She's been broody for almost 5 weeks!

[casportpony]

Thank you all I found a person who has been incubating some fertilized eggs and got 10 from her ... the moment my girl realized she had eggs under her she nestled down on them like it's what she's been waiting for her whole life. They are due June 11th so we'll see if she sits that long or breaks herself.

Sounds like she's gonna be a great mom!

 

[CatMom]

Hooray! This has been my go-to solution as well, even at several weeks brooding, sticking fertile eggs under the hen seems like the best 'natural' choice.
Waterboarding" my hens in the past has disturbed me at least as much as it did them. I have tried that "ice bucket challenge" version on a militantly broody hens whom I thought were just a I just became afraid that the drastic lengths these birds were pushing me to might kill them, especially after a couple weeks of just sitting in the nest box making angry dinosaur hisses at every little movement.

Please let us know how it goes!

 

[RAsChickens]

Update us!

 

[Morrigan]

Very interested in an update as well. I finally surrendered to my broody hen and slipped some eggs under her today. She went broody last fall, and I was able to break her by forcing her off the nest 4 times a day for a few days. She went broody again this spring and after almost 2 weeks of moving her off the nest (sitting on nothing) I gave up, so she now has 4 eggs to sit on. Three of the eggs had been refrigerated for a day or more. One fresh laid. Despite the sketchy egg quality, she seems very pleased with them. Hoping for the best.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

truly you are doing everything right, that is if you want to kill your hen. 8 weeks is too long for her to sit. She needs a break now. She is just a flesh and blood hen, not a mechanical incubator.

 

[RAsChickens]

WHY ARE YOU TREATING HER LIKE THAT? OMG

 

[brandon00733]

We are now at 14 days and then hatch... I went to the feed store and got some electrolytes and vitamins to put in her water for the next couple of weeks. She's doing really well with this! She is at complete peace with her foster eggs! I've been taking her off her nest in the evening and once she gets over being pissed at me she eats, drinks, poops, fluffs up and makes her crazy squawking sounds. She realized yesterday I had some oatmeal and strawberries for her and she suddenly became my best friend ate them and took off back to her nest!

***JUST TO BE COMPLETELY CLEAR***

I would never do anything to harm any of my girls and I am very inexperienced at this with that being said I appreciate everybody's opinions but I also treat them as just that- opinions- as that is what this site is for. I have no plans on actually keeping any of the babies once and if any even hatch so therefore it is silly to say I am using her as an incubating machine. I actually had to drive over an hour and a half to find somebody with fertile eggs that were being incubated for a week or so, so that it wouldn't be at an entire "start over." I am going to let my girl do her thing for a couple weeks and if they should hatch the babies will go to good homes. I would NEVER use any of my hens as incubating machines I just feel that putting the eggs under her and keeping a keen eye on her is the more natural way to "break" her. We put her in a separate cage for about 3 minutes and I could not take her panic. Please know that if I felt in any way that my girl was in danger of losing her life or looked to be becoming ill I would make any drastic measure necessary. Appreciate your opinion though!

 

[brandon00733]

 

[brandon00733]

7 days until hatch... She's coming off her nest and eating and drinking. I don't even have to pull her off anymore. However she's broken an egg do I leave it alone or get it out? I'm not sure when she did it but it smells pretty foul in there. I just saw the shell pieces in there today.

 

[brandon00733]

3 have hatched so far... She's an amazing mama! She's happy and keeping them warm.