Help? Hen sitting on eggs

[Sungrove Farmstead]

Hey all! I have a hen sitting on some eggs and dumb, but I'm not sure what to do lol -- she is on the floor of the elevated coop (it's clean, shavings, a fine place for now) and I plan to put her in the "seperation cage" as I call it (a big cage I made for transitioning pullets and such) with a nest box so she not have to go far for food and such and not be bothered...

I don't want to pull them out and incubate, (that's just not where I'm at right now lol) but I am happy to let her hatch them -- I keep finding ones she lets get cold, I candled last night and could see growth in some, and one that was cold from this morning had started to develop but didn't get very far -- I am not sure on the dates they were laid (I think most were a week or so ago) but she definitely keep stealing eggs from the nestbox she is near, she has eggs from at least 4 different hens under her...but I don't know how to tell if the chicks inside are doing okay or stopped developing or any of that...

What would you do? Just move her and let her sit for a while? keep checking the eggs? I started with the "wait and see" approach, I grew up with chickens and we had hens hatching big loads of chicks all the time on their own but this is the first hen I've had now go broody with actual fertilized eggs

 

[Ebony Rose]

Mark the eggs that she's sitting with a pencil (not pen), so that you can remove any new eggs daily. Don't try to help her by turning eggs, she knows what each needs and when. Unless she's in a dangerous area, don't move her, she's selected the spot that SHE feels comfortable to raise a family in. Expect the process to take about three weeks, and expect her to leave the clutch at least once daily for about a half hour or so, to take care of her bodily needs. If she seems to be getting too thin, consider serving her 'breakfast in bed'. It's normal for a broody hen to hatch eggs from all of your hens, that's a chicken thing.

 

[Sungrove Farmstead]

Mark the eggs that she's sitting with a pencil (not pen), so that you can remove any new eggs daily. Don't try to help her by turning eggs, she knows what each needs and when. Unless she's in a dangerous area, don't move her, she's selected the spot that SHE feels comfortable to raise a family in. Expect the process to take about three weeks, and expect her to leave the clutch at least once daily for about a half hour or so, to take care of her bodily needs. If she seems to be getting too thin, consider serving her 'breakfast in bed'. It's normal for a broody hen to hatch eggs from all of your hens, that's a chicken thing.

The reason I want to move her is because 1: If she actually hatches eggs she can't be in there I don't think because the exit to the coop is a hole in the floor with a ramp, and I'm scared a chick would hatch and fall down? and 2: I tried to feed her food and another chicken bullied her away from her eggs to get the food, but I don't feed them much, because they are free range so I am worried she won't actually get enough food...so not sure what to do there?

I marked a few with pen before I really thought/read about it (hopefully they will be okay?) But I am going to mark the rest today, I've just removed ones that she has let get cold so far, I think pretty much all of my eggs have been fertilized from all the hens, so I'm all for her hatching a bunch of breeds lol, she just keeps ending up with more and more, so definitely removing new ones will be necessary if she stays there

I feel dumb because I'm like, I want to just let her do her thing, but I also don't want her sitting on dead eggs or getting picked on, or having some sort of problem that I could have prevented?

 

[WVduckchick]

Cold ones aren't necessarily dead. If you candle and the insides float loosely around on their own, or if you see a blood ring and all collapsed blood vessels, then those are dead. But if you can't tell for sure, just leave them with her.

Options of moving a hen are better if you wait until they hatch, or very close before hatch time, but you can move her now. Once she is "committed" to sitting, she will most likely accept being moved. KEEP IN MIND, ALL BROODIES HAVE A MIND OF THEIR OWN, AND THERE IS NO GUARANTEE ON ANYTHING! LOL

Or can you block off where she is now, away from the other hens, until the chicks hatch?

Pencil on the eggs will rub off. Pen is fine. I use permanent sharpie marker on the fat end. Easiest to find when checking for new eggs, and won't rub off, and does no harm whatsoever. (there's a thread here somewhere showing how someone completely colored eggs with markers, sharpies, crayons, etc, just to test incubating them. Nothing gets inside the egg)

 

[Sungrove Farmstead]

Cold ones aren't necessarily dead. If you candle and the insides float loosely around on their own, or if you see a blood ring and all collapsed blood vessels, then those are dead. But if you can't tell for sure, just leave them with her.

Options of moving a hen are better if you wait until they hatch, or very close before hatch time, but you can move her now. Once she is "committed" to sitting, she will most likely accept being moved. KEEP IN MIND, ALL BROODIES HAVE A MIND OF THEIR OWN, AND THERE IS NO GUARANTEE ON ANYTHING! LOL

Or can you block off where she is now, away from the other hens, until the chicks hatch?

