Our cochin banty is broody, now what?

[Bubs]

9 days ago my daughter noticed that her banty cochin has gone broody. We've left her with the 3 other hens, but had to remove the rooster because he got an eye injury(now I'm wondering if she didn't do it). My question being, can I leave the 4 hens together and let her chicks hatch in the coop? They don't seem to bother her and they are all laid back. I would assume that the rooster should be kept away from her and the chicks? Any wisdom is appreciated.

 

[LaynaDon95]

Nah, the girls and the roo should be fine with Mama and Babies. I had to keep mine separate because I had 15+ roosters at the time my hen hatched her babies, and that was a little much for her to deal with, I think. I would just watch them and see how they do. Post pics when they hatch!!

 

[Bubs]

Whew, thats good news! We will, the kids are pretty excited to see what happens.

 

[nurse_turtle]

Just leave them be. Mama hen will take it from here. The other chickens will only have to come too close to the chicks ONCE and they will leave them alone. Mama hens are very protective of their little ones.

 

[LaynaDon95]

I can imagine! I was ecstatic when I found my banty hen nesting! Watching her raise them was so sweet!

I found some grubs and tossed them in for them and she picked up the small ones and set them out her babies. She seemed to know which ones they could swallow and which were too big. It was adorable.

 

[Fettfarm]

My banty cochin is in day 6 of being broody, she has 2 of her eggs and 7 of the pullet eggs! She has them all tucked under her! I tried moving her to a maternity ward nest on day 3 but she'd have none of it. She went back to the original nest and laid her second egg. So, I put the eggs back under her and the gals have contributed 4 more eggs since then.

What do I do to stop this egg contribution? I think the pullet eggs are fertile. I'm not sure that the banty eggs are. It will be very interesting to see what happens around the 20th through the 25th of the month! Any thoughts...I'm all ears, this is a new and wonderful experience for me.

 

[shellyk]

I have a separate brooder box that I put my broody hen in with the eggs I want her to sit on ( I've used a dog crate too). If she really doesn't want to move you could mark the original eggs with a pencil and just go in and remove any other eggs that have been deposited daily. I found that there were too many complications when I kept the broody with the other hens, she would get off the nest to eat/drink and another hen would sit on the nest to lay, then she would get confused and sit in another nest box on the wrong eggs!! This is why I find it simpler to just move her off by herself. Hope that helps, shelly

 

[LaynaDon95]

My banty cochin is in day 6 of being broody, she has 2 of her eggs and 7 of the pullet eggs! She has them all tucked under her! I tried moving her to a maternity ward nest on day 3 but she'd have none of it. She went back to the original nest and laid her second egg. So, I put the eggs back under her and the gals have contributed 4 more eggs since then.

What do I do to stop this egg contribution? I think the pullet eggs are fertile. I'm not sure that the banty eggs are. It will be very interesting to see what happens around the 20th through the 25th of the month! Any thoughts...I'm all ears, this is a new and wonderful experience for me.

Welcome to BYC!!
You should mark the eggs that are already in the nest with a pencil, and then every day take out those generous donations. That's the only way I know how to do it. I had to with my duck. She would not allow me to move her nest, at all, ever. She was my only duck laying, so I knew they were all her eggs. I just took out the brown ones each day. But you must do it every day or they will start developing. You could still take them out later, but that would be like chick abortion or something and it kinda turns my stomach to think about. I wouldn't let them sit longer than 2 days. By 4 days, if you candle them, you can see development. Good luck!

 

[LaynaDon95]

I have a separate brooder box that I put my broody hen in with the eggs I want her to sit on ( I've used a dog crate too). If she really doesn't want to move you could mark the original eggs with a pencil and just go in and remove any other eggs that have been deposited daily. I found that there were too many complications when I kept the broody with the other hens, she would get off the nest to eat/drink and another hen would sit on the nest to lay, then she would get confused and sit in another nest box on the wrong eggs!! This is why I find it simpler to just move her off by herself. Hope that helps, shelly

My hens would just sit on top of my poor duck and lay their eggs on of her. It was kinda hilarious, though... =P