Question about Broody Hen doing it again.

[DonnaBelle]

Hi, I have a hen who hatched 11 eggs October 22, 09.

If I want to have more chicks with her, will she automatically hatch some if I put her on a nest with some eggs in say, March or April of 2010??

She has been a terrific Mom to these chicks. I would like to get some eggs from someone here on BYC in the spring and have her hatch out some more chicks for me, but I don't know quite how to go about it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

DonnaBlle

 

[Barred Rocker]

She's not going to go broody just because you set her in a nest with eggs. The timing is going to be up to her. Maybe keep a few eggs in a nest everyday around the time you'd like for her to set but it's going to be up to her is she does or not. Why don't you just wait until you're sure she's setting then order your eggs, she'll stay on the nest an extra week or so. Just keep an egg under her to keep her interested.

 

[Costa Rica Art]

When I was a youngster we had ceramic eggs that we would put under a hen if she was in a nest at night. Apparently they thought they had laid the eggs and would go to sitting most of the time. Then it was a simple matter of having a collection of real eggs to place under the hen at night. If I remember correctly a hen sometimes could be placed in a nest with the ceramic eggs at night, sometimes they would stay on them then you switched the eggs. We had somewhere between 20 and 30 laying hens, lots of choices.

Art