Putting eggs under a broody

[lutherpug]

I have my first broody hen who my husband thinks has been broody for about 4 days (I’ve been out of town). I have a dozen hatching eggs coming by Thursday or Friday. Is that too long for her to be broody before getting eggs to her? If so, I’ll try to break her and just hatch in the incubator but my preference would be to have her hatch them.

One more variable-her 22 roommates are all hens (whole flock is 6-7 months old) but I have a rooster in quarantine who I’m hoping to introduce in the next few weeks. However, I have a contingency plan if I need to remove the chicks.

Thoughts?

 

[azygous]

It's not too late to give the fertile eggs to your broody. If she's really broody, she'll be happy to tuck them under her and carefully arrange them.

However, introducing a new rooster will upset the flock dynamics, and you would be better off erecting safe barriers so the broody isn't disturbed and the chicks will be safe from the turmoil as they hatch.

Very often a rooster will automatically accept new chicks in the flock, but a rooster that hasn't got "history" with the flock can be unpredictable with new chicks. I would rig up a see-not-touch safe area for the broody and her chicks as she introduces her chicks to the flock.

 

[chicksandchores]

Six months after I got my first babies, I had a Buff Orpington go broody. Nala took a week or so to get good and settled in. She started going broody around sept 4 and because I wanted to be absolutely certain she was broody, her chicks didn’t hatch until October 3. A few days (or a week and a half) is no problem for a lady set on being a momma!

 

[aart]

She switched boxes today but I assume that was because there were more eggs in that one

That's why I like to separate from the flock by wire wall...remove wall at about a week after hatch.

When I have a broody I wait until she's been in the nest most the day and all night for 2-3 days...along with those other signs I posted.

Then I put her in the broody enclosure with fake eggs in the floor nest, she won't like being moved, but if she is truly good and broody she will settle onto the new nest within a half a day.
Then I give her fresh fertile eggs and mark the calendar.

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.

 

[azygous]

It seems to me you have very good instincts and good sense, too. There may not be any danger from the rooster, and he probably will be good for the time being. But once he gets settled he will begin to view the hens as his and not yours. I can't even predict what he might do about the chicks, but I certainly wouldn't trust him not to hurt the chicks.

Usually, a broody behaves like Godzilla and the other chickens are terrified or disgusted and won't mess with her chicks, but no chicken should be trusted around the chicks for at least a week. I keep barriers up for two weeks after the chicks hatch before I take them down and let the broody and her chicks begin to mingle.

Last summer I had a tragedy where another hen pecked and killed a two-day old. This was a hen that had been BFFs with the broody since they were two-day old chicks. I shouldn't have assumed the chick would be safe. This one time when I chose not to barricade them, the broody didn't protect her chick. It was a very sad sight.

 

[HeartsDelight]

My girls had been broody for 8 and 10 days respectively before my shipped eggs got to me, and they happily hatched them.

Hens don't have a distinct sense of time the way we do, which is why broodies can sit perpetually on dud eggs until they lose condition.

They basically sit until they get feedback from the eggs that they are about to hatch--movement and cheeping inside the egg. Until that "we are hatching in a few days" signal gets relayed, they just keep doing their thing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Before you put those eggs under her make sure she has accepted the move. You could start them in the incubator while you are making sure she has accepted the move.

If you isolate the broody make sure she cannot go to her old nest and make sure no other hen can get to her nest.

I occasionally have a broody hen go to the wrong nest, I think typically another hen is in her nest laying an egg and the broody gets confused when she gets back from her daily constitutional. I just toss them back on the correct nest, not a big deal to me. Most of my broody hens don't do that, they crowd back into the right nest if another is there. But your hen has shown a tendency to do that so I think isolating her is a good idea. Don't give her the option to go to the wrong nest.

Also, with that rooster integration it is possible the flock can be unsettled for a while. I find that introducing chicks to a dominant flock master rooster early is a good thing, he tends to think they are his so he takes care of them or at least doesn't bother them. But with the uncertainty of him being an established flock master I consider that to be a good reason to isolate the broody while she is incubating.

