, and start the same number of eggs in my incubator at the same time. If it turns out that she's a good mom, then I'll add the incubator chicks to her when they hatch. If not, then I'll take her eggs/chicks away and raise them myself.

If you said I forgot. What breed is she? And what kind of eggs?

 

[Amina]

She's a splash marans hen, and I'm going to give her some blue/splash marans eggs. This is her:

 

[nchls school]

She's a splash marans hen, and I'm going to give her some blue/splash marans eggs. This is her:


She looks to be a fairly large hen. If the eggs you plan on giving her are the same size as her own, she could easily cover 10 eggs; if you wished for that many.

The big test here will be when she gets of the nest to eat and drink. If she goes back to the nest, then she has accepted the move. Good luck.

 

[Silkie-Feet]

I wouldn't recommend trying to move chicks you hatched in an incubator to the mama hen. Everytime that I have tried the broody has ended up rejecting the extra chicks. I would try to give her all of the eggs (if they fit) - she will likely be much better at hatching than a incubator. If she turns out to be a "bad mother" then you can remove the chicks and raise them in a brooder.

 

[nchls school]

Experiences for people vary I guess. Much has to do with timing and breed. Every hen I've tried to give extra chicks to has accepted them.

 

[Amina]

Considering this hen is a first-timer, I'm just a little nervous about her. Maybe I am needlessly worrying, but I've heard stories of broody hens killing their chicks when they hatch. I'd like to set about a dozen eggs to hatch, but if there's a chance she may kill them all, then I'd prefer not to risk it with too many chicks right off the bat. That's why I was going to put half the eggs in the incubator, and then add the extra chicks to her the night after I've verified that she's not going to murder her chicks.

Now I am not sure which way is riskier. Hmm.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Different people have different experiences. When you deal with living animals there is no telling what any of them will do. But realize when you read these horror stories you are hearing about the times things went wrong. You are not hearing about the vast majority of times that things went great.

It is possible that a broody hen will kill some or all of her chicks when they hatch. I’ve had it happen. A hen hatched 8 chicks and killed three of them. She successfully raised the rest. I don’t know why she killed those three, they were different colors so that wasn’t it. She was a first time broody but I’ve had many first time broody hens that did great.

Because I had a snake eating eggs out from under a broody hen I let her sit on golf balls and hatched chicks for her in an incubator. At lockdown I gave her a couple of eggs to hatch with the thought of not risking the other eggs to that snake. The two she hatched were red, the ones I hatched in the incubator were mixed colors red and black. When I gave her the other chicks she rejected the black ones but accepted the red ones. I think she just imprinted on the red while waiting on the others. This was not a first time broody hen. She had hatched and raised another brood earlier that spring. That earlier brood had red and black chicks in it. You never can tell what will happen with living animals.

I have had many broody hens, first time broodies and otherwise, hatch and raise chicks without a problem. I have given chicks to broodies several times with no issues whatsoever. You’ve heard my two horror stories but I assure you I’ve had so much success I consider these things really unusual. You might have a fender bender the next time you go to the grocery store. Really, it can happen. Will that stop you from ever going to the grocery store again just because it might happen?

You can continue with you plan, I’ve successfully done the same a few times. Have you hatched with that incubator before? Sometimes, especially if the incubator is running a bit cool or warm, the chicks can hatch early or late, sometimes by a few days. I’ve also had that happen under a broody hen but usually early instead of late. They should be close enough together in age that it won’t make a difference, but it can add a level of stress for you and you seem to be someone that stresses easily. No matter what you do there is going to be some stress. I suggest you make a plan and stick with it. There is no right way or wrong way to do this. No matter what you do there can be issues. But most of the time it works great whichever way you choose.

Good luck however you decide.