possible hen going broody

[bellsbeauties]

Hi maybe some of you veteran chicken owners can help me out a little. I have a 7 month old EE named Nadia who was the first of my flock of 7 to start to lay, I have 3 EE's 2 RIR's and 2 Barred Rock. She has also been the my most consistent layer, which is the complete opposite of everything I have read about EE's. The last few days I have noticed she is sitting in her nest for hours, yesterday I went out and saw an egg, so I nudged her out of the box and grabbed the egg. She is also the only chicken to use a separate nesting box... I have 8 available and all but Nadia use the same one. She also has the perfect nest, she rearranges the straw to make a round deep bowl to sit in. None of my other girls have paid nearly as much attention to their shared nesting box. Today Nadia has been on her nest for over 4 hours, she has already laid, and is now just sitting. I'm thinking she's going broody, any thoughts? How will I know for sure?

 

[iwiw60]

From what I understand some hens will think about getting broody....forEVER. Others will go broody and get right down to business. You just never know...drives us chicken mama's CRAZY!!

 

[One Chick Two]

Check her for mites and lice as a precaution. Look at vent (with a flashlight at night to see red mites) and under wings.

Are you sure she's picking them out herself and someone else isn't picking them? Could she beginning a molt?

 

[the510flock]

From what I understand some hens will think about getting broody....forEVER. Others will go broody and get right down to business. You just never know...drives us chicken mama's CRAZY!! 

Yea it sure is driving me crazy!lol

 

[the510flock]

Check her for mites and lice as a precaution. Look at vent (with a flashlight at night to see red mites) and under wings.

Are you sure she's picking them out herself and someone else isn't picking them? Could she beginning a molt?

Ive checked for mites and lice and she and my other hens are all clean. Im positive shes pulling them put herself because shes one of the more aggressive hens and wouldnt allow anoyone else to be pulling them out and theres no irritation to her bare skin. Im thinking maybe shes just a little confused since this is her first year of laying? Shes a black langshan/iowa blue mix if that makes any difference lol. Ill try to see if itll let me post a picture of her. Also im pretty sure its not her start of a moult because its a little early in the year for that and usually they start to lose their feathers from their top regions (head, neck,and shoulders/top of wings) first if theyre moulting.she is also still laying everyday so ive ruled moulting out.

 

[the510flock]

This is Henrietta!and her bald patches lol

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[Silvester]

One of my hens has been sitting in a nesting box for over two days now and I assume she has "gone broody" as she is puffed up and a bit aggressive if I get near the box.

I have seen another hen in the box with her, presumably to lay another egg and I have put in a couple of the duck's eggs as well. My guess is she is sitting 6 or 8 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs right now...

Can I keep putting in eggs for a couple more days to enhance the brood size?
How can I block out the other hens so they lay in a different nest, but leave Arthur the ability to get to food and water? I have a rabbit hutch that I could lock her in with a two bowl cat dish, with the waste tray in place the wood shavings build up nicely - but how to move her?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, I'm just going into my second year with chickens.

 

[iwiw60]

One of my hens has been sitting in a nesting box for over two days now and I assume she has "gone broody" as she is puffed up and a bit aggressive if I get near the box.

I have seen another hen in the box with her, presumably to lay another egg and I have put in a couple of the duck's eggs as well. My guess is she is sitting 6 or 8 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs right now...

Can I keep putting in eggs for a couple more days to enhance the brood size?
How can I block out the other hens so they lay in a different nest, but leave Arthur the ability to get to food and water? I have a rabbit hutch that I could lock her in with a two bowl cat dish, with the waste tray in place the wood shavings build up nicely - but how to move her?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, I'm just going into my second year with chickens.

As to how many "more" eggs you should put under your broody, that really depends on how large your hen is. The larger breeds, BO and BA and the like, can handle quite a few, but as this is her first time around the broody thing you might stop where you're at.

The best thing to do is to move her to a separate pen (dog crate, etc.) leaving her in the coop so she's not isolated. Or you could try putting up curtains over that nest box and see if that doesn't help with others trying to move into her territory. It is best to move her at night. When you have her "isolation ward" all set up, just reach in there and scoop up the entire nest, eggs and all and place them in the new location. Trust me, she'll be right back on top of them! She'll put up a fight for sure...better wear gloves!

So much for my advice, I'm sure someone else will be along with even better ideas maybe...good luck and I hope you get a great hatch!!

 

[Silvester]

I seize the bull by the....

I bit the bullet and moved her to the rabbit hutch on the other side of the coop; I had to put the pan in upside down so the wood shavings didn't have the fill the full 3 inches of space.

My son and I tag-teamed the task, he gloved up and grabbed Arthur (a buff orpington) and I collected the eggs she'd been sitting on - 12 chicken eggs and 4 duck eggs.

We first tried to leave the side door of the rabbit hutch open, but she ran out, did a lap around the coop and settled back into the now eggless nesting box after a few confused moments hesitation.
We moved her back to the rabbit hutch and locked her in with food and water.

In the process of the moving, one of the other hens and one of the roosters took a tour of the new digs and had to be asked to leave.



I'm not sure if I should just keep her locked in the rabbit hutch until the hatching or if I can open the side door again in a few days...

 

[Ridgerunner]

One of my hens has been sitting in a nesting box for over two days now and I assume she has "gone broody" as she is puffed up and a bit aggressive if I get near the box.

I have seen another hen in the box with her, presumably to lay another egg and I have put in a couple of the duck's eggs as well. My guess is she is sitting 6 or 8 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs right now...

Can I keep putting in eggs for a couple more days to enhance the brood size?
How can I block out the other hens so they lay in a different nest, but leave Arthur the ability to get to food and water? I have a rabbit hutch that I could lock her in with a two bowl cat dish, with the waste tray in place the wood shavings build up nicely - but how to move her?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, I'm just going into my second year with chickens.

It takes a chicken egg about 21 days to develop and hatch after you start incubation. Ducks can take either 28 days or 35 days, depending on the breed. Muscovy ducks take about 35 days. All other ducks should take about 28 days.

If you start chicken and duck eggs together or add other eggs as you go along, the hen will take the first that hatch off the nest when they need to find food and water and abandon the rest to die without ever hatching. All eggs need to hatch about the same time.

If you are going to set duck and chicken eggs together, you need to determine whether you have Muscovy or something else. Then gather all the duck eggs you want her to hatch and start them at the same time. Then, either one or two weeks later, start all the chicken eggs you want her to hatch at the same time. That way they should all hatch about the same time.

A hen needs to be able to comfortably cover all the eggs. Chickens and eggs come in different sizes. A bantam may have trouble covering four regular sized eggs. A regular hen can cover a whole lot of bantam eggs. I normally set about 12 eggs of the same size she lays under a hen. Some can cover more but with some that’s plenty. Duck eggs are larger than chicken eggs so I’d reduce that total number some.

The way I tell if a hen has truly gone broody is she has to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of roosting in her normal spot. I’ve had plenty of hens act like they are going broody but never kick over to full broody mode. So far my two consecutive nights test has worked. I have two right now walking around puffed up and making the broody sounds. They also spend a lot of time on the nest during the day. But they are still laying eggs and spending the night on the roosts. They are not ready for eggs and may never be.