Majorly Broody Buff Orpington...

[Chocobroc]

So... for the past couple weeks I've watched my Buff Orpington get broodier (is that a word??) as the days went on. I noticed she was spending more and more time in the nesting boxes. Now, I don't have a Roo and this is my first experience with chickens. Dorothy, my BO, will be 9 months old on the first. She has been laying since she was 4 months and this is her first time going broody.

For the past few days I noticed not only was she not leaving the nesting box, she wasn't laying anymore either. I even tried kicking her out a couple times and I made sure all eggs from the other girls were collected everyday. I did a little reading I found that not only is she not going to lay while she is broody but might not start laying again for another 3 or 4 weeks after she is over being broody! WHAT?!?!?!

SOOOOO.... I had an idea. I went onto Craigslist and found someone local selling fertile eggs. I might as well make use out of this broody girl. I bought a dozen (but broke one) on Monday and put them under her right away. I put them under and around her the best I could. She was growling at me and giving me the nastiest stick eye so I didn't want to force them- afraid of breaking more. I left her alone for 5 minutes and checked on her again. She had repositioned herself and pulled all the eggs under her. She hasn't left these eggs once that I have noticed. Today I went in to check on her, and went to feel under her. She pecked the living crap out of my hand!! Now this girl is one of the sweetest girls ever and she has NEVER pecked me before. Talk about protective mommy! And from what I felt, those eggs were very warm... so I guess I may have got myself a good mama and these eggs might just hatch. Not sure what I'm gonna do with these babies. Hopefully I can get a couple local takers, but who knows... I may just have to expand the coop a bit

I blame chicken math for all this...

This is my first time with this, so I'm kinda flying by the seat of my pants and hope that mother nature takes over. Not sure if there is anything I need to do or watch out for or if I need to move her... idk. Any advice or suggestions is appreciated.

This is Dorothy, my broody BO, on her eggs:

 

[benjoycei]

She looks just like Rhoda, my BO who sees to be broody all the time too. When I want to get the eggs I pick her up and tuck her under my arm and pet her lavishly. LOL

 

[wistlindixie]

All those fluffed up feathers indicate good broody too! It's amazing how many eggs they can cover with all those feathers.

 

[shuizar209]

Quote:
Wow that look can melt metal.

 

[gryeyes]

My suggestion is to mark those fertile eggs so when you check under her every day, you can tell them from any other eggs she steals from other hens OR they lay in her nest during her brief potty/food runs. A "X" with a Sharpie pen will do.

Otherwise she'll have eggs with different "start" dates, in varying stages of incubation.

My broody BO was a wonderful mother who hatched one egg out of five she chose to incubate, my very first GrandChick!

Happy Surrogate Hatching!

 

[Chocobroc]

Thanks for the suggestion gryeyes. I only have 3 other hens who have been laying in another nesting box. I make sure I collect them everyday. I'm afraid to get under her and mark the ones she has because of how well she pecked me yesterday lol! Before I got these fertile eggs she wasn't pulling any other eggs under her. Maybe because I wasn't giving her a chance to. Idk. It maybe a bit easier for me seeing that I only have 4 hens so I'll know right away if she is taking any others. I will definitely keep that in mind though!

Thanks!!

 

[Sorin]

Chocobroc, that sounds like my BO Gretta! She has been doing the same thing on and off for 6 weeks. She is very sweet too, but screams bloody murder when I pull her off the nest! They all will get moved into a new coop in about 2 weeks so I'm gonna see if I can encourage her to go all the way and let her sit on a few. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[kimntep]

My BO is doing the same thing. I get eggs out from under her twice a day at least and get her outside for a couple of hours, but she always goes right back! She is our boss lady, Mary, very grumpy and the only way I can get the eggs is to life her up with a broom because she will draw blood! Resistance is futile, Mary Mary Quite Contrary!