Letting a broody hatch some eggs

[Ridgerunner]

She has been broody for about four days. If she is staying on the nest at night and acting "broody" during the day I'd consider her committed and clean it out at your convenience. She might sit there the whole time or she might hop up and run out to eat, drink, poop, and such and return later. I would not expect her to damage the eggs in any way.

Before they are committed they can break from being broody by scaring them or messing with them, but once they commit they flip a switch. It's hard to break them.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree, mine on the nest are in a trance, only puffing up if I reach for them. And then still not moving.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

She has been broody for about four days. If she is staying on the nest at night and acting "broody" during the day I'd consider her committed and clean it out at your convenience. She might sit there the whole time or she might hop up and run out to eat, drink, poop, and such and return later. I would not expect her to damage the eggs in any way.

Before they are committed they can break from being broody by scaring them or messing with them, but once they commit they flip a switch. It's hard to break them.

Thanks! I locked out the other girls and got to work. She didn’t flinch the whole time I was raking out the old bedding but man did she freak when I started to spread the new bedding. I let her out of the coop and finished quickly. She ate, dust bathed, drank, growled at the others and then came back after about 20 min. She definitely did not like that I changed the bedding in her nesting box though. She jumped out and looked at all the other boxes and then came back. Took a while for her to settle. Probably won’t be changing her nest bedding again unless absolutely necessary. I Likely won’t need to do a full cleaning anyway for a while. I got a little worried towards the end there because she looked very confused as to what happened to her nest

Next year I’ll know to clean the coop before spring kicks in. I just procrastinated for so long and didn’t expect this!

 

[NatJ]

Thanks! I locked out the other girls and got to work. She didn’t flinch the whole time I was raking out the old bedding but man did she freak when I started to spread the new bedding. I let her out of the coop and finished quickly. She ate, dust bathed, drank, growled at the others and then came back after about 20 min. She definitely did not like that I changed the bedding in her nesting box though. She jumped out and looked at all the other boxes and then came back. Took a while for her to settle. Probably won’t be changing her nest bedding again unless absolutely necessary. I Likely won’t need to do a full cleaning anyway for a while. I got a little worried towards the end there because she looked very confused as to what happened to her nest

Next year I’ll know to clean the coop before spring kicks in. I just procrastinated for so long and didn’t expect this!

Glad to hear that you got the job done and she's back on the nest now!

And now you've got a pretty good idea of what bothers her and what doesn't, which could be handy if you need to do something in future.

 

[arazla]

I posted yesterday about one of my hens showing signs of going broody and asked how I can break her of it. I decided today to instead let her try hatching some eggs. I dont have a rooster, but my friend does and will be giving me a few fertilized eggs tomorrow. For now I am letting my broody girl sit on some unfertilized eggs. I attempted to move her to a secluded area but she wasn't having it. My question is, is it ok to just leave a hen to sit on a nest in the main coop? So far it seems like the other girls are leaving her alone and she is definitely doing a good job protecting her nest. Im aware I will likely have to separate her and the babies (or just the babies alone) when they hatch, but that Is not a problem as I already have some chicks coming the same week and can add them to the brooder. Has anyone had experience just letting their hen do her thing and not messing with the setup?

Do I need to put food and water inside the coop or will she come out to eat and drink? We have multiple feeders and waterers available outside including right outside of the coop door. I prefer not to put food in the coop if possible.

Our coop is not walk- in but plenty big. They are completely enclosed but the outside space they have is HUGE. we've worked hard making a very large enclosure with different sections for them to roam.

One last question - what do I use to mark the fertilized eggs? May be a silly question but can marker penetrate the shell and harm the embryo?

I have two main flocks and had a broody hen in each that I allowed to sit last spring. One did just fine the whole time being integrated and raising her chicks within the flock. She is one of my original girs, "OGs," and has high status. The other was lower in status and needed a little more separation and protection. So that is something to keep in mind.
I also only let them sit on the rounded eggs I could find. It sounds like a wive's tale, but then I came across this research and decided to give it a try. Of course more research is needed, but they had 85% accuracy. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9832119/
I allowed one hen to have 3 eggs and one to have 2. I ended up with 4 hens and a roo. So 75% accuracy? Or just pretty good luck

 

[Clucky Nan]

I posted yesterday about one of my hens showing signs of going broody and asked how I can break her of it. I decided today to instead let her try hatching some eggs. I dont have a rooster, but my friend does and will be giving me a few fertilized eggs tomorrow. For now I am letting my broody girl sit on some unfertilized eggs. I attempted to move her to a secluded area but she wasn't having it. My question is, is it ok to just leave a hen to sit on a nest in the main coop? So far it seems like the other girls are leaving her alone and she is definitely doing a good job protecting her nest. Im aware I will likely have to separate her and the babies (or just the babies alone) when they hatch, but that Is not a problem as I already have some chicks coming the same week and can add them to the brooder. Has anyone had experience just letting their hen do her thing and not messing with the setup?

