hen still in nest!

[Myst4]

One of my hens has been sitting in a nest for 3 days(as of today).I know now that she has gone broody. I don't think she has even come out to eat or drink. I have eggs to put under her, what is the maximun amount of eggs that I can put under her? I'm going to build her a seperate lil' pen today and put her in it tonight. with some food and water(hopefully she will eat and drink). She is also puffing up(like her feathers stand up on the back of her neck when I put my hand on her and she growls haha sounds funny)

 

[@migocontodos~]

The number of eggs really depends on the size of the hen.
With my bantams, I've found that 8-10 seems to be about all they can cover and they all hatch.
With standards, I've put as many as 14 under a hen.

A main thing is that no matter how many you put, to make sure you have good a good amount of bedding so they can make a nice comfty "bowl" in it and that helps them keep the edds directly under there where they do not roll out all over the place!

What breed of hen do you have?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Sounds like she really is Broody...I put 10 to 12 for under my standards when they brood.....If she has a nest high off the floor might want to consider putting her in a location on the floor where she won't be bothered by the other hens and when the chicks hatch they can get back to her easy if need be...I keep mine in a wire dog crate with food, water and enough room where she can poo when needed...

 

[Myst4]

@migocontodos~ :

The number of eggs really depends on the size of the hen.
With my bantams, I've found that 8-10 seems to be about all they can cover and they all hatch.
With standards, I've put as many as 14 under a hen.

A main thing is that no matter how many you put, to make sure you have good a good amount of bedding so they can make a nice comfty "bowl" in it and that helps them keep the edds directly under there where they do not roll out all over the place!

What breed of hen do you have?

She is my biggest hen. She is huge and heavy.I'm not sure what breed she is,but she is all black except for a grey ring around her neck...do you know what breed she could be?​

 

[Myst4]

Quote:
I have some wire that is used for rabbit cages etc. It's quite strong,but easy to use. The only place I can think of to put her( I had already thought of the floor idea,because the nests are about 2 feet or so off the floor) is make a couple of walls under the nesting boxes and give her like a basement suite...haha It would be about 1' x about 5 ' .

 

[Myst4]

Is 20 EE eggs too much for her?