How to get hens to hatch

[sandystn]

I need some help! I have 11 hens and 1 rooster. I would like for a hen (or 2) to set on the eggs and hatch them. But.... They all seem to want to lay in one nest. (I am getting between 6 and 8 eggs a day now). One of the hens is broody, and seems to be on the eggs the most. But when the other hens are ready to lay - she gets chased off or she doesn't move and they climb underneath her and break an egg or 2. (Yes! they crawl underneath her. I saw it happen yesterday!!!) I am not sure if it will work or if the darn rooster is even doing his job! I did not raise the rooster. He is about 1 year old. (my mom has 7 roosters and let me "borrow" one) I won't be keeping him cuz one of my neighbors does not like the crowing!

I left 5 eggs in the nest yesterday and dated them. The hen was on them when I locked them up last night. I opened up the coop this morning and she was still on them. When I checked on her later in the morning she was off and the eggs were a bit on the cool side. There was another hen in the box and was not sitting on all of them.

I am not sure how to make this work or if it will even work at all. i would prefer not to buy an incubator and just have the hens do what they are supposed to do.

Does anyone have any advice for me. I would be very grateful.

Thanks

 

[schellie69]

I would make a different area for your broody hen where the other hens can not get to the nest. Make sure that she has food and water then let her sit on the eggs she has. I am sure that the rooster is doing his thing. I would wait until day 10 to candle the eggs and see how they are developing you could also check your other eggs by breaking them open and looking for a bulls-eye on the yolk.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does the hen you think might be broody spend the night on the nest or does she roost in her favorite spot at night? If she roosts, she is not broody. If she spends two consecutive nights on the nest, she is broody.

Hens have been hatching eggs with the flock for thousands of years, but sometimes there are problems with that. Sounds like you might have problems. In that case I suggest you isolate the broody. Lock her up where she cannot go back to the old nest area and where the other hens cannot bother her. In the coop is great if you have room. It needs to be predator proof and have a nest, room to feed and water and room for her to go poop. You need access because you will probably have to remove some of that poop if it starts to build up.

Get the new area prepared. You can put fake eggs on the nest or eggs you don't want her to hatch, if your hatching eggs have a value to you, or you can use the actual eggs you want her to hatch. She just needs to see some eggs in that nest, but you have a chance of losing those eggs. She might decide she does not want to be broody after you move her.

At night, with as little light and commotion as possible, move her to the new nest. She might set on the eggs or she might pace and break from being broody. There is no guarantee what she will do. Once she has decided she wants to be broody in the new nest, give her the eggs you want her to hatch. Keep her locked up where the other hens cannot get to her new nest. She will probably get off the nest once or twice a day to eat, drink, and take a poop, but the rest of the time, she should set on the eggs. Hopefully in about three weeks you should hear peeping.

Good luck!

 

[sandystn]

When you say a different area... do you mean move her out of the coop? I don't really have an area inside the coop where i can put her, that the other hens can't get at her. I tried making a new nesting box and putting the eggs in there, but she didn't like that area and wouldn't sit on them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you do not have room inside the coop, than a secure place outside the coop will do. The big advantage to it being inside the coop is that it is usually predator proof. Some people use dog crates or something like that.

If you move her at night and leave her locked in that small area where she cannot leave, it usually works. But it does not always work. It seems to help if the nest is kind of dark, or at least not in the bright light. But there are no guarantees with this.

I've never had a problem of the other hens forcing a broody off the nest or breaking eggs, but others have. That problem is not yours alone. Isolating the broody is the solution for that problem.