How to label eggs that a broody hen is sitting on?

[Leilukka]

I went to collect the eggs this evening and I found that our black australorp hen is broody and sitting on them. I know that all the other hens lay their eggs there. So, I would like to label the eggs that are under her and possibly exchange them all together with older eggs.

How can I accomplish this while keeping her broody?

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

draw a circle all the way around the eggs with a pencil, or if that isn't bright enough, a blue marker. she will be angry that you touched her eggs, but should take them back.

 

[Leilukka]

draw a circle all the way around the eggs with a pencil, or if that isn't bright enough, a blue marker. she will be angry that you touched her eggs, but should take them back.

Okay, she is on them now at night. I'll take each one and do that and then place them back or also place some older ones (within 7 days) under her. Thanks.

 

[SueT]

If she has already been sitting on them for a day, do not add more. Or take them all away and start again. They all need to be started on the same day! A staggered hatch is to be avoided, even a one day stagger.

 

[Finnie]

Another hint hopefully you will find helpful, if you can isolate her from the other hens, it will make things a lot easier. Because the other hens are going to keep adding more eggs daily, which you will have to work to fish out from under her, while trying not to break the marked eggs.

Also, if they give her more than she can cover well, it can be detrimental to the ones you want to develop. She may push those aside to sit on the random new ones.

And last but not least, when the chicks start to hatch, if they are not separated and protected from the other hens, they will be in danger of being killed. Because the broody will likely not get off of the unhatched eggs to protect the first chicks. And it can take a day or two for the chicks to learn to obey the broody and come back when she alerts them to danger.

Many people (including myself) have tried to let a broody hatch within the community at large, and many times the above situations have occurred. If you can put some kind of barrier around where she’s sitting, or move her to her own coop/dog crate/what have you, the whole process will go better. (If you use a dog crate, make sure the chicks will not be able to squeeze their way out.)

Good luck, watching broodies raise their family is fun! After a few days or a week for the chicks to bond with mama, they can be reintroduced to the flock, and mama will teach the other hens to keep their beaks off her babies. And your rooster will likely be a good father and help the mama raise them.

 

[Leilukka]

Another hint hopefully you will find helpful, if you can isolate her from the other hens, it will make things a lot easier. Because the other hens are going to keep adding more eggs daily, which you will have to work to fish out from under her, while trying not to break the marked eggs.

Also, if they give her more than she can cover well, it can be detrimental to the ones you want to develop. She may push those aside to sit on the random new ones.

And last but not least, when the chicks start to hatch, if they are not separated and protected from the other hens, they will be in danger of being killed. Because the broody will likely not get off of the unhatched eggs to protect the first chicks. And it can take a day or two for the chicks to learn to obey the broody and come back when she alerts them to danger.

Many people (including myself) have tried to let a broody hatch within the community at large, and many times the above situations have occurred. If you can put some kind of barrier around where she’s sitting, or move her to her own coop/dog crate/what have you, the whole process will go better. (If you use a dog crate, make sure the chicks will not be able to squeeze their way out.)

Good luck, watching broodies raise their family is fun! After a few days or a week for the chicks to bond with mama, they can be reintroduced to the flock, and mama will teach the other hens to keep their beaks off her babies. And your rooster will likely be a good father and help the mama raise them.

Excellent advice and just in time! The other hens have dropped in egg production because they have been stressed at having to find a new place to lay their eggs. The due date for this hatch is on Sunday. I will get to it to find something to build a barrier around the mama to keep her safe from the other hens tomorrow. Only problem is that there is one door to the coop. And mama is sitting right beside the door. Across from her is the egg box where some of the other hens have already become comfortable with laying their eggs. The other hens are used to entering at the door of the coop to walk across to the egg box. The egg box lid can completely come off.

So how do I create a barrier around the mama and chicks?

I suspect some chicks have already been harmed because I found 3 empty shells with no chicks inside, and I found one egg with peck holes all around it and blood bleeding and a passed away chick inside. There was quite a struggle in the coop with a lot of feathers from our Americauna hen. And she survived the struggle. She seems quite rattled and has been taking a few days off from laying her egg. I don't know what happened there. That was the scene I saw on day 17 of the incubator period.

 

[Finnie]

. That was the scene I saw on day 17 of the incubator period.

Ok, so what you thought was day 17 was really day 21. It’s not uncommon for a broody hen to have started incubating earlier than you realized. How many eggs does she have left?

The first four chicks obviously didn’t make it. If there are any remaining eggs that you hope to save, I think your best bet is to move them to an incubator. It appears like they are getting killed by the other hens as they hatch. The feather mess suggests the mother hen tried to fight off the offending hen(s) but was unsuccessful. It wouldn’t surprise me if the bloody egg with the dead chick in it was a casualty of that fight.

Second best option would be to finally isolate the mama and eggs somewhere else since her chosen spot is not somewhere you can easily put a barrier around. But at this late stage she might decide to abandon the eggs. The viable ones might be done anyway. You could candle the rest to find out.

 

[Leilukka]

Ok, so what you thought was day 17 was really day 21. It’s not uncommon for a broody hen to have started incubating earlier than you realized. How many eggs does she have left?

The first four chicks obviously didn’t make it. If there are any remaining eggs that you hope to save, I think your best bet is to move them to an incubator. It appears like they are getting killed by the other hens as they hatch. The feather mess suggests the mother hen tried to fight off the offending hen(s) but was unsuccessful. It wouldn’t surprise me if the bloody egg with the dead chick in it was a casualty of that fight.

Second best option would be to finally isolate the mama and eggs somewhere else since her chosen spot is not somewhere you can easily put a barrier around. But at this late stage she might decide to abandon the eggs. The viable ones might be done anyway. You could candle the rest to find out.

Okay thank you. I'll see what I can do. At this time, there are only 2 eggs left. I see no evidence of egg shells anywhere from the 8 missing eggs. She took a break off of them to take care of herself. They did not smell rotten so that is a good sign. They were sticky like there was egg yolk in contact with them. So, I think that was from another egg. Before I could come back with the candler, she returned to the nest to sit on these eggs.

I'm praying for these 2 remaining ones. I'll see if I can make a barrier somehow around her. I am in cognitive dissonance on how and why another hen would eat a baby chick. I guess do they peck it to death then eat it? This sounds so wild. My mind is not able to understand the murderous nature of other hens, I guess.

 

[Finnie]

They do it the same way they eat a mouse or frog. To them it’s all the same thing.

 

[Leilukka]

They do it the same way they eat a mouse or frog. To them it’s all the same thing.

Wow!