Question about letting a hen hatch her own eggs??

[dani2]

Hi,

I love reading all the posts about broody hens hatching there own eggs but have a question we picked breeds that were supposed to be very good about setting they are all a year old now and are laying wonderfully we have lots of eggs in the incubator but would love to see some hatched out the old fashioned way.

What do you need to do to encourage this I dont want to leave tons of eggs and just have them go to waste and for the most part all the chickens lay in the same nest we have 12 hens all together. Should I just swap eggs out everyday or just leave one batch in the chicken house and hope someone will set on them??

Thanks in advance Nicki

 

[babyboy1_mom]

Hi Nicki and welcome to BYC. I was just reading a thread about this very thing. The link is below.

backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=52827

Just in case that link doesn't work, then it is on the first page. "forcing broodiness--it worked" by Mrs Puff
This is the first time that I have tried to post a link, so I don't know if it will work for you or not.

I have one broody right now, but I didn't have to force her to do anything...lol

Good luck,
Dorothy

 

[jimnjay]

You can mark 5 or 6 eggs and leave them there. Take all the one from the nest that are not marked. At this time of year, I would be surprised if you don't get one who want to sit very quickly. The thing is you will most likely have to move your broody because the others will not stop laying eggs in that nest. Try to figure out how to isolate the hen one she starts to lay sit.
My nesting boxes are all individual and I can just pick it up and move it to a new location. That seems to work better than trying to move the hen and the eggs to a different spot. Some people have made a wire enclosure for their broody hens in a corner of the coop. Good Luck