Taking eggs from a broody hen

[kdyson]

Hello, I'm new to BackYardChickens Forum, and to chicken raising. We have had hens since about April 2011. Currently we have 2 BarredRock hens and 2 Rhode Island Red hens. We had a rooster that was recently killed by a predator, but before he was, one of our Rhode Island hens laid some eggs. She went broody, so we decided to see if they would hatch. She has been laying on a catch of 4 eggs for about 28 days, so I know that they are not going to hatch at this point. What do I do with them and with her? What is the best way to lessen the stress of this process?

 

[galanie]

Throw them out before they explode!

As for her, there are options. One is to let her keep sitting. They'll sit on nothing, or you can slip a golf ball under there or something.

There are various ways of "breaking" them that range from barbaric to useless. Sometimes if you just take them off the nest a few times it does it. I have one that I can break just by picking up the nest box for a day. Best I've found for the hard to break ones is a wire cage off the ground. This way they can't sit and keep their underside warm and in a few days they don't want to set any more.

Oh, and Welcome!

 

[peepblessed]

Hi and welcome to BYC! So sorry that the eggs didn't hatch. I have not dealt with broody hens but there is a lot of information on this site about that. Try a search on "breaking a broody hen". Hope you get the answers you need.