Secret hiding place (picture heavy)

[HorseFeatherz NV]

for a great hatch

 

[WingingIt]

I can't wait to see her with 'her' babies!

 

[chicks4kids]

Well since you found her in the barn already sitting, what are you guessing the hatch date to be??

 

[Kev]

That definitely is way too many eggs. The broken and "reject" eggs are due to the eggs getting crushed and breaking.. broken eggs are delicious to any hen, including a broody. In a nest, there should never be any eggs on top of other eggs, and there are some on top of other eggs. She may also appear to cover all the eggs but in reality some are going to be improperly covered such as if she spreads out her wings, some eggs are going to be under the wing but not in contact with her broody patch(where every egg should be) and so are not at the proper temperature.. that is another way the excess eggs get killed or hatches get so staggered.

Here's a thread on candling eggs including ages of each egg: Link to thread

If that helps with understanding what you're seeing in the eggs, it really would help the hen brood better by removing bad eggs and also eggs too far behind in development to have any hope in hatching with the oldest embryos or the age batch you decide is best for her to hatch or however to handle it.

Hens also don't "decide".. broodiness is also under hormonal control. Also this cycle is broken normally in response to being on nest close to 20 days or more plus a chick hatches.. normally, a hen will leave the nest within 2 days from the time the first chick hatches(if chick is not removed).


It is great she accepted the nest move though.. so you know for the future she will be amenable to this.

 

[Mahonri]

We had a light brahma hen when I was a kid that hatched out 32 of 33 eggs. Unbelievable I know, but true.

 

[Hillsvale]

wow is she ambitious....

 

[randomchick]

I have had this happen. My chickens do have a coop but during the day I free range the chickens and I have had on 2 occassions a hen hatch chicks in the pig and llama barn hay loft. Scince it is such a large drop, and also little chicks will fall between hay, I would do something about it. Here are the things I did when I was in your situation:

-took one egg at a time from under her, at night, and candled and marked them, putting them back one by one.
-made sure I safely placed her and the eggs on the floor of the loft and not on top of bales of hay.
-started feeding a bit of chick starter in with her feed as she may loose weight while sitting on eggs.
-Most importantly-Placed a cage top over her.

There are 2 main worries when they hatch in a hay loft.
1-the chicks will get hurt from falling, stuck between hay bales, etc.
2-the barn cats, wild animals, or even other chickens may kill the babies if they get the chance.
I would definitly place the top of a cage over her.

Good luck, I have had 2 very successful hatches in a hay loft.

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:
post early pages where he moved them to his garage in a crate.... great ideas though.

 

[Red&Yellow]

That's interesting that she's an EE. One of mine did this, got completely OUT of the coop (We're fixing the top now) and laid a nice big clutch under an abandoned dreasser/strorage thingy that had collapsed halfway. Although the eggs WERE fertilized

, she wasn't staying

. So we removed the thingy and the eggs (boy, they were cold!) and she only lays eggs outside every once in a while now. But she does like to hide them!!!!

I wonder if this is an EE trait?

 

[momof2monkeys]

Any news? I just can't wait until those fuzzy butts make an appearance!