To Break or not to Break???

[KristinJ8307]

So my just under a year old hen in a flock of three hens all the same age, with no rooster, is broody. At first I wasn't sure but now I'm positive of it as she has not come out of the nest in over a week she's sitting in it at night time and she's absolutely incorrigible if you come near it. Despite the fact there's a perfectly identical nesting box the other hands have taken to laying in the nest with her to lay their eggs and she's allowing them to do so. The problem is the way my coop is set up and the way the nesting box is, I don't really have any access to it without basically getting up in there with her. Normally I use a child size hoe for gardening to pull the nest from the back of the coop.

So first off there's a ton of eggs in there and I need to get them out is she going to freak out and attack me if I try to take some of them?

What would happen if I take all of them? I've ever read the other threads on breaking broody hens but I'm conflicted because we wanted to get some chicks so I'm not sure if I should try to get her to take the chicks but the only place that I know to get chicks would be our local tractor supply are those chicks young enough at tractor supply do they need to be a day or two old?

What I gather from Reading other posts is if I want to try to get her to take the chicks I need to swap the eggs out with chicks overnight after she's been on the nest for about 3 weeks is that correct? This hand is at the top of the pecking order in my small little flock of three so I feel like if she takes on to the chicks that it won't be a problem with the other two hens at all but this is only one year into owning chickens I wasn't expecting her to go broody so soon and I'm just really not sure what to do and if she doesn't take the chicks I don't particularly want to have to deal with chicks in a brooder in my home again because when we acquired these chickens it really wasn't our choice my 17-year-old cousin went out and bought a bunch of chickens and ducks and we just kind of ended up stuck with them. Also I'm pretty sure tractor supply is going to make me buy a minimum of four and I don't particularly want four more chickens I have a good size coop but I'm not even sure that it's big enough for four I would like to have one rooster but I definitely don't want to end up with more than one rooster.

If I go the route of breaking her my understanding from reading the other threads is to get a metal dog crate put it on blocks inside the coop and basically just lock her up for 48 hours without the eggs in there without any nesting material but where the other hens can see her is that correct? HOw do I get her out of the nest? Is she going to go crazy? Is she going to attack me? Typically all 3 of them are very docile hens that have been handled since they were chicks.

Lastly if I decide to go the route of giving her the chicks and she takes on to the chicks the box where the roosting bar is that the chicken sleep in at night time has a relatively steep ramp up to it is that going to be a problem for the chicks do I need to make a space in the bottom of my coop for them to stay with her in the beginning stages I will attach pictures of my current setup.

Oh yeah, one more thing, do I need to get chicks that are all the same breed? Same breed as my hen?

Help help help!!

 

[KristinJ8307]

I didn't know until yesterday that the other hens were laying in the nest with the broody, my husband saw one in there. They free range all over my yard and the neighbors bc he doesn't mind and I thought they were laying somewhere else. I just took a ton of the eggs she still has a bunch under her she only pecked at me twice. I took 2 dozen eggs!! This is insane. She has only been up there a little over a week. Are these eggs still good to eat?

 

[SilverBirds]

She shouldn't "attack" you if you collect but she may bite or hiss at you. I would not eat the eggs. They have been sitting under her for over a week at 99 degrees F and are probably rotten. If you want her to raise chicks, you can buy some and slip them under her at night (breed does not matter). She may or may not reject them which is the tricky part. If she does accept them, you'd need to separate her and the chicks from the rest of the flock. If you decide to break her, place her in a dog kennel for 48 hours (minimum). Give her food, water and a roost. You should just be able to pick her up.