Help please. WLH broody? I'm new to this.

[jengro65]

Have you ever had a white leghorn go broody? Everything I've read says they don't. One of my girls won't leave the nest box and when I leaned in to get a closer look she puffed up as if to say "back off woman!!!"....I backed off.
I collected 10 eggs from the other nest boxes early this afternoon and as I only have 10 hens and 1 rooster, I assuming that she's sitting on the ceramic eggs.
I'm tempted to take some of today's eggs out after dark and swap them with the fake ones. Is that a dumb idea? If not, how many eggs should I put under her? If she's truly broody, should I move her?

 

[AccentOnHakes]

It's possible, just unlikely.

 

[gritsar]

I'd make sure she plans to stay put before I'd give her real eggs. If after two days and nights she's still on the nest then you can swap out however many fake eggs for real ones you want her to have. Doing the swap at night seems to upset them the least.

 

[sourland]

Quote:
X 2 Although they rarely go broody, leghorns can upon occassion brood and raise chicks.

 

[Chick CJ]

If you only have 10 hens altogether (including her) then she is still laying and usually when a hen is truly broody, while they may lay for a day or two in the beginning, in my experience they stop laying after that and don't lay again until a couple of weeks after the broody stage ends. Also, I would think she would be laying on at least her own egg. Is she fluffing up and pecking at your hand if you try to reach under her? Try removing her from the nest, (if you are uncomfortable with this because you don't want to get pecked, wear long sleeves and gloves and don't hesitate when picking her up, just reach in and scoop her up) move her as far away as possible, then watch to see if she goes right back to sitting on that nest. If she is truly broody, this will not deter her even if you do it several times in a day. Also you can pick her up and look under her belly. If she is broody, she will have pulled out the feathers so that her skin is in contact with the eggs. Her belly will feel warm to the touch.

As far as putting real eggs under her, if you are wanting her to hatch them, then you can put as many eggs under her as will fit and you are comfortable with hatching. (or losing depending on if she is really broody or not) I think for a first time broody you would not want to go overboard on the number of eggs. Maybe 6-10 depending on how large of a hen she is.

If you do decide she is broody and you are wanting to hatch some eggs, It is a good idea to have her seperate from the other hens. She will need food and water close at hand as she will not go far from the nest. After the chicks hatch the other hens may not treat the chicks well and the broody hen may or may not be able to stop them from killing them.

You will want to put a light pencil mark on the eggs you put under her and you want to put them all under her at the same time so they will hatch close together. If you find more eggs under her at any time during the brooding you should check them for the pencil marks and if they aren't marked then take them out.

May I ask why you have ceramic eggs in the nest box?

CJ

 

[jengro65]

Quote:
The ceramic eggs were put there to teach the girls where to lay their eggs and I never thought about removing them this is my first experience with ANY animal (other than cats and dogs) and I believe everything I read...LOL
Last night I went out after dark and lifted her off the nest and found 2 fake eggs and an 11th egg of the day (which is weird because I only have 10 hens and 1 rooster)....anyway....I took away the fake eggs and added 4 marked and hopefully fertile eggs. She was still sitting when I let them out this morning....keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
The ceramic eggs were put there to teach the girls where to lay their eggs and I never thought about removing them this is my first experience with ANY animal (other than cats and dogs) and I believe everything I read...LOL
Last night I went out after dark and lifted her off the nest and found 2 fake eggs and an 11th egg of the day (which is weird because I only have 10 hens and 1 rooster)....anyway....I took away the fake eggs and added 4 marked and hopefully fertile eggs. She was still sitting when I let them out this morning....keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for the advice everyone!

I leave the fake eggs (golfballs) in the nest even though my hens have been using their boxes like good girls for a long time now.

Good luck with your hatch.

 

[boykin2010]

Could we see pictures of this broody white leghorn? I dont think i would believe it unless i saw a picture

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Never say never. Do you know what this is?:

It's a broody meat bird. She only made it to day 15, but she tried.

Here's my late meatie rooster. He weighed 18 lbs. when he passed away.

 

[boykin2010]