Broody hens are more susceptible to roost mites than other hens since they are in the nest all day and night. If roost mites are in your coop dust baths wont stop them, all your chickens need to be treated. I don't treat my chickens with chemicals as a preventative, I wait until I see something to treat. if you can provide a dust bath area to a broody and she take advantage of it, fine. But if you can't I see that as a downside to isolating a broody hen. Sometimes you have to make trade-offs.

If you isolate her either during hatch or after, make sure a chick cannot get through your fencing and way from the broody hen's protection. I see this to be the biggest risk to trying to isolate a broody and her chicks from the flock. Another issue can be integration, think about that.

Good luck. It should be a fun adventure, though not without stress with your first broody. Once you see what a broody does your second broody should be a lot less stressful.

 

[Morrigan]

I've handled broody hens in multiple ways.

When I've had a broody partitioned off in a corner of the coop, but without access to the outdoors, I lifted her off the nest once a day and put her by the coop door. She would run around eat, drink, dustbath/groom and them come back into the coop clucking. I would then put her back in her area and she would head to the nest. It was a bit of a hassle, as I had to wait around 10-20 minutes while she did her thing, but I liked that she had her outside time.

I've also left a broody in place, and just checked at feeding times and before roosting to make sure she was on the right nest and to remove any new eggs. Some are really good at coming back to "their" nest and it works out OK. The hen in my avatar was one such broody.

Finally, when I've had hens who are poor about returning to the right nest, and I didn't want to do the partitiion and lift out daily routine, I incubated the eggs, and gave them newly hatched chicks. I would leave some golf balls it what seemed to be their preferred nest and clear out any real eggs each day. Almost all good broody hens will take newly hatched chicks (as long as they've been broody 2 or more weeks).

Good luck!

 

[lutherpug]

Thank you both for the advice. My hatching eggs will be here Thursday. I'm positive she is broody-she is sleeping in the nesting box. I did see her sneak out to the run for about 10 minutes to take a dust bath but then right back in the box. She switched boxes today but I assume that was because there were more eggs in that one. Silly girl.

Interesting points about the rooster. I'm going to have to think about how I want to handle that. He's about a year old and will be the only rooster in the flock. He was not at all aggressive in his previous flock-he was given up as they had too many roosters for their hens. He has been a character in my quarantine area-not friendly but not at all threatening either. He is in quarantine at this point mostly because I think he came with a case of scaly leg mites. I've treated him with Ivermectin pour on-.5ml directly on the skin on the back of his neck. I'm not 100% that he has this but he had some sores on his leg that made me suspicious. Of course I didn't realize this before I brought him home. I know you may not see any visible improvement long after the mites are gone which is why I'm still debating when to introduce him to the girls. I'd much rather treat this in 1 chicken than 24 but I don't want to keep him in my outbuilding for months either. @azygous do you have any thoughts on that?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I often put some eggs under the broody and some in the incubator at the same time. When they hatch the broody gets all the chicks. You never know how many will hatch under the broody or in the incubator. In cold weather it could be an issue but it will be late April when they hatch, probably warm enough. The issue can be that the chicks grow so fast that they cannot all get under the broody. In warmer weather that's not much of an issue, I often see chicks sleeping on top of or next to the broody, not under her.

The hen needs to be able to comfortably cover all the eggs you give her. If she can't cover them all one can get pushed out, cool off and die, and then get pushed back under her while another gets pushed out to die. I've seen a broody hen hide a nest and bring off 18 chicks. I never found that nest so I don't now how many eggs she had to start with. I've had a broody hen have trouble covering more than ten eggs the size she laid. Broodies and eggs come in different sizes, the shape of the nest can make a difference. I don't know how many of those eggs that specific hen can cover.

If I were in your situation I'd put about half under the hen and half in the incubator. Cover all of your bases.