Pencil on the eggs will rub off. Pen is fine. I use permanent sharpie marker on the fat end. Easiest to find when checking for new eggs, and won't rub off, and does no harm whatsoever. (there's a thread here somewhere showing how someone completely colored eggs with markers, sharpies, crayons, etc, just to test incubating them. Nothing gets inside the egg)

Okay that is helpful, the ones that have been cold so far I couldn't see anything in but I will leave them from now on, the ones I could see a lot in did not float loosely so hopefuly they are doing good, it would be very exciting to have a hen with some chicks - the one I cracked today was over a week old and didn't have any blood vessels, versus the ones from the same "date-ish" have significant growth so I think it was not going far anyway, I think she keeps getting too many under since she is obviously stealing all the eggs she can get haha!

I just don't think I can block her off, just based on the coop setup -- I'll see if I can set something up that will be similar to the coop for her...she is definitely committed and doing well, she yells at me but lets me check under her (she is very friendly normally lol) so I don't think it would be excessively stressful for her, but of course I don't know and don't want to make the wrong decision!

I am an animal veteran, owned, bred, etc, animals my whole life idk why this one chicken is stressing me out so much!

 

[Yardmom]

I have moved broody hens without a problem. Eggs at different stages could be a problem. If she were mine I think I would restart her in a cage with fresh eggs so all chicks are ready to leave at the same time.

 

[WVduckchick]

Okay that is helpful, the ones that have been cold so far I couldn't see anything in but I will leave them from now on, the ones I could see a lot in did not float loosely so hopefuly they are doing good, it would be very exciting to have a hen with some chicks - the one I cracked today was over a week old and didn't have any blood vessels, versus the ones from the same "date-ish" have significant growth so I think it was not going far anyway, I think she keeps getting too many under since she is obviously stealing all the eggs she can get haha!

I just don't think I can block her off, just based on the coop setup -- I'll see if I can set something up that will be similar to the coop for her...she is definitely committed and doing well, she yells at me but lets me check under her (she is very friendly normally lol) so I don't think it would be excessively stressful for her, but of course I don't know and don't want to make the wrong decision!

I am an animal veteran, owned, bred, etc, animals my whole life idk why this one chicken is stressing me out so much!

I have used just a small section of chicken wire, temporarily stapled in place to block hens off from others. Or even the side of a cardboard box as a separator. I realize space and where they chose to sit can sometimes cause issues, and make us be creative about how we go about it, so if you need to completely move her, it sounds like she would be fine with that. Most people recommend moving them in the dark, and taking as much current bedding material with her and the eggs. A dog crate or any kind of temporary pen usually works. Just make sure it is more dark. No bright sunlight.

As @Yardmom mentioned, you could start her over with fresh eggs, but if she has already been sitting for a while, she may give up before new eggs would finish. I believe they do have somewhat of a sense of how long it should take.

I normally let them keep extra eggs until a good portion are growing well, then I remove the clear ones, and ones that look too far behind to hatch within a couple days of each other.

 

[Sungrove Farmstead]

I have moved broody hens without a problem. Eggs at different stages could be a problem. If she were mine I think I would restart her in a cage with fresh eggs so all chicks are ready to leave at the same time.

I don't want to restart her, but maybe I'll grab the incubator for the newer ones, or just remove them? I marked the oldest

I have used just a small section of chicken wire, temporarily stapled in place to block hens off from others. Or even the side of a cardboard box as a separator. I realize space and where they chose to sit can sometimes cause issues, and make us be creative about how we go about it, so if you need to completely move her, it sounds like she would be fine with that. Most people recommend moving them in the dark, and taking as much current bedding material with her and the eggs. A dog crate or any kind of temporary pen usually works. Just make sure it is more dark. No bright sunlight.

As @Yardmom mentioned, you could start her over with fresh eggs, but if she has already been sitting for a while, she may give up before new eggs would finish. I believe they do have somewhat of a sense of how long it should take.

I normally let them keep extra eggs until a good portion are growing well, then I remove the clear ones, and ones that look too far behind to hatch within a couple days of each other.

Hmm, I might be able to set a cage over the top of her, it would be a small space, but does that matter if she is sitting anyway? -- maybe I could staple up some chicken wire...I'll see what might be an option, if she hatches chicks though, they can't really go in the coop, except the bottom run...suggestion for that? This all makes me happy that we are switching from an elevated coop this year lol!

I don't want to start her over, I'd rather her just hatch a couple and let go of any she doesn't get all the way

 

[Yardmom]

A small cage is fine if you don't have room for food or water you can just let her out a couple times of day. My cage has enough room for her on the eggs water food and dusting space, but I open the door while I do chores. The hens return before I'm ready to go.