Do I need to put food and water inside the coop or will she come out to eat and drink? We have multiple feeders and waterers available outside including right outside of the coop door. I prefer not to put food in the coop if possible.

Our coop is not walk- in but plenty big. They are completely enclosed but the outside space they have is HUGE. we've worked hard making a very large enclosure with different sections for them to roam.

One last question - what do I use to mark the fertilized eggs? May be a silly question but can marker penetrate the shell and harm the embryo?

Yes do it !
I was exactly in the same boat as you with a broody hen and decided to give it a go with some fertile eggs that a friend gave me as I had no rooster in my flock .
I put 6 eggs under her and had success with 4 hatching .
I was so nervous and looking back now I was probably over cautious as mother hen did a wonderful job on her own without my interference!
As she had been sitting in one of the higher nesting boxes I placed her in a lower nesting box with the fertile eggs and she stayed there thank goodness.
I sectioned off that part of the coop as I was concerned about the other hens getting to them though looking back I don’t think that was necessary, the chicks stayed under mother hen after they hatched and stayed clear of the other hens for a few weeks.
The only problem I found was that the other hens were eating the chicken starter food that I placed in the coop for the chicks as well as drinking their water so I was constantly having to refill them and get the straw out of them etc that the hens were kicking into the containers .
Chicks are all growing well and around 14 weeks old now . 2 were roosters unfortunately and have gone back to the friend who gave me the eggs to add to her breeding stock .
Best of luck , I hope you find the experience as exciting as I did !

 

[FrostRanger]

Yes do it !
I was exactly in the same boat as you with a broody hen and decided to give it a go with some fertile eggs that a friend gave me as I had no rooster in my flock .
I put 6 eggs under her and had success with 4 hatching .
I was so nervous and looking back now I was probably over cautious as mother hen did a wonderful job on her own without my interference!
As she had been sitting in one of the higher nesting boxes I placed her in a lower nesting box with the fertile eggs and she stayed there thank goodness.
I sectioned off that part of the coop as I was concerned about the other hens getting to them though looking back I don’t think that was necessary, the chicks stayed under mother hen after they hatched and stayed clear of the other hens for a few weeks.
The only problem I found was that the other hens were eating the chicken starter food that I placed in the coop for the chicks as well as drinking their water so I was constantly having to refill them and get the straw out of them etc that the hens were kicking into the containers .
Chicks are all growing well and around 14 weeks old now . 2 were roosters unfortunately and have gone back to the friend who gave me the eggs to add to her breeding stock .
Best of luck , I hope you find the experience as exciting as I did !

In the future you can just give everyone chick starter. As you found out, feeding everyone separately is nigh impossible unless they're physically separated. As long as they have oyster shell on the side hens can eat chick starter without issue

 

[Clucky Nan]

Thankyou so much for that , I was concerned that it wouldn’t be enough protein etc for the hens and also might affect their egg production.. now that I know that I’ll give my still broody hen some more eggs to hatch ( after she has had a rest )

 

[ForFlocksSake]

Yes do it !
I was exactly in the same boat as you with a broody hen and decided to give it a go with some fertile eggs that a friend gave me as I had no rooster in my flock .
I put 6 eggs under her and had success with 4 hatching .
I was so nervous and looking back now I was probably over cautious as mother hen did a wonderful job on her own without my interference!
As she had been sitting in one of the higher nesting boxes I placed her in a lower nesting box with the fertile eggs and she stayed there thank goodness.
I sectioned off that part of the coop as I was concerned about the other hens getting to them though looking back I don’t think that was necessary, the chicks stayed under mother hen after they hatched and stayed clear of the other hens for a few weeks.
The only problem I found was that the other hens were eating the chicken starter food that I placed in the coop for the chicks as well as drinking their water so I was constantly having to refill them and get the straw out of them etc that the hens were kicking into the containers .
Chicks are all growing well and around 14 weeks old now . 2 were roosters unfortunately and have gone back to the friend who gave me the eggs to add to her breeding stock .
Best of luck , I hope you find the experience as exciting as I did !

Thanks for sharing your experience! It gives me even more confidence.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

In the future you can just give everyone chick starter. As you found out, feeding everyone separately is nigh impossible unless they're physically separated. As long as they have oyster shell on the side hens can eat chick starter without issue

This is what I do anyway. I’ve never taken my flock off starter crumbles.