My hen is about to hatch her eggs, what do I do?

[amberroswell]

I am a first timer to this whole chicken thing and I have no clue what to expect or to do for them. My golden laced hens are in the same pen together they were raised together and share the same nesting area and take turns on the eggs most of the time. I want them to have them naturally I do not want to take them from her, she is very protective of her eggs I am not sure if i could even get them from her. Do I have to have anything special in there for her? I already put food and water close to her because she refuses to move off of her eggs. There is straw in her coop as well, I hear that is bad from baby chicks should I remove it?

 

[Debbi]

Hens have been hatching eggs since the dawn of time, let her do her thing. Sounds like she's broody enough, plus she has a back-up sitter. Keep an eye on her after they hatch to make sure she is taking care of them. As for the straw, I can't say, I'm pretty new at this, but when I was growing up on the farm, that's all we had for the nests, and we had PLENTY of chicks born all the time! Good luck!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Quote:
DITTO Let her be the mom. Go inside & RELAX.

 

[amberroswell]

ok good, thanks so much!!

 

[Mahonri]

Sit back, relax and enjoy.

 

[oesdog]

Yeah go relax your hen knows what she is doing. - you might need to watch the other hens though as they can get jealouse and tip eggs out of the nest or peck them through. I had one broody ( Bertha) and everytime she got up another hen ( Gerty) would sit on the nest then she would get bored and leave the eggs. The first Hen would go mad and go back in. I split Bertha up from the others and gave her her own space to brood her eggs. She now has 4 chicks 4 weeks old and they are perfect!!!!!! She had Hay - only thing we ever had for chickens when I was a kid - however Bertha decided herself she didn;t want it and threw it all out the door of her coop into the run!!!!

I guess you just have to go with it - Mummy knows best leave her to it. Your not a chicken!!!!!!!!! She is!!!!!!

 

[crj]

I agree with everyone else. Let Mum do the work. She knows what to do. Observe all you want. The hardest part is waiting. Mark your calendar when they are due to hatch. That's when things get exciting!!!