HELP!! Broody had eggs layed by other hens over several (6?) days. First ones are hatching! What do

[Estellesar]

***Edited to add: Just to clarify, I am not trying to break #2 of broodiness, I am trying to prevent loss of clutch because Mama 1 leaves eggs behind to go take care of chicks. ***

Broody question. I have a broody who had eggs continue to be laid under her by other hens for at least 6 days before I realized it. At last candling, I removed any that werent developing. Now (Im shocked, I forgot to write it on a calender!) I look under her tonight to count eggs and SHE HAS A CHICK!!! and it looks like another is zipping. What do I do?!?!?! She is still in a the main coop with the rest of the chickens.
We also have another broody who is hell bent on being a mom. I scare her off a nest, to have her move to the next one over, and devotedly sit for days, even when **she doesnt have any eggs under her!** Crazy chicken! But this broody is a b!tch! and Im terrified of using her to help me out with Broody #1
I was kind of thinking I could either move chicks under Broody B!, and continue to let Mama set the rest of the unfinished eggs.
OR let mama be done with unfinished eggs and try to get Broody B! to take over the nest.
Thoughts? Other ideas???
I really need help. I am stressing over this so bad! Thank you for any help or advice!!!

**crossposted**

 

[SnowPeeOstrichU]

Hi there!

So let me see if I have this right:

B1 is the nice one, with the chick and some unfinished eggs, but is still in main chicken coop

B2 is not so friendly as a broody or hen altogether

Is that right?

If so, I would try to let B1 raise the chick(s). Has she gone back for the rest of the eggs? If not, you might have to candle them or give them to B2. However, if B2 is not the nicest hen, I'm not sure I'd want to risk her teaching that to chicks, so I'd consider the candling strategy.

With B2, a broody breaker can be used to break the instinct of broodiness. It's a small cage with chicken wire bottom or something similar and a perch. It also should have a small food container and small water container. Mine fits nicely into my main chicken coop so that everyone can still socialize but it forces the broody hen to perch because the bottom of it is too cold to try to brood on. To use it, a hen will live in it for a few days and that's all it takes. It's interesting to see the poops slowly get bigger as she eats more than she did whilst sitting on the nest.
-A part of broodiness is that they will sit even if there's no eggs. Nothing abnormal about your hen or her determined-ness..

Going back to B1, I would consider giving her and the chick their own house so they don't have to deal with the rest of the hens for a little while as the chick(s) grow up

Hope this helps!

 

[Estellesar]

Hi SnowPee, Thanks for the reply!
Yes, you got it right I went to check on B1 today as I thought I had seen a zipping egg last night when I shut up the coop. No such luck, and boy has she switched gears from calm and serene! She jumped out of the nest box at me!
Then later this afternoon, she was trying to show the only chick how to eat, so she was scraping up her nest and throwing her eggs every which way!!!

I am so upset!
I used a piece of board, got her out of the nest, grabbed the chick and set him in the main area as he was having trouble getting up and over the lip of the box. I shoo'd B2 off her nest and quick dug through the nest box bedding and found all the eggs and moved them gently to her box. I have no idea if there is any hope now. I highly doubt it

Now I just need to get B1 into our seperation crate (the only non main area container we have) with her chick! But she is wicked!!! Jumping at me and trying to attack me and everything....a TOTAL turnaround from the way she *had* been.

 

[SnowPeeOstrichU]

Hmm.. Maybe try moving her by putting treats down in the area you want her to go to plus a couple in the normal area so the other chickens don't get jealous.. As B1 seems to be done with hatching the others, she just needs her own space so instinct isn't interfered too much with. The difficulty with chicken eggs is they all are supposed to hatch in a relatively short amount of time so mama can go to feed with everyone at once. The one time I put a chick under a hen semi-successfully, the two of them definitely took it slowly going over barriers like the edge of the coop and such..

So are the extra ones to hatch now under B2 or candling or..?

And is B2 in a box or broody breaker or..?