My First Broody!

[DellaMyDarling]

Small bantam Raven has been acting brood for nearly 2 weeks.
Just from catching other posts here, I knew not to invest in it right away. We took eggs from her for a while. As the days went on, it became obvious she was committing, and I stopped taking eggs.
On Friday I went out and candled and penciled eggs.
She had a whopping 17!
Total newb at candling. Google was kinda helpful. I selected 7 eggs that looked more promising than others (like a bunch had obvious pores, one had a pinhole, etc, so I removed those.)
I resisted urge to touch anything again until today. I think an egg broke under her, as a few had sticky shavings and I could not see all my pencil marks. Kinda back to square one there.

I think I gave her back about 7. Didn't pencil again since it clearly did not work out lol. Of all the eggs, one had obvious to me veining! Holy cannoli! Others may be duds...

So. Advice moving forward?
I presume I should leave her be again. Since not all eggs were placed at same time, I feel I should candle again at some point however.
Should I relocate her to a pet crate? She's nested in the one nest box that every single hen covets.

 

[Trimurtisan]

I'm just now dealing with my first broody too, so the only advice I have is toss a picture of the proud young lady up.

Congrats by the way. I was also taking the eggs from our broody, and she too was committed. I decided to let her sit, but she already stopped laying her own eggs. She's sitting on 1 BB Marans X 55 Flowery egg, and one Pyncheon/Serama X Serama egg.

Best of luck to your new broody!

 

[DobieLover]

I moved my first time broody out of the nest boxes before I let her start setting fertile eggs. She had to be retrained to her new nest site but she had it down after three days and I didn't have to worry about her anymore. I gave her fertile eggs that were all laid the same day. I was collecting eggs during her broodiness as she would sit on the fake ones in the box.
Every morning after I fed the flock I would remove her from her nest and put her outside and watch her until the broody trance broke and she would tear off to scratch, eat, preen, bathe and poop then I would make sure she went back to the correct nest (in the early days). She would be removed again for the afternoon feeding. This was in the dead of summer so she would stay off the nest for around an hour in the morning and maybe 15 minutes in the evening. I stopped removing her from her nest on day 19 and she hatched 3 out of her 4 eggs on day 21.
I did not candle. I gave her 2 more days to try to hatch the fourth egg then declared it a dud and took it from her.
I then allowed her to take the chicks out of the built in brooder and she took them to meet the flock.
So... I would recommend that you have your flock on Flock Raiser or All Flock for their feed with one or more containers of oyster shell on the side for the layers. The mother will feed the chicks. I gave her thick mashes made out of the Flock Raiser as that made it easier for her to pull the feed out of the container to give it to the chicks.
I also put the baby bottle I made for raising chicks in with her when she was setting and the chicks learned to drink from it on day one.
Other than that, she did everything.

 

[chickens really]

I move my Broody hens all the time without issue. They continue to set the eggs.

 

[Brady bunch]

I moved my first time broody out of the nest boxes before I let her start setting fertile eggs. She had to be retrained to her new nest site but she had it down after three days and I didn't have to worry about her anymore. I gave her fertile eggs that were all laid the same day. I was collecting eggs during her broodiness as she would sit on the fake ones in the box.
Every morning after I fed the flock I would remove her from her nest and put her outside and watch her until the broody trance broke and she would tear off to scratch, eat, preen, bathe and poop then I would make sure she went back to the correct nest (in the early days). She would be removed again for the afternoon feeding. This was in the dead of summer so she would stay off the nest for around an hour in the morning and maybe 15 minutes in the evening. I stopped removing her from her nest on day 19 and she hatched 3 out of her 4 eggs on day 21.
I did not candle. I gave her 2 more days to try to hatch the fourth egg then declared it a dud and took it from her.
I then allowed her to take the chicks out of the built in brooder and she took them to meet the flock.
So... I would recommend that you have your flock on Flock Raiser or All Flock for their feed with one or more containers of oyster shell on the side for the layers. The mother will feed the chicks. I gave her thick mashes made out of the Flock Raiser as that made it easier for her to pull the feed out of the container to give it to the chicks.
I also put the baby bottle I made for raising chicks in with her when she was setting and the chicks learned to drink from it on day one.
Other than that, she did everything.
View attachment 1968314 View attachment 1968315 View attachment 1968316 View attachment 1968317

I love your hens!!

 

[Brady bunch]

Small bantam Raven has been acting brood for nearly 2 weeks.
Just from catching other posts here, I knew not to invest in it right away. We took eggs from her for a while. As the days went on, it became obvious she was committing, and I stopped taking eggs.
On Friday I went out and candled and penciled eggs.
She had a whopping 17!
Total newb at candling. Google was kinda helpful. I selected 7 eggs that looked more promising than others (like a bunch had obvious pores, one had a pinhole, etc, so I removed those.)
I resisted urge to touch anything again until today. I think an egg broke under her, as a few had sticky shavings and I could not see all my pencil marks. Kinda back to square one there.

I think I gave her back about 7. Didn't pencil again since it clearly did not work out lol. Of all the eggs, one had obvious to me veining! Holy cannoli! Others may be duds...

So. Advice moving forward?
I presume I should leave her be again. Since not all eggs were placed at same time, I feel I should candle again at some point however.
Should I relocate her to a pet crate? She's nested in the one nest box that every single hen covets.

When we had a broody we isolated her for about a day and let her in the coop at night.

 

[Perris]

Should I relocate her to a pet crate? She's nested in the one nest box that every single hen covets.

if you do move her, you risk breaking her broodiness and you may have integration issues after they've hatched. But, assuming other hens in your flock are still laying and they continue to use the same box (presumably that's how she got 17 eggs), if you don't move her you risk a staggered hatch, accidental breakages and other difficulties. So, could you stop other hens getting access to the box she's in?

 

[DellaMyDarling]

I'm not sure how to block the box from others...maybe put plywood up, but that might get her stuck in there.
I'm all nervous since theres that one egg with obvious development. The game has stepped up lol, things are getting real.

Does the age of the hen affect their mothering abilities?
I have another bantam, tiny Sterling, who is doing the same behaviors that preceeded Raven committing to the nest. Might end up 2 broodies here. Sterling is so cutely positioned in the next favorite box, small top left made just for bantams.

I'll have to go get pics today.

 

[Perris]

I'll have to go get pics today.

that would be helpful! Esp of the area around the nest box at issue

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Tiny Sterling top left, the Brooding Raven in favorite nesting spot, and Beetle hopped in to visit as I was taking pic.
Sterling didn't leave her spot all day again, looking more and more like 2 broodies.