I need a broody "sticky" i know nothing! help!

[kaitlyn_rae2003]

Ok, now that i have 2 incubators fired up, i have a hen who seems to be going broody, I had set aside some fertile eggs in a certain nest box, and she immediately hopped up on them. This afternoon when i went in, she was still there with a glazed over trance going on....not budging. Id LOVE to have a hen hatch out eggs, id LOVE it, but I have no clue what needs to be done to help her along. she is just in a nest box, should I try to relocate her? if so where? if she just decides one day she quits, can i incubate the eggs and finish what she started? If anyone has a brief overview of broody hens, id love to hear what you have to say! Thanks so much!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does this help?

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218

 

[Suechick]

I just posted in a thread called "Old fashioned broody hen hatch along...."
check it out for a lot of great info!

I'm new to this but will try to help.
If you leave your broody in the common coop she could have to fight with other hens over her eggs, some people end up having cracked eggs because of this. Also, she should get up every day or so to take care of her own needs, eat, drink poo

When she does this she may go back to the most convenient nest with eggs in it whether or not it is her nest with the fertile eggs and so the fertile eggs might unintentionally be abandoned. If she always lays in one nest exculsively that is not a problem. If you move her it should be done at night when she is quiet. I moved mine and have her in a separate pen where she is pretty well confined from the rest of the flock. I never let her out unless I'm there to make sure she finds her way back to the hatching eggs when she's ready to go back.

Good luck with your hatch!!

 

[kaitlyn_rae2003]

crazy timing with the broody thread! Thank you, Ill go investigate what is going on tonight, this is such a great site! and I am obsessed with all things chicken! my poor fiance, he just rolls his eyes. LOL Thanks again!

 

[rcentner]

broody hens are easy! well, except they can be a pain in the butt. As mentioned above, they can move around nest boxes. This is why I mark the original eggs that are being incubated with a sharpie (red doesn't work so well..black is better). Then I will know whether or not they moved nests and if any of the other hens added to the collection. Everyday I check under the broody to collect eggs that were freshly laid. This isn't such a concern if the hen that is broody is higher up on the chain cause then no one will move her out of the nest where as the lower on the totem pole hens get kicked out so that someone else can lay there.

other than that....I move them to a bottom nest box (I have some right on the floor) after the 1st chick is hatched. The mama will follow wherever you put that chick. So now she can raise her babies without the threat of the chicks falling to their death and not being able to get back up with mama. I have dmoved hens several times and not always at night. The last 2 times I have moved a broody in the morning. Just moved the chick, moved the eggs that are still incubating (carefully, putting them EXACTLY how they were) and then placed mama in the box. They always settle right in.

This is the 1st hatch that I am not separating them from the flock (of about 30, mostly hens with multiple roos) simply cause I dont have the room and my need for things to be as simple as possible right now (since I am expecting as well) . I have in the past moved mama and babies to a large dog crate, but I hate reintroducing chickens and I get into this woerd stage of too big for the cage, but too small to be with the flock. So far so good, I figured I would let nature take its course and hope that mama can defend her babies. They are now almost 2 weeks old and no fatalities, even as mama has made her way outside with her chicks and some get left behind a ways. All is well. I have made that nest box her secure area with their own food dish and waterer. mama keeps them warm even in 20 degree weather.

Good luck!

 

[kaitlyn_rae2003]

aw what a great story! I am hoping for the best! I am going to go mark her eggs right away, she is not very high on the totem pole, and she is small to, who knows what will happen! So my one un-answered question, if she quits, can i put the eggs in the incubator? or will be be lost causes?

 

[rcentner]

I have had eggs that I have had to move early in the incubation, that were no longer warm and they hatched out just fine. So if she quits the nest, you can incubate them.

 

[kaitlyn_rae2003]

thank you so much!