my hen is broody ,,, again.

[mamabigbird]

Matilda, my EE hen is broody again. I don't know how old she is, but I've had her for about 2 1/2 years.
She had raised several batches of babies at her previous home and was a good momma. I even adopted one of her grown-up offspring.
She has been broody 3 times since we got her but with no rooster around she simply did not have an opportunity to raise more.
Now we have a family member with fertile eggs from her hens/rooster. She is bringing a few to us to put under Matilda tonight.
We have a separate pen for her with a little broody house so ... here we go. A new experience for us.

 

[sourland]

Good luck. She's experienced at this so all should go well.

 

[Kaeta44]

She knows what to do, so all should be well. When one of mine goes broody I usually lift her out of the nest once or twice a day and put her near the food and water. She usually eats, drinks, does a gigantic poop and heads off back to the nest. Take note of that last bit - she won't poop if she's on the nest, so you may have to take her out to allow nature to take its course!

 

[mstricer]

You don't have to move her, she will either hatch them or not. I had a hen last year that I swear never left the nest at all for the entire 21 days, if she got up it wasn't around me and not when others were laying, no new eggs. She will be fine.

 

[CorinneP]

I just moved a broody hen and a few eggs to a nicer quieter environment today .. It kills me to watch them give everything they have and have all the other hens disrespect her my Roos continue to try and mate her .. I think I remember all to well being pregnant and have too much sympathy lol.. Any way I put her in with a few of my Jr babies that cant harass her . but will keep her company .. I think she appreciated it .. But any way I did slip her a few other eggs as she wont have any to steal in her new home.

 

[mamabigbird]

You don't have to move her, she will either hatch them or not. I had a hen last year that I swear never left the nest at all for the entire 21 days, if she got up it wasn't around me and not when others were laying, no new eggs. She will be fine.

I have already placed her in her broody pen so she can be settled in when the eggs arrive.
And I gave her the egg she had been setting on to keep her on task.
Her mini coop is a large plastic dog house filled with shavings, open in the front so she can go in and out as she pleases.
She had a big drink and gobbled up some feed, and went right in to her egg.
I'm very excited to see how it goes.

 

[mamabigbird]

I just moved a broody hen and a few eggs to a nicer quieter environment today .. It kills me to watch them give everything they have and have all the other hens disrespect her my Roos continue to try and mate her .. I think I remember all to well being pregnant and have too much sympathy lol.. Any way I put her in with a few of my Jr babies that cant harass her . but will keep her company .. I think she appreciated it .. But any way I did slip her a few other eggs as she wont have any to steal in her new home.

I agree. My hens are too unruly and disrespectful of Matildas' needs. They were all climbing in and out of her nest box, and besides,
the boxes are elevated about 2 feet off the floor and the babies would be at risk of falling and/or being bullied by the others once they started to move out from under mom.
Maybe I'm a nervous Nellie but I'd rather give them the best chance possible.

 

[mamabigbird]

Well. Matilda is sitting on a variety of 8 eggs. We slipped them under her after dark on May 2nd.
There are several EE and a few Australorp and one Polish.
She looks so contented, I hope all goes well.
P.S. There goes my chicken math again.

 

[California_chickie]

Well. Matilda is sitting on a variety of 8 eggs. We slipped them under her after dark on May 2nd.
There are several EE and a few Australorp and one Polish.
She looks so contented, I hope all goes well.
P.S. There goes my chicken math again.

Woo-hoo! Good luck! It will be a lot of fun. She knows what she's doing, so try to just enjoy it & not stress too much (I know, easier said then done)

 

[mamabigbird]

Well, we had a little glitch in the process. We put a cardboard box inside the plastic dog house to reduce the space to a size closer to her nest box.
Filled the box with shavings and she settled down with her eggs.
I guess that she was turning the eggs and scratching around in the box and managed to get a couple of eggs jammed under the folded box flaps on the bottom.
My BIL noticed her out of her nest looking flustered so checked it out.
He replaced the box with one that has a smooth bottom, but one egg was broken. So I guess she now has seven.