One of my pullets is broody?!

[VA Raptor]

I think one of my pullets is broody:

She recently started pulling out her breast/keel feathers. This evening, at their usual bedtime, she was still sitting in a nestbox. Despite passive resistance, I took her out. Her ENTIRE keel is bare!!! In the time it took me to refill the feeder, she went back in the nest box. There are only 2 eggs under her; however, only one is hers...meanwhile there were a dozen eggs in the next box over.

Please tell me she could be broody. It's a blue Marans pullet under an splash Ameraucana...and I would love an Olive Egger or two.

 

[HELPPLS]

Sounds like it to me. I have had 2 this year so far go broody. We just made a full year doing chickens so I'm still kinda new to this. I put 17 eggs underneath my black australorp and 11 successfully hatched. Right as those were hatching another one went broody. I put her in a wire dog cage that we hung from the roof of our coop so the air can get under her chest. She was broody for almost 2 weeks and it only took 2 days to break her. Some people say it can take up to a week. We gave her just food and water. No bedding. Lined the kennel with wire mesh. It was sad to do it to her but I bought 13 more chics 4 days before the others hatched. We are overrun with babies. So, if you want to break her, we had success with that but if not then let her sit. Good luck. Hatching some under a hen was so fun and I don't have any desire to buy an incubator or to ever buy anymore chics if we get a rooster out of all of these babies.

 

[krista74]

It's certainly possible she is broody.

I would mark the two eggs she has under her, and then let her be for 2 days. If it looks like she is not getting up, take those two eggs out at dusk, and give her some fresh eggs to sit on so that they all hatch at the same time.

The fresh eggs should be clean, of a decent size, and with no obvious damage. I would give her 8 or 9 eggs - whatever she can comfortably cover.

Pop a feeder and waterer nearby to her so that she can access food easily, and try to section her off from the rest of the flock, so that other birds don't continue to add eggs to her nest.

Good luck!

Krista

PS: She can sit on other chicken's eggs aside from her own - she won't know the difference.

 

[VA Raptor]

I'm going to let this play out rather than try to break her.

So, if she's still sitting in two days I should set up a private area? Also, will she continue to lay for a few days since she's only sitting on 2 eggs?

Lastly, what age difference can I have in the eggs? One day? Three?

Cautiously excited, confused, and anxious at the same time!

 

[krista74]

Usually, chicks will hatch within 24 hours of each other. The issue in letting her lay extra eggs is that she will have eggs of different developmental stages underneath her. If that is the case, and the first one or two hatch, she may abandon the other viable eggs and refuse to hatch them out.

This is why we mark the eggs she is currently on, remove them after she has proven she is serious about being broody (after she has spent 1-2 days full time on the nest) and then replace them immediately with 8 or 9 fresh eggs (mark these too!), so that all of the eggs have the same amount of sitting time. That ensures that all of the viable chicks hatch around the same time, not over a period of several days.

Start collecting suitable eggs from your other hens now. The eggs can be anywhere up to 7 or so days old, but should not have been refrigerated. Keep the eggs inside in a cool temperature, and turn them every morning and night until you give them to your hen.

Separate her from the rest of the flock so they can't lay in her nest, and remove any new eggs she lays too. All of the eggs should have the same amount of sitting time - 21 days.

You can just let her have the eggs she currently has and let nature take it's course. The issue with staggered hatches, as I mentioned earlier, is that she may abandon late added eggs to tend to her already hatched chicks.

Krista.

 

[VA Raptor]

Krista, thanks so much for explaining it again. A bit sleep deprived, but I think I understand now.

She was still on the nest this morning. I guess I better mark those eggs and build something so the others stay out of her space.