New chicken owner with a Broody hen

[Keith13]

Hello,

I have a Partridge rock hen that has begun sitting on the nest and become broody. Is it ok just to move her off the nest and gather the eggs? I do not have a rooster so not much is going to hatch. If my question is stupid my apologies I am a first year chicken keeper

Keith

 

[Coralietg]

I have a broody bantam at the moment. I just move her out of the nest, and remove the eggs. She makes some very angry sounds at me, like a miniature dinosaur.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

That's fine. She doesn't know that the eggs aren't fertile and will likely keep brooding an empty nest. I have a cochin who is broody often and I generally just let her be and once a day set her on the ground and take her eggs. She will grouch at me then eat a bit and then head back up. Keep an eye on her general health. Sometimes they will do this for a long time and stop taking care of themselves. If so, you may want to try to break the habit by putting her in a wire bottom cage that is up off the ground -- the goal being for cool air to get under her bum so it is a bad nesting environment and her brain will decide this is not a good place for chicks. Good luck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's a good question if you don't know the answer. Remember we all had to start somewhere.

As long as you remove the eggs every day after the other hens have laid, you can use the eggs, even if they are fertile. In theory you could go longer if the eggs are not fertile but that just doesn't feel right to me.