One hen trying to sit on 2 nests, help!

[mommalou71]

I have 5 laying hens ( light brahma) almost 2 years old. I finally got a rooster and wanted to raise some babies. So... after about 2 weeks with the rooster, i decided to stopped collecting eggs. They started piling up pretty fast, they like to lay all in 1 box, so i started dividing the eggs up in to 3 nests. Finally, one of my hens went broody, about 5 days later, another went broody...i was tickled pink! But after about 15 days , the first hen changed nesting boxes and started sitting on the clutch of eggs that hadn't had a hen sitting on them. I was heart broke that the nest she was sitting on would die, but thought at least her new nest would hatch... but then about 3 days later, she moved back to her original nest, now , every day i go out there , she is swapping back and forth. I'm afraid now that ALL my eggs are ruined any thoughts on all this?
Thank,
Light Brahma Momma
( Karen)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's always best to separate out a setting hen as those that sit in the nestboxes are disruptive, and often don't return to the same nest. Most broody hens just want to sit, they don't necessarily care about the eggs, especially initially.

 

[Kloie Grace]

We had a similar situation, we simply took the other eggs out. every time we saw her off, we moved her back. One thing we did (Another chicken) was moved her to a smaller area, separate from any other nests with her own food and water supply, moved her eggs, and she successfully hatched 5 eggs!

 

[mommalou71]

How do you do that without breaking her broody "mood"?

 

[Kloie Grace]

She usually won't lose her broodiness. Just keep her in the smaller area and she will most likely go back to being broody...

 

[chrissynemetz]

How do you do that without breaking her broody "mood"?

If she's full broody moving her won't break her. It might make her mad, but she'll settle down and continue to brood her eggs.

 

[Kloie Grace]

If she's full broody moving her won't break her. It might make her mad, but she'll settle down and continue to brood her eggs.

I agree