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chicky68

chicky68

Chirping
5 Years
Joined
Mar 21, 2014
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61
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61
Location
South Jersey
hello everyone I am very new to this,never owned chickens before in my life and we started out with just two a hen Evelyn and rooster Sailor Jerry.. Through this crazy weather that New Jersey has had we decided to put a light in our coup because we felt it was going to keep our chickens warm. Lo and behold we ended up with 12 eggs. She is now sitting on them but to me she looks sick or is this just her way of saying leave me alone! Also in the past 3 days she has been sitting on them morning noon and night and my question is how long does it take for the eggs to hatch. Do you count from the day that the eggs came out or do you count from the day she starts sitting on them? HELP!!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
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Check out the Learning Center for information on broody hens
 
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Welcome to the world of chickens!

You would have to give her an over all exam to determine if she is sick or not, but it sounds like to me that she has gone broody over all those eggs and it incubating them! When she begins to stay on the nest 24/7, starting on that day, that is day one. It takes about 21 days to incubate and hatch out chicks. Not all birds that go broody turn out to be good mommas. Some can abandon the eggs at some point during the cycle, kill the chicks at hatch or not brood them properly. So you will have to monitor the situation throughout this period and if you want to save the eggs or chicks, be ready to jump in.

Here is a page on broody hens and what they are doing...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/broody-hens

You can also take a look at all the articles on this page as they cover incubation, hatching and raising your new brood....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks

And while you are there, here is the link to the entire learning center where all these articles are kept. Lots of good reads on all the aspects of keeping poultry...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Good luck with your new flock and I hope your broody hatches out baby chicks!
 
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chicky68 said:
This really helps! should I put a bowl of water and food in there for her
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Keep food and water right outside the nest box. She will come out for it when she needs it. If it is not convienient for her, she might not get enough to eat. Is she in the coop nest box with these eggs?
 
she is in the coop with the eggs. should I put some type of barrier around her like a box.
 
Do you have other chickens? If nobody is bothering her, then you don't have to put anything up around her. If you have other birds that are annoying her, then yes, I would put something up around her area to keep her alone. Usually other birds are ok with broodies, but always watch when chicks are hatched that no other birds come and hurt the babies. Momma is usually pretty good about protecting them. :-)
 
Just let her do her thing and keep an eye on her. And I hope she is a good momma and hatches out those baby chicks! Watching a broody raise her babies can be very exciting and rewarding!
 

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