Hen hatching eggs

[CivilChick]

We have never let a chicken hatch eggs, but our dark Brahma was determined to do it, so I finally relented. She did not seem to get off the nest at all the first week, despite me removing her (inside her nest box) from the pen to clean it every day...until tonight. What I discovered was two eggs smashed with the yolk dried to the exterior of the other eggs, as well as a lot of poop in the box. I removed the good eggs, cleaned out the box, but bedding back in, placed the whole eggs back in (was afraid to clean them off, so I left them alone with the yolk on them). While I did this, the chicken let loose a ton of liquid diarrhea. I am now afraid that the eggs might be ruined. Should I throw out the eggs that she had been sitting on and let her start over with new ones, or just leave the remaining ones and hope for the best? I am definitely going to force her out of the nest box once or twice a day to ensure she is going poo outside the nest box. I have food and water within reach for her so she does not have to leave the nest box to get food/water, but she does need to leave to relieve herself. Please help!

 

[MGG]

We have never let a chicken hatch eggs, but our dark Brahma was determined to do it, so I finally relented. She did not seem to get off the nest at all the first week, despite me removing her (inside her nest box) from the pen to clean it every day...until tonight. What I discovered was two eggs smashed with the yolk dried to the exterior of the other eggs, as well as a lot of poop in the box. I removed the good eggs, cleaned out the box, but bedding back in, placed the whole eggs back in (was afraid to clean them off, so I left them alone with the yolk on them). While I did this, the chicken let loose a ton of liquid diarrhea. I am now afraid that the eggs might be ruined. Should I throw out the eggs that she had been sitting on and let her start over with new ones, or just leave the remaining ones and hope for the best? I am definitely going to force her out of the nest box once or twice a day to ensure she is going poo outside the nest box. I have food and water within reach for her so she does not have to leave the nest box to get food/water, but she does need to leave to relieve herself. Please help!

If you have the food and water where she can reach it in the nest, that's your problem. The food and water should be farthest away from her as possible. Or else, as you've seen, she won't need to get up and poop and she'll just do it on the eggs. Post a pic of the eggs, how bad are they?

 

[aart]

Post pics of the broody nest set up.
Do your other birds have access to the nest?

 

[CivilChick]

If you have the food and water where she can reach it in the nest, that's your problem. The food and water should be farthest away from her as possible. Or else, as you've seen, she won't need to get up and poop and she'll just do it on the eggs. Post a pic of the eggs, how bad are they?

That is frustrating...I read an article online that said we should put the food near her so she will eat. The last time she got broody the food was outside the nest so she had to get up to eat, but she lost a ton of weight anyway (she was not sitting on eggs...just thought she was). She was broody for about three weeks before we finally allowed her to keep eggs for hatching. I would dump her out each evening to clean their cage, at which time she would dump a bit load. I was going to keep dumping her once a day to be sure she dumped away from the nest, but my husband told me to leave her alone. I listened, despite believing it would be better to force her out each day (he is the one who was raised on a farm, and everything is new to me, and I keep letting him dictate things that I instinctually believe to be incorrect...I HAVE TO STOP DOING THAT!!!). Tonight, I forced her outside and watched until she pooped before going back to clean out the cage. Then I brought her back in and she got food and water before settling back on the nest, so I think that will work. I will try to get a photo of the eggs tomorrow. They are asleep now and I do not want to disturb them. Thank you for responding!!!!

 

[CivilChick]

Post pics of the broody nest set up.
Do your other birds have access to the nest?

I will post a photo tomorrow. There is only one other chicken (named Who) in the cage with Mystery (the broody chicken), and I have a second nest box I put in the cage for Who to use, which she does. If the weather is good, I put Who outside each day after she lays her egg. They both were forced to go outside during the day until I allowed Mystery to start sitting on the eggs last week. We have four other chickens and a rooster, and the others pecked Who so badly last year that her feather will not grow back in, so I have kept her separate from the flock for about a year now. She is outside with them during the day because she can get away from them outside. They tore her to shreds when they were locked in the coop together, even after she healed. We tried every technique we found to reintegrate her after she healed, but they would not stop taking chunks out of her back, so I stopped allowing her to be locked up with the others. They started picking on Mystery after she became broody, so I moved her to live with Who, and those two have lived together well for the last 8 months. It took awhile, but I now feel safe leaving one or both outside with the others, but I will not chance putting them in the same coop as the others where they cannot get away from them if they attack again. Thanks for responding!!!

 

[bobbi-j]

How did it turn out? Did any eggs hatch? I have a hen that the rooster tried to kill by pecking and badly injuring the back of her head. I kept her in a large dog crate for a couple of weeks, and finally moved her and a lower ranking BO to their own coop with attached run.

I don’t like to mess with my broodies or their nests. Chickens have been hatching eggs since creation without human “help”, so I figure they know more about it than we do. In all my years of letting broodies hatch, I have never had one starve to death on the nest.

Sometimes I’ll move a broody to a space in the coop where she has room to get up, go eat, drink and poop if she wants. Sometimes I’ll let her hatch within the flock. (I mark the eggs, and once a day I’ll quickly lift her up with one hand, glance for additions to the nest, remove them and set her back down).

Chickens do lose weight and body condition while setting, which is another good reason not to have food and water where they can reach it from the nest. It gets them up and moving.

 

[CivilChick]

It did not turn out. No eggs hatched. I feel bad for her. She tried so hard. I am now trying to break her of broodiness. This amounts to forcing her outside each day.

As discussed in my earlier thread I can not let Who stay in the coop with the others because they attack her, and they eventually turned on Mystery as well. We tried reintegrating Who multiple times and the others kept taking chunks out of her back. I could not allow her to keep getting hurt, so I bought a dog kennel and turned it into Who's personal coop inside our garage. When the others turned on Mystery, I put her with Who and they now stay in the kennel instead of the coop at night. They are outside all day with the others because they can get away from them if they start attacking them, but I do not trust them to not hurt those two in a confined space.

I forgot to attach the nest set up before, and although it is a moot point now, photo is attached.