Help with hen who keeps disappearing

[mithious]

I think all of the eggs are bad. I took two eggs away today. She still has two eggs. I feel so bad for her. What should I do? I thought about trying to find a baby chick for her. Would this help or is it best to just take away the eggs and have her get over it?

Since the eggs went all night without being set on, any chicks that would've been in them are dead! If you want chicks, you can give her a clutch of all of your chickens eggs to set...you said you have a Roo, so they should all be fertilized. Just put another 8 eggs under her from the other hens....try to make it from one day, or two at the most, so they will all hatch at the same time...or she could abandon the ones that don't hatch right away with the rest of them...two days worth of eggs is usually the best...it takes, usually 21 days to hatch...sometimes, with a broody, you might get some that hatch at 20 days...


Good luck!

 

[Jipus5]

Last post is right. Take another's fertilized eggs and put them in there! Allow her to become a mother, seems ready! But do not put iterated chicks in there. I keep over 50 chickens at all times, and every hen I ever tried that with rejected them, pecked them to death, or I found them cold and dead from being pushed away... They want what they hatch. Even if it's another's. Mine always hatch others and do great!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Emotions like grief are foreign to a chicken, regardless of what some say. Your hen may accept a clutch of day old chicks and raise them as her own. But please don't give her just one lonely chick to salve your conscience. Think about it, if chickens do have emotions you are only setting your hen up for greater heart break if something happened to that one poor lonely baby chick.

Why not let this be a learning moment? Learn to recognize the signs of a hen going broody? Keep better tabs on her so you can
watch her (from a safe distance) when she starts laying again and if she chooses a safe place give her a good nest box to lay, sit and hatch in.

It looks like from here that your hen will make a wonderful mother. You could also do what was suggested above and give her 12-15 eggs from your other hens to hatch as her own.

Let this also be a learning moment for everyone else. If your brood hen is coming off the nest every single day to eat, drink, and defecate, wring that useless hen's neck.