My broody is on eggs! What to do?

Secure her nest so that other hens or the rooster can not get at her. Don't put food or water too close to the nest. You want her to leave the nest daily so that she can defecate. She'll do the rest. Good luck.

 

She'll take care of the chicks just fine. It'll be fun to watch them interact with her as well as discover the world around them.

 

Quote:I always separate Mom and chicks from the others for the first few weeks. Other chickens can kill the babies if the Mom isn't watching. Don't feed layer to the babies, get some chick starter. Mom can eat it since she won't be laying eggs 6 weeks after they hatch. Also make sure the other hens don't lay additional eggs in Mom's nest. A staggered hatch will be a disaster. She'll get off the eggs every day or so to eat, stretch, poop. I'd put water and feed in with her while she's sitting also.

 

Mine hatched in the same coop as the layers, and they are all doing fine. I did seperate them during the hatch as the mama was still setting on the unhatched eggs, and the first hatchers were running around with no one to protect them.

but after that they are all together, although during the day, they are all free ranging, so space is not an issue.

I found the hardest part, was the WAITING! hahaha somewhere between 20-22 days. The last week took forever!

Good luck! Mrs.K

 

I had never utilized a broody for hatching until this month. My Silkie, Frieda, hatched in our regular coop, in a nest box. She hatched one egg (the rest were quitters) and I took one of the bator babies and put it under her, which she accepted as her own with no problems.

While she was brooding, I put up a little "wall" in front of the nest box b/c other hens were laying eggs in her box (with her IN IT!). It worked great. I opened it up after "laying time" around here.




When she hatched the eggs, I set up a "nursery" under our droppings board with a cat carrier in it that has pine shavings and hay for a nest. In the morning, I take her, the crate and the babies out and put them in the chicken tractor for play time. At night, I take them all inside and close up the nursery again. I keep water and medicated chick starter feed in the nursery, outside the crate and inside the tractor.
The nursery:



In the tractor:

This is our chicken tractor:


I hope this helps. Good luck! (It's actually a LOT less work than incubating and keeping chicks in a brooder!)