Question about Hen brooding on eggs

[chickenfarmerj]

Hi,
We have some hens that we want to be mommies, they are very special, although all of them are very special!! :-D
We didn't want the babies to be born and be pecked to death if this can happen with them being in with the rest of the flock in the coop, so we made a special mommie and baby room that is chicken wired off floor to ceiling. I am having some trouble on figuring out what to do.
We want 2 hens to raise some chicks right now, the one's name is roo roo....LOL we thought she was a rooster growing up, but when there was an egg, oopsie! :-D the other is peppery, she's beautiful with salt and pepper coloring, with her feathers going down her legs-looks like bloomers
They are both buff orphington, and roo roo is beautiful gray with feathers covering her legs and feet.....they are both very special, where all these chickens grew up together, but there was one little chicken that had scissor beak, and stayed very very small, we knew it had cogenital problems, and peppery and roo-roo, would sit on this chicken when it needed warmth, always keeping this little one under their wing--no one else did that but these 2 hens!
Anyway, my predicament is she is broody with the eggs she lays, so that's not a problem, only problem is, she lays these eggs in the nesting box in the coop, and I tried re-locating her and the eggs to the special mommie baby room, and she refused to lay on them, she was frantically wanting out to the rooster bawking and bawking, and the rooster was cockledoodling at the chicken wire in her face.
And when I finally did let her out, the roosters were acting sort of frantically with her, and she ran away from them.
So....how do we do this?
Would we just leave her in that special room with her own food and water and let her adjust and lay eggs in there?

Would she eventually adjust, or always want out?

Would she lose her place in the pecking order if we did keep her in the special room? They can see each other in through the chicken wire.

Would baby chickens get killed if we allowed her to just sit on them in the coop with the rest of the flock?

Does anybody here have experience in just allowing a hen to hatch and raise her babies in the coop with the all the other chickens and roosters?

Thanks!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

While it is possible to allow a broody to make her nest in the community coop it's not always ideal. Other hens may push her out of the nest in order to add their eggs to the clutch. She may also get misdirected on the way back from a break & go set on eggs in another nest box, letting her own eggs get cold. If you do let her stay in the common coop, at least mark the eggs in her clutch & remove any new ones daily.

Another option is to place a barricade around her so she can't get out or others get in. But it's usually best to get them to their own little broody apartment. Make sure to make any changes well after dark, keep the new apt. shaded until she adjusts to the new location.

Some chicks do fine kept with the rest of the flock, but there is a risk of them getting hurt. I try to keep the chicks separate for at least the first few weeks, until they get some size & strength to them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I can save a lot of typing by refering you to this thread. I think this will answer most of your questions.

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218

 

[kcravey]

am I understanding this right... she IS broody right now? Your sure she has been setting for awhile? Or you are *wanting* her to be broody right now?

My buffs are in a coop that has 3 mini coops attached where the laying boxes are. Each little mini coop has a nesting shelf and a little 4' run with doors we can close if we need to. Mine get broody alot also. When we are SURE one is broody, we can close the door on her to separate them without having to moving them. Then that leaves the others 2 other runs to choose from to go and lay.

My mom has this saying, you go and do alll this for them , spend allllll this on them, and they want to keep it the way it was

, but I agree with you - you really dont want little chicks in with the adults. Ive seen other hens come and crack the eggs out of jealousy(?).

 

[DAFox]

I'm sorry if I am misinterpreting this. It sounds like you want to make a hen be broody. I've heard that a few people have had success with putting a hen in a very small, dark place with some eggs and the hens went broody after 4-5 days, (only letting the hen out for 20 minutes a day). I, personally, would not do that.

You can encourage a hen by leaving eggs on a nest, though. The signs of a broody hen include refusing to get off the nest, fluffing her feathers while squaking and biting at anything that gets near. She will only leave the nest for a short period to eat, drink and poop. To move a broody hen and nest from the coop to an isolated area, do so at night. She may or may not stay broody.

You say you have Buff Orpingtons. They are prone to go broody. But, Buff Orpingtons are clean-legged and buff yellow.

Good luck,
Dale-Ann

 

[chickenfarmerj]

Thanks for the replies.....I'm not wanting her to be broody, she already is.....pecking at me, ruffling her feathers, etc...it's just that when I moved her from her spot where she was sitting into the special room that we made chicken wired off for mommie's to be, she got out of being broody and was frantic to get out of the room.....So that is what my question was, of how to keep her broody and also have that room.
Would I just have to keep her in that room with food and water, until she lays eggs in there and sit on them in there? Will she eventually get used to it, where she is not frantic to get out to the other flock?
And after staying in this room and raising chicks, will he lose her pecking order, and have to regain status in the flock again?
A reply said that buff's are cream colored, now she is grey in color, but was gotten with the buff's and was sold as a buff.....I found this picture in the forums here, and she looks like this http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp190/jmhappycowboy/bantamorp9.jpg
What breed of chicken is that?
Thanks!

 

[DAFox]

Ok, I think I've got it. She was broody..but, not now. Every hen is different. She may go broody again in a few months or next year or maybe never again. I wouldn't keep her separated from the others, until the next time she gets broody. Then move her at night, in the dark.
Orpington, but not buff?
Dale-Ann

 

[ms molly]

We have hatched 6 times this year with three different hens and always left mommy and babies in with the flock. Our mommies won't allow any others near her chicks. Haven't had any problems and the youngest batch is 7 weeks. Just be sure to mark the eggs. Other hens will lay in the nest. I've seen 2 hens in the same nest several times. Best of luck.

 

[chickenfarmerj]

Thank you all for the reply's, this helps alot! She is so frantic when we seperate her that we're going to try keeping her in with the flock and marking her eggs.
She's broody right now, in fact she's broody every time she lays an egg, so it's no problem getting her to sit, and no waiting for her to be broody either

:-D she wants to be a mama!

The 2nd hen that is special that we want to have babies is the same way, very broody every time they lay, so we'll let them stay with their eggs in the flock.
Ohhhhh orpington, and buff orpington are 2 different things, we're new to chicken keeping so had no idea it meant a color

....so now we know! we have buff's and orpingtons ! :-D


Thanks again everyone!

 

[DAFox]

Quote:
What breed/s were they?
Thanks,
Dale-Ann