Hen decided she wanted babies

[Tigurary]

Hello

I have an 8 month old bantam americuan hen who has started gathering her eggs and my rir's. It's winter now so the temps range from 10 to 50f (Cleveland has weird winters). I'm wondering if I should even let her attempt hatching them, will they even hatch in this cold? I've taken her off the nest and she just pancakes and doesn't move until after I've left so I'm assuming she's brooding.
If there's a low chance they'll hatch can I just take them away, and can I still eat them or do I need to worry about formed chicks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You can still eat the eggs. You may not see anything for the first couple days of incubation.
She'll keep the eggs warm enough to hatch unless the nest has outside air that can get under the hen.
I sometimes break broody hens that start that young because soccasionally they'll quit too soon or switch nests.
You can let her sit or put her in broody jail.

 

[Notaneggspurt]

If she is in a safe spot and is able to stay dry I say go for it! I totally get the crazy weather. We had a day darn near 70 then a freeze warning possible later this week

 

[Tigurary]

You can still eat the eggs. You may not see anything for the first couple days of incubation.
She'll keep the eggs warm enough to hatch unless the nest has outside air that can get under the hen.
I sometimes break broody hens that start that young because sometimes they'll quit too soon.
You can let her sit or put her in broody jail.

So the only air would be when I open the coop up for the day if she leaves the nest. Which I've seen her do but she always winds up back on it. She's had the eggs probably a week. My husband decided not to egg check while I was away for work

 

[Notaneggspurt]

Beautiful girl btw! Haha I just went out to try to collect eggs again and well...

 

[BuffOrps32]

I'd leave it, I've had no broody problems before. I always leave them to hatch even in the dead of winter.

 

[ldrchickens]

We are having an unusually mild winter this year in Oklahoma so I have decided to let one of my hens start sitting in one week to make sure my roos get the other hens bred so she can hatch a few from everyone! Fingers crossed!

 

[Kale Chips]

Assuming you have a rooster that is with your hens, there are a couple things to do. At this stage I would probably refrain from eating the eggs beneath her, after 7 days I am guessing you would see some development in the egg. The best course of action would be to decide what you'll do with her. If you plan to break her, do it soon so that her body has time to recover and she can return to normal functioning for the winter. If you don't want her hatching chicks then there is no point in letting her sit-in fact it can be detrimental to her health. If you do want chicks and are prepared to let her have them, then I would comb through the threads on how to take care of a broody hen. There are many great ideas out there on how to make a safe environment for the hen and the babies, and make sure to read up on integration with the flock. Good luck!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So the only air would be when I open the coop up for the day if she leaves the nest. Which I've seen her do but she always winds up back on it. She's had the eggs probably a week. My husband decided not to egg check while I was away for work

The reason I mentioned air coming up under the pullet is because my external nests in one building have hardware cloth for the bottom with plastic nest pads. Cold air could come up through the hardware cloth and airy nest pads.

 

[aart]

You can let her sit or put her in broody jail.

This^^^

Broody hatching in cold weather can be tricky unless you can control her location from the other birds...even then, I wouldn't recommend it, BTDT won't do it again.

You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.
Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?
Do you have the space needed? Both for more chickens and she may need to be separated by wire from the rest of the flock.
Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?
If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.
It's a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/496101/broody-hen-thread


If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.