How do you get a chicken to set?

[Jacy0904]

I know it would seem simple and they may actually on their own but my rooster has only been busy for a little over a week. I have a RIR who is 4 or 5 years old and she went broody on me. Hubby decided she needed to be a mom and went looking for fertilized eggs but came back with the banty rooster. She has been on the nest over 2 weeks and Friday he took eggs from the other chickens and put under her. That's great if she remains setting. My question is what if she changes her mind and walks off? Will one of the others sit on the eggs? I have 3 leghorns and and a buff and I would like to have babies but I am not inclined to incubate them. Am I too anxious? LOL

 

[Lamaremybabies]

I know it would seem simple and they may actually on their own but my rooster has only been busy for a little over a week. I have a RIR who is 4 or 5 years old and she went broody on me. Hubby decided she needed to be a mom and went looking for fertilized eggs but came back with the banty rooster. She has been on the nest over 2 weeks and Friday he took eggs from the other chickens and put under her. That's great if she remains setting. My question is what if she changes her mind and walks off? Will one of the others sit on the eggs? I have 3 leghorns and and a buff and I would like to have babies but I am not inclined to incubate them. Am I too anxious? LOL

If she was broody for two weeks before she had any eggs, she may come off too early. Now I know on occasion chickens have been known to steal nests and take over, but I don't believe it's common. I'd keep an eye on her and if you notice she's off the nest a lot or for along period of time, I'd take the eggs away and incubate them. Now that being said she very well may stay put until she's got her babies. Now I did just notice you said she's been sitting on eggs for a little over two weeks and then your husband added more eggs? If I understood correctly then you will end up incubating eggs unless another hen goes broody. The reason I say that is because typically broody hens stay on their eggs for a day or so after the eggs start to hatch and then anyone who didn't hatch is left their.

 

[Jacy0904]

She had actually been on an empty nest for two weeks just being a royal Pita-the fertilized eggs have only been under her about 2 days but she is sitting on them. So if I get what you are saying-if she gets up off the nest and I want chicks I will have to incubate them? So how do these hens start setting to begin with? I guess I am asking how to they know to set on fertilized eggs?

 

[Lamaremybabies]

She had actually been on an empty nest for two weeks just being a royal Pita-the fertilized eggs have only been under her about 2 days but she is sitting on them. So if I get what you are saying-if she gets up off the nest and I want chicks I will have to incubate them? So how do these hens start setting to begin with? I guess I am asking how to they know to set on fertilized eggs?

Okay, so hens going broody is an instinct that is most commonly presented during spring and summer because that when most animals are having babies in the wild. Now that being said, most domesticated animals chickens included have had those instincts bred out of them. This leads to inconsistencies in their hatching patterns, and I also part of the reason why some hens never go broody and some go 1, 2, 3 times every year. Typically when a hen goes broody it's something that has been happening for a few days and you just didn't happen to notice until she went full broody. A few different factors can contribute to why a hen goes broody; whether it's eggs left in the nest box for a long period of time, or the whether is just right and instinct kicks in saying it's baby season. I know there's still the question of why did she stay broody if she didn't have any eggs? When hens are broody they go into this state of mind where they are basically in a trance... They aren't busy thinking about whether there are actually eggs under them, they are focused on protecting and keeping them warm and rotated. Also I don't think they know if they are fertilized so much as they know they're eggs.

 

[lazy gardener]

Broodiness is caused by a hormone shift. You can't force a hen to go broody, and sometimes it's difficult to shift her out of a broody state.

Jacy, if possible, you might want to have an incubator on stand by, just in case she abandons her eggs. Otherwise, step back, let her do her thing, and see if she succeeds. One thing you will need to do is see to it that the other hens don't lay any eggs in her nest. Mark all of the eggs she is sitting on. That way, if an other hen deposits an egg, you can remove it. Many failed broody issues are caused by other hens driving the hen off her nest, or getting into her nest. She then may get confused, and go sit in an other nest, abandoning her eggs. Sometimes when an other hen enters a broody nest, it results in a hen fight, and broken eggs. Those broken eggs will then contaminate the rest of the eggs with bacteria.