We have our first broody hen.

[Cre8joy]

Hi! I have my first broody too! Wondering what to do.. yours is adorable mine is a silkie. She is in the run in our chicken coop I put food in there for her I don’t have room to put a dog crate in the coop. I’m hoping she’s ok and does what she has to do as far as eat and drink. I didn’t want to put water in the coop because I don’t want anyone to knock it over. I think I’m going to candle in a day or so if she keeps sitting. I haven’t seen her get up at all but like others said maybe I missed it

As long as she is in a safe place let her sit. Mine was not in a safe place, the dog crate she is in is in my living room. When she was first sitting she didn't get up at all. A few days later she got up and now gets up once a day. I just make sure she has food and water near by. Once the eggs hatch then I will move her and her crate to the coop. Good luck and post updates. Feel free to use this thread! I will be posting updates in the next few days. It's almost time to candle again.

 

[Phillyndilly]

As long as she is in a safe place let her sit. Mine was not in a safe place, the dog crate she is in is in my living room. When she was first sitting she didn't get up at all. A few days later she got up and now gets up once a day. I just make sure she has food and water near by. Once the eggs hatch then I will move her and her crate to the coop. Good luck and post updates. Feel free to use this thread! I will be posting updates in the next few days. It's almost time to candle again.

Thank you! Yes she’s safe and seems like no one is messing with her. So her sister went broody too in the neighboring nesting box but she was a faker -today I found her just roaming around so I stuck the eggs under the broody and took one of the ducks eggs out lol as I’m not in need of ducklings at the moment!

 

[Cre8joy]

All 7 of the eggs that were fertile hatched! The only one I'm sure of which rooster fathered is the white one with the furry feet. It definitely came from our Brahma roo. Here is a pic of our little barnyard mixes!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Congratulations.

 

[Pretty Birds]

All 7 of the eggs that were fertile hatched! The only one I'm sure of which rooster fathered is the white one with the furry feet. It definitely came from our Brahma roo. Here is a pic of our little barnyard mixes!!

That's wonderful! They are so cute!

 

[Headhen3]

I’ve been fighting with several hens who are trying to sit on eggs in inappropriate places. Only one tried to sit on eggs in a safe place and she just walked away from her nest with nothing hatching after several weeks. I’ve not had luck with moving hens and their eggs in the past so I normally just put the girls in their safe panic room and take the eggs. How did you get your hen to go back to her eggs after you moved them?
Or is putting eggs and hen in a dog crate a small enough area that they go back to sitting?

 

[Bear and Dart]

Aww they’re so cute! I hope you had fun with your broody! I have one hen who goes broody every summer and hatched out chicks. It’s so fun to watch.

 

[drumstick diva]

congratulations of the 7 chicks - so cute

 

[Cre8joy]

I’ve been fighting with several hens who are trying to sit on eggs in inappropriate places. Only one tried to sit on eggs in a safe place and she just walked away from her nest with nothing hatching after several weeks. I’ve not had luck with moving hens and their eggs in the past so I normally just put the girls in their safe panic room and take the eggs. How did you get your hen to go back to her eggs after you moved them?
Or is putting eggs and hen in a dog crate a small enough area that they go back to sitting?

I found her after just a day of sitting. I picked her up and put her in a cat carrier with her eggs. We then moved her and her eggs into a make shift nest into a small dog crate. She never stopped sitting. I guess I didn't realize that it was hard to move a broody. After the chicks hatched and were about a day and a half old we moved her and the babies out to our grow out coop with the bantams. She beat up my bantam roo but he kinda had it coming and started the whole mess. Chicks and Mom seems to be doing great. One of the bantams are currently sitting on 6 eggs. So many baby chicks coming our way.

 

[Cre8joy]

Broody update for you peeps following this. All the chicks are thriving and sticking with mom. Sh also adopted 2 that I purchased so she has 9 littles under her! She's been a great mom and can go broody anytime!