Hen sitting on eggs...is THIS normal?

[chickenfever]

Which of your chickens is the broody?

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
"DO hens usually take their young back to the same nest they were hatched from? I could prob put a piece of plywood as a ramp to the nest if we needed to. "

Not usually, but some do. I wouldn't worry about a ramp or anything, she'll be happy with a cozy corner with nicem deep hay or straw. I quit making boxes for moms and babies to use post-hatch, because so many of them just picked a corner to hunker down in at night. Less chance of squashed chicks that way anyhow, and they seen to learn to roost earlier. I've had some who's mom's wanted to live forever in a nest box with the chicks, and the chicks were really difficult to get to use the roosts when they were big enough.

...does she regulate her body temps to account for the humidity? I just have to do more searching on this. LOL
Thanks for all the wonderful advise! I will keep all of it in mind for sure and put it to good use

I read someplace that what they do is sit snuggled down lower on the eggs, so it stays damper underneath.

I mostly did this for my dad who has been wanting to see this for so long and has never gotten a chance to. He's 83 so I thought I would let her sit so he gets a chance to see that. He just loves our chickens.

That's so cool that he'll get to see this! It'll be fun for both of you.

I don't think you need to make her get off the nest everyday, I'm sure she's doing that on her own. Otherwise there would've been poo in the nest. But do check the eggs everyday, and take out new ones, check for breakage. When I check mine I put them right back on the eggs when I'm done. Or set them done in front of the nest and let them climb in on their own. Less likely to cause a broken egg that way. If she decides it's a good time for her meal and potty break, that's fine, too.

Some of my broodies take breaks while others hens are laying eggs in the nest. I wonder if that may be what yours is doing, taking her break then, so the eggs are warm while she's gone. I wonder if that's why that behavior developed. It would ensure eggs were kept warm and protected. Hens don't care about leftover unhatched eggs, once the main hatch is done.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I candled today and ALL are living

There was one that was not fertile so she is now sitting on nine eggs which are all alive yet

This is SO exciting! Today is day 7.

 

[DDRanch]

YEA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sagechick]

thanks for this thread. I agree about searching for topics, sometimes I can find an answer easy but I've been searching for this subject and not finding much info.

My question is should I just take eggs laid in a day and put them all in the nest or should I isolate my one breed of hens with the same breed of rooster?

I have Golden Wyandottes and RIRs and the rooster is the GW.

Right now they are all in the general population so who knows who he's getting to.

There are 20 hens and one roo and he seems to take his job seriously. Should I move him into an area for a couple days with maybe just a few of the hens to ensure fertility of the eggs that will be in the nest?

So I've been thinking of starting a couple of hens sitting on nests every three weeks to see if I can just raise my own chicks.

thanks everyone for your help and guidance here. It's amazing!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

My question is should I just take eggs laid in a day and put them all in the nest or should I isolate my one breed of hens with the same breed of rooster?

I have a mix also and it depends on what you want to hatch out. She will except any egg...one thing I found out though is that you want to mark the eggs you give her to sit one because the other hens sit right on top of her to lay their eggs

SO each day I go in there and make her get off the nest to eat and drink and while she is doing that I grab the unmarked eggs for eating. Did I answer your question? Or did I not understand that right?

You can save eggs for up to 7 - 10 days to put under her. I would put them under her the same day. My hen is laying on 9 right now, but this morning she was having no problem covering 14!

I had to steal five eggs from her LOL Those hens seem to only want to lay in HER nest!​

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
I agree, depends on what you want to hatch. If you want pure breds, you could just separate your GW's at night, leave them in until they finish laying for the day, collect the eggs, do it again everyday until you have as many eggs as you want to hatch. You could always isolate your best hens and only collect eggs from them, too. Or only collect GWeggs for one hatch, only RIR's for another. That way you could compare the differences for future reference.

Look at the stickies at the beginning of this section, you'll see one there about how to tell if the eggs are fertile. Then you can start checking the germ disc on any eggs you eat, and see if you have a high percentage of fertile eggs. I normally only keep one or two roos, with anywhere from 25 to 35 hens, and have amazingly high fertility. I almost never see an infertile egg, and when I do, it's usually a pullet egg.

Now, about that idea of "starting a hen setting every 3 weeks or so". Good luck with that. Hens get broody when the hormones shift, not when we want them to. And, I hate to tell you this, but RIR' and Wyandottes are not very broody types. Some RIR's will brood, and are great moms if they do, but most of them never will.

You might see if you can acquire a few banty hens for brood hens, or some dark Cornish, light Brahma, or even a few silkies. Otherwise, you'd be better off getting an incubator than counting on that particular bunch of hens hatching out lots of chicks. Unless just have a few oddball brooders, it happens. You could get lucky.

ETA: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
Here's handy chart I find I refer to a lot more than I ever thought I would. On the far right side there's a column for how broody a breed tends to be. It might help you find a few brood hens to add on if you choose to do that. If you know folks with such-and-such a breed, you could look up the breed and see if it's one you want. Then see if they'd have a hen or two they'd be willing to sell.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Update on broody hen sitting on eggs. She ate three of them so far

Is that normal? One was cracked because another hen stepped on it so she ate it within an hour. No sign of anything! I'm worried she will eat the chicks as they hatch! I tried to move her in case it wasn't HER that was eating them but she threw a fit and didn't want to sit on them at all in her new home/nest. I ended up putting her right back where she was. I'm nervous about it because she seems to get kicked out of the nest because all the hens want to lay in THAT nest box even though we have five others free. They are due to hatch tomorrow and so far I have one pip that I can see. I think I will leave the hatching to the silkies from now on UGH! I have to work in the am tomorrow and I'm so scared I will miss it and a baby will be ate! I work from 7am to 3pm. Well, I guess I have to just leave it up to her to protect them. This is a great learning experience for me too. Wish me luck!

 

[raindrop]

Eating the eggs is not normal. Another hen may have done that. If you have a pip, you might have chicks in the morning - good luck!
I grew up with tons of broody hens that hatched eggs in the henhouse - once some chicks hatch and the chicks are dry and active, she will tolerate being moved. You can use temporary fencing to isolate the little family in a corner and provide chick starter (ok for mom to eat too) and water for a few days, then as others have said you can let her out with the flock, carefully at first.
Go chicks go!