Trying to help my broody hen become a mummy

[TammiP]

Hi all,

Advise needed please. We have had a broody hen for a long time now, we've managed to break her a few times but she is very insistent, so we've decided to expand our flock and let her become a mummy. She's a small bantham hen so we gave her 6 eggs to sit on, currently we are on day 2 and it's been a very stressful 48 hours. I spent all day with her and the other chickens yesterday, and all the chickens wanted to push her out of the nesting box or lay on top of her, nightmare! Today I've come back to work and found her sat in the wrong box on different eggs, her eggs were not warm to touch and I have no idea how long she had been off them for. I tried to move her back to the correct eggs and being stubborn she just plonks herself back on the wrong eggs several times, before wandering off from them completely. My husband has suggested building her a separate run and nesting box the others can't access but can't do this till tomorrow evening!

Is it too late for these eggs? Can they be saved? It's been a nice warm day which I'm hoping will help? Any advice greatly appreciated

 

[aldarita]

Can you tell us the temps when you mean "a nice warm day"
Broodys are very stubborn and it seems they switch nests often if they have them available with eggs. Your idea of building a special area for her nest is good. Hopefully she will stay in it once you move her, it is good if you keep her enclosed with plenty of water and feed.
The pics bellow are of my broody when she hatched last month. I placed a dog cage in the run with her nest and eggs in it. I moved her at night to disturb her the least. I am sorry the pics are dark, my camera didn't have the right settings but hopefully you can see the set up.
I let her out every morning and she would come back after few minutes. She didn't get up her nest to eat and drink so I placed small dishes right by her in the nest, she did drink and eat.
Good luck with your broody

 

[TammiP]

It's been nearly 30 degrees Celsius, about 82 Fahrenheit. The cage is a good idea, I'll show it to my other half!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I let my broody hens hatch with the flock and it's hardly ever a problem, but we are all unique in many ways. It sounds like isolating your broody would be a good thing.

You need a pen she cannot get out of and no other chicken can get in. It needs to be predator proof or in a predator proof area. You need enough room for a nest, food, and water. A broody hen knows to not poop in her nest but she doesn't know to not poop in her food or water. Give her a bit of extra room but not much and give yourself access so you can clean things out as needed.

I find it helpful for the nest itself to be pretty dark. That seems to calm them and help them accept the move. Move her at night with as little light and commotion as possible. Leave her locked in there until the hatch is over.

I've had pretty good success with eggs the broody has been off of for long periods of time, like when she goes back to the wrong nest, but in your case I'd suggest you treat those eggs as sacrificial. Move the eggs with the hen to see if she will accept the move, the eggs will help with that. But this early in the incubation I'd replace them with fertile eggs in a couple of days after you are sure she has accepted the move. I trust you have a rooster so the eggs are fertile. I'm not trying to insult you but this actually pops up every now and then. I'll ask silly questions.

The risk of course is that she will not accept the move, but the way you describe her I think your odds of her accepting the move are pretty good.

 

[aldarita]

Is your broody back on her fertilized eggs? If she was off the eggs for several hours at 82F they might still be good. I would keep her on them and candle the eggs at day 9