How long should I wait to give her eggs to hatch?

[stormylady]

I have a chicken that I think has gone broody, which is all good if she is, she is almost 2 years old and is a Orpington/Cochin mix. She has been sitting on a nest of eggs for the last 4 days, my question is this, I have had other hens that I thought were broody sitting in a nest for a day or two and then I give them eggs and they stop. But this Girl OPal

, has not left the Nest period and is extremely Testy with me looking in and trying to see under her. How long should I wait to be sure she is broody before giving her eggs I actually would like her to hatch?? Thanks for advice in advance. Sandy

 

[DAFox]

I wait until the day after I move mine to where I want her to sit, as I separate mine from the rest of the flock. I do it at night so that she wakes in the new place.
I have had several lately that have been practicing being broody before actually becoming broody. A broody hen will pull the feathers off her breast. She'll spend the night on a nest which is my sign that she is definitely broody (I move mine on the 3rd night). She'll puff up and growl when someone comes near. Some will bite your hand if you try to check under her.

I love broodies. I don't own an incubator. I curently have 2 Mamas with babies born on Easter, and 4 on nests - 2 of them just started.
Good luck with yours,
Dale-Ann

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
Thankyou, so tomarrow I will put her in the wood and wire cage its about 3 feet wide and 4 ft long and see if she stays there, wondering if putting a small dog kennel in there with the door off would be ok or if i should just put a regular nesting box in with her, I have some silkie eggs i would love to have her hatch out, do you think that she would crush them she is a huge girl. I do have an incubator 2 infact, but would so much rather she did the hatching, no chick dust in the house and all that and of course my sons complaining about me hatching more out ( I tend to over do it) , I love the babies but if I can get someone else to do the dirty work Im all for it. LOL Thanks again. Sandy

 

[DAFox]

I, personally, wouldn't put Silkie eggs under a standard hen if she is "huge". I recently had a cochin broody squish a few standard sized chicks. So, I took the rest away from her and am brooding them myself. My two Jersey Giants, however, are doing fine with theirs, so far.
I would move whatever nesting box she is used to with her into her new area. I use rubbermaid totes as nesting boxes, so I move broody and tote.
Dale-Ann

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
Thats kinda a problem for me as all my chickens lay in big old tree buckets there are 4 of them in the coop unfortunately, Opal has chosen to use the most popular bucket so if i plan to move her i will have to find something else for her to use. Hope she stays broody I would love to have a momma hatch her own chicks out, she is my first "True" broody, shes been sitting on that nest all the time day and night for 5 days now, except to get up and get a little food and water and to poo a couple of times a day. And she is really nasty to me when I try to get the fresh laid eggs out from under her that the girls get in with her and lay and she just scoops the new eggs in with her already huge lot of eggs.

How dangerous is it for the chicks to be left with there momma in the big coop, if by the off chance she takes this all the way. I just don't want to see the chicks get hurt by the other hens or momma opal get hurt or hurt one of the other hens while protecting her babies??
what is the chance that Ill break her broody spell while trying to move her to a safer spot with out the bucket she is using now. I can tell ya Im going to start using the sterilite baskets and take all the buckets out so it will be easier to move the broodies to a more secure area should one of them go broody again later on. Thanks again , Sandy

 

[makybe]

I let mine start to hatch in the coop and then took the risk and moved her and the chicks and unhatched eggs to a new box away from the flock. I was lucky as she was fine with it and I never lost any chicks. Even though momma will be very protective, it is not worth the risk to leave them in with the rest of your flock.

 

[stormylady]

Thankyou, well doesn't look like there is much of a chance that she is going to give up on being broody, so Im going to revamp the isolation cage when the rain stops, seems unlikely that it will stop soon. Grrrr.... anyway she is going on 7 days of sitting on her nest so I got a little while yet but as soon as the rain stops and i get the wood on one open side of the cage to block out some of this crazy weather I will get her out on her own. Her chicks should be hatching around the 11th of next month not really sure on the exact day just know when I first saw her acting broody. Hope I'm pretty close? Thanks again Sandy


PS. Does anybody candle eggs that there hens are hatching out???

 

[DAFox]

I, personally, keep broodies and babies separate from the flock. Some people leave them together and they do fine.
The reason I separate is because hen raised chicks tend to be more "feral" than brooder raised. When chicks are feathered out, I take Mama away and start the taming process. It is much harder for me to do this if they are in with the rest of the flock.
Is your nesting box on the floor? Can you get it there by the 11th? Also, you can still give her fresh eggs to hatch, if you want to. If the ones she has now were laid over a couple of days, she probably won't stay on the nest to hatch the late ones.
I candle the eggs at approximately 10 days. You just have to kick her off the nest. Good luck with that.
Dale-Ann