Two Broody Hens, One Clutch

[Lskaer]

I recently acquired my first rooster so when my Copper Maran went broody I decided to let her sit. I’ve marked all the eggs so I know what she started with. I pull her out once a day because I never see her come out on her own for food and water. There’s food and water near the nest box but she doesn’t leave unless someone pushes her off and then she sits in another nest box. Today I went to see if someone else laid more eggs with her clutch, and now my Australorp apparently is broody and has taken over her clutch. I really don’t want to hatch a million chicks. What should I do? Split the clutch between them?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Just because a hen goes broody does not mean you have to let her hatch eggs. You can break her from being broody, it does not hurt her. A standard method is to put her in an elevated cage with a wire bottom so her undersides get cooled off, give her food and water but nothing that looks like a nest. After 72 hours most broody hens will be broken. If she is not broken, try it again. The sooner you do this the sooner she gets back to laying eggs.

Some people successfully let two broody hens hatch and don't have issues. I have had hens fight over eggs with eggs getting damaged in the fight. Sometimes they might fight over the chicks. You can try splitting the eggs if you wish, it might work, it might not.

 

[Naser]

I would split the eggs between them or give the second broody a another clutch of eggs or put one of them in a broody cage, when the chicks are few days old you can put them together and watch them for the first hour, usually they will be fine.