Letting a broody hatch out eBay eggs.

[LaurelC]

I am not yet in this situation, but want to have a solid game plan for when I am. I have an enclosure with a converted dog house that has been set up as a community nest box. I have 4 girls and am hoping to try hatching out a dozen eggs sometime this spring if one of them goes broody. I have no desire to futz with chugs and trying to integrate them into the clock on their own. I have a large dog crate I can use. I don't want to buy eggs and then wait for one of the girls to go broody I would imagine. Do I wait for her to lock herself in the nest box, then cover the crate in a sheet and a tarp and put a huge pile of straw and lock her in with food and water, order the eggs and then get them under her?

Then it is just a matter of letting her do her thing? Am I right in assuming that she will kind of handle integration into the flock? Once they're out from under mom, I saw something where people keep the door propped open just large enough for the chicks but not large enough for the adults to get through so the kiddos can escape. Is there value to this?

 

[nchls school]

I am not yet in this situation, but want to have a solid game plan for when I am. I have an enclosure with a converted dog house that has been set up as a community nest box. I have 4 girls and am hoping to try hatching out a dozen eggs sometime this spring if one of them goes broody. I have no desire to futz with chugs and trying to integrate them into the clock on their own. I have a large dog crate I can use. I don't want to buy eggs and then wait for one of the girls to go broody I would imagine. Do I wait for her to lock herself in the nest box, then cover the crate in a sheet and a tarp and put a huge pile of straw and lock her in with food and water, order the eggs and then get them under her?

Then it is just a matter of letting her do her thing? Am I right in assuming that she will kind of handle integration into the flock? Once they're out from under mom, I saw something where people keep the door propped open just large enough for the chicks but not large enough for the adults to get through so the kiddos can escape. Is there value to this?

I have used broody hens to hatch out ebay eggs a number of times. Often with good to fair luck.

 

[kuchchicks]

If she goes broody she knows how to handle it. I did it last year with two hens but used my barn eggs. Moms were so cute with the babies. The flock never tried to hurt them. They were 3 days old and mom had them with the rest of the flock. If anyone got too close mom went crazy. It was so cool! I would love to do it again.