important broody hen questions

[amberroswell]

I have two hens that are sisters they have always shared a nesting box they take turns, well 17 days ago one of the hens went broody and we soon realized that she was still allowing her sister to lay her eggs their needless to say we have a mountain of eggs going lol some of the eggs are due to be hatching soon and we are wondering how long does a hen stay broody is she going to sit there until all the eggs are hatched because everyday her sister leaves her a new one to hatch, do i need to move her sister? what do i do? the broody hen is coming out daily to drink and fluff in the dirt and i have food and water right next to her. how long will she stay there? is the broody hen still adding to the pile of eggs daily? will they just stay broody and keep laying eggs to hatch I want them back to normal they were our best layers!

 

[Bandit]

Once a hen has gone broody she quits laying eggs. Maybe you can separate the broody from the other so the eggs will hatch at the same time.

 

[SmartyChick]

I would move her NOW before her sister can lay any more eggs under her. A friend of mine had this happen to her and some did not hatch, the mom sat for about a week and 4 out of 7 eggs hatched, the rest she had to discard because momma started to free range with her chicks. Hope the hatch goes well.

 

[justtoni44]

That happened to us also.definate learning curve.
I will seperate next time I get a broody...she ended up with 21 eggs.the squirrles got most of her good ones.
She happily hatched out one....then sat for about 4 more days wothout further sucsess.
I ahve read on here that some folks mark the first eggs so they can remove the fresh ones.
Have fun.
My hen Daisy is so happy with her little chick. It is a treat to watch them.

 

[amberroswell]

how long do i have to separate them? will they still remember each other when they get put back together they are so close! so she will not sit there and hatch all of them? should i take the remainder to see if i can hatch them after they start hatching and she leaves the rest?

 

[amberroswell]

oh and i cant mark the eggs she is very aggressive when i go near her she had a couple eggs i could see and i was going to push them back under her but she will not let me she bites and hisses

 

[4boysmom]

you can leave them together, I would simply mark the eggs that are under her today, then tomorrow, start removing ( daily ) any newly laid eggs so that you can save them for eating.

 

[sourland]

Within 24 to 36 hours of the first eggs hatching she will leave the nest with her chicks. Be prepared to incubate the rest of the eggs. If there are too many eggs in the nest, she will not be able to effectively incubate them. As a result hatching percentages will be quite poor.

 

[amberroswell]

i do not have an incubator how do i do it with out one? if i can?

 

[kano]

If you want chicks, the first thing you have to do with a broody hen is SEPARATE her, with the eggs YOU want to be incubated.