Revolving Broodys

[jeepchick]

So I have 4 Japanese Bantam hens and 1 Roo...

All of a sudden they will no longer lay eggs in the nesting boxes, they insist on laying them on the nest they have made underthe coop on the ground. A couple weeks ago I went out and there was 10 eggs in the nest. They were all lined up in perfect rows 3 in one then 2 then 3 then 2,all perfectly straight and pointing exactly the same direction. The next day she was sitting on them so I said OK fine and let her sit....the other day I went out and the other grey hen had a nestright next to it and was sitting on it. So now they have grouped them all into one huge pile and take turns sitting on them. At what point should I start taking eggs away before I have 5 hens sitting on 45 eggs??? HAHA Should I leave them alone and let nature take its course??

 

[Judy]

It looks like she can't cover the eggs she has.

You'll have a better hatch if you control which eggs they set on. I remove eggs daily, save them on the kitchen counter, mark them with a Sharpie, then put the ones I hope to hatch under the broody all at once. No staggered hatches and no or few eggs abandoned because the others have hatched. This also makes it easier to put the broody in her own pen before giving her eggs (if you want to move her you will know whether the move will disrupt her being broody this way.

That's just my usual method; people handle broodies different ways. Here is a good article. There are also a couple of threads going here right now that talk about various setups.

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

 

[ranchhand]

I agree with ddawn, it's better to have a little control over a broody.

 

[jeepchick]

So I decided to steal the eggs....and the broodies

the two of them were trying to sit on 34 eggs lol. So I put them in the new mommy chicken box and gave them back 8 eggs each. I put the rest in the incubator. Dont know how old they are so ill give them a few days and candle and see what I have going on