Managing a Broody Hen

[longranger]

I have my first broody turkey hen. Lucky for her as she is one of my favorites and I was searching for a justification for keeping her at least another year. She has been sitting for a couple of weeks on 3 eggs that all candle fertile. She is in a large coop and run with 3 toms and 3 other hens. I have planned for some time to cull this group about now for meat and to make room for new varieties. Will it put her off her game if I quietly remove all her penn mates for butchering before the hatch? Am I better off leaving one other jenny to keep her company?

Want to maximize her chances of being a successful good mother. Just her and maybe one more hen I could absorb without messing up my summer and fall housing plans. I do not have a specific broody penn because I have used an incubator almost exclusively. Tried eggs with broody chickens and they incubated them just fine but killed them at hatch fighting with eachother to "protect them". Won't ever let that happen again. Obviously I could pull the eggs and incubate them myself but I really want to let her have a shot. Any advice or suggestions??

 

[Randy]

I think she would be just fine on her own.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

She should have no problem hatching them. When we have broody hens we just do status quo until the poults hatch then we take the hen and poults to a seperate pen.

Steve

 

[longranger]

Thanks for the shared experience. I will butcher the others and leave momma to hatch and brood her babies. This is going to be fun to watch. She is very sweet and mild mannered. Even now she likes to be petted while sitting on her eggs.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Most of ours are pretty calm mothers as well. There a couple Palm hens that will try to tear your hand off for reaching under them but that just makes it more interesting

Steve