how to care for broody hen and hot to tell that she is serious....

[needo19]

Hi , I am recently bought 2 silkies crossed breed(i m not sure the exact name of the breed), i only wanted to purchase a hen who will go broody. i went to a chicken lady who had hundreds of different breed of chickens, she advised me of these chicken as they tend to go broody very often.
one of my hen, i think has gone broody but i am not sure about that. the hen is about 8 months old and i have somewhere read that the young broody hens can get off the brooiness after some days, is it true?
I have discovered that my chicken coops started to have feathers and then after 3 days i have foud her in her nesting box and she has been sittin in it for whole day would not eat or drink . when i touch here , she does not move as before she used to run away. she does not make a lot of noice as i have read on the net that the broody hen tend to make noice when u touch her , but my hen pecks at me( excude my enghlish as its nto my first language).
in the morning she runs out of the coop soon i open the door but when i come back from office i find her in her nesting box but in different box not the one she sat on the first day.
I have built her a new house just for her and provided with fresh water and food all the time. i also has put 4 eggs underneath her and she is sitting on them. i know that shoul dbe letting her out once a day but i am scared that if i let her o she might go back to her old coop nest box and the eggs will get cold.


what shall i do and what should i not do

 

[ClareScifi]

My broody hen went broody for the first time at 8 months old. Luckily, I coaxed her out of it, as it was right before really cold weather hit here.

Then this spring she was partially broody until just a few days ago. I managed to break her out of her partial broodiness several times, by confining her for 4 days, but she kept going right back to being broody and is now full-fledged broody.

She is a sweet hen, quiet, not aggressive in her broodiness, but super determined, not eating and drinking much at all, I don't think. If she ever comes out alive, I'm going to keep her in the coop and run forever. I can't stand all this worry about her health that I am undergoing.

 

[galanie]

It sounds as if you are doing everything right. If you are truly worried about her health you can lift her off the nest once a day and place her in front of the food or water. She should sit there very still for a minute, then "wake up" and eat, drink, and preen. This is how I treat my broody. She has her own area but when I pick her up, I put her with the rest of the flock. Then I watch her and when she seems ready, I put her back on "her" nest in her little broody area. She normally is off the nest only about 15 minutes.