I read somewhere that 1 nest box for 4 hens was a good ratio. Well this may be true for some of the less broody birds, but my cukoo marans are having none of it. I have 6 cukoo hens and a game hen. We also have two ducks. The ducks have always ignored the nesting boxes, favoring building a nest in a corner of the coop with shavings and down. Two of the cukoo hens have done the same thing. Well .... one of the ducks suddenly decided that she just HAD TO HAVE one of the nesting boxes and has been setting now for four weeks (muscovy hen). This still left me with 2 nest boxes and seven hens temporarily, which is still one box for 3 1/2 hens. (Plus two of the hens have NEVER seemed to favor the boxes.) According to that ratio this should be fine, right?? Wrong!!!!! All of the sudden, 2 of my marans hens AND my game hen have gone broody and all of the other girls are laying under them.
I don't know how to stop them! And they keep changing nests, it's crazy!
What do I do? In the meantime, we have eggs that have been under a hen for a week mixed with some that have just been laid. And today I found 3 cukoo eggs under my duck which has been setting for four weeks. I hate to have the eggs start developing and then have to throw them out, but I don't know what else to do. The hens hatches are likely to be pretty drawn out too! AGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! I wish I had marked the original eggs when I noticed they were setting, but who knew. We've been waiting all season for a broody hen and only had one, now it seems like they're ALL gonna go broody at once! Obviously, first chance we get, I'm hoping for Monday, we will put up more nesting boxes.
