Letting a hen brood in the coop, need advice

[chicksandchores]

I had a hen go broody and start to set on six eggs on what I’m pretty sure was March 26 based on embryo activity and the drastic incease in egg weight. I have a 100% fertility rate (only six eggs but still a huge accomplishment if you ask me!) and I’d love to have a 100% hatch rate, however if I don’t know what day I can lock her nest box down I’m afraid the other hens are going to interfere. At the time, I thought “oh I’ll remember the day she decided to sit, no problem!” And now... here we are. I left her in the coop, she has an average of two eggs if not three or four laid in her nest daily, and I don’t want to move her this late in the process as the last time I tried to move her she abandoned the nest... would it be okay to just take my best guess on the due date and block her from the rest of the coop with food and water for what I think are the last three days? Should I try to move her to a separate pen now that my other chicks are out of the brooding cage and I have room?

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Welcome to byc!! Glad you could join the Flock! Let me know if you need anything!

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Either sounds fine! Good luck!

 

[cmom]

Don't worry. You can close her off. She will probably be ok. The last time I let a female sit on eggs there were a half dozen eggs in her nest box and when I checked it later I found 18 eggs in it so I took the eggs out and put them in the incubator. Some did hatch in the incubator then I put the rest of the eggs in the hatcher. It took 2 or 3 days for the other eggs to hatch. All was well.

 

[karenerwin]

I've had this same thing happen to me as well. I was out of town and came home to 2 broodies ( 1 in each coop). I had no idea how long either one had been sitting. I ended up putting a big wire cage like thing around each ones nest box and moved the other nest boxes so the other hens could still lay in them.
It all ended up being okay. Once the chicks hatched, the broody was okay sitting with them wherever, so she didn't still need to be in a nest box. But I still do worry a bit about another hen stepping on one accidentally. I think that has only happened once ( and even then I'm not sure that was the cause of death) and I have had broodies hatch eggs 10 or 12 times.

 

[chicksandchores]

Thank you all! She’s not terribly fierce as a mother; this is her second brood and with her first she wouldn’t attack or defend her chicks very well, only puff up and cluck like mad and growl at the other hens, so I worry about them getting in the box with her during those last three critical days. I did cage her off for the last few days last time but I had marked my calendar the day of and knew exactly when they should hatch. This time I will likely go by assuming that I’m right and the 26th is when she decided to sit and cage her off accordingly.

 

[Jpajinag]

I’m in a similar boat. We have 9 month old guinea fowl and one has started setting on a joint nest in our hen house they share with our chickens. She randomly sat and protected it over the last 3-4 days but today she has not moved and is hissing. Up to this point we were able to remove any chicken eggs from the pile. The problem is our chickens are lining up, climbing over her and laying in the nest with her. There is no way for us to collect those chicken eggs. I’m concerned if she continues to allow the chickens to share her nest well have 50+ random age/ incubated guinea or chicken eggs by the time they start hatching. Yesterday she had about 24 guinea eggs from about the last week to 10 days. Should I start blocking her off from the rest of the flock? This is the first season with guineas and ours stick close to our chickens even though they are all free range. Thanks

 

[karenerwin]

I’m in a similar boat. We have 9 month old guinea fowl and one has started setting on a joint nest in our hen house they share with our chickens. She randomly sat and protected it over the last 3-4 days but today she has not moved and is hissing. Up to this point we were able to remove any chicken eggs from the pile. The problem is our chickens are lining up, climbing over her and laying in the nest with her. There is no way for us to collect those chicken eggs. I’m concerned if she continues to allow the chickens to share her nest well have 50+ random age/ incubated guinea or chicken eggs by the time they start hatching. Yesterday she had about 24 guinea eggs from about the last week to 10 days. Should I start blocking her off from the rest of the flock? This is the first season with guineas and ours stick close to our chickens even though they are all free range. Thanks

I would since you don't want a staggered hatch or abandoned partly incubated eggs. I had this situation and ended up putting all the leftover eggs in the incubator after the broody got up off the nest with the chicks that had hatched. I had chicks hatching at random for about 2 weeks.

 

[Jpajinag]

I would since you don't want a staggered hatch or abandoned partly incubated eggs. I had this situation and ended up putting all the leftover eggs in the incubator after the broody got up off the nest with the chicks that had hatched. I had chicks hatching at random for about 2 weeks.

Thank you. I’ll try to block her off somehow this weekend (figure I’ll have at least a few days since the chicken eggs would start hatching before her eggs. I was a bit concerned because she is a young guinea hen. I don’t want to stress her to the point she doesn’t set, do you think that would happen? If so I do have an incubator to try and save left over eggs. ‍

 

[cmom]

You can take her off of her nest and collect the other eggs. If she is a serious sitter, she will get back on the nest. If she abandon the eggs then put them in your incubator.