What am I supposed to do here?

coop-er

Songster
7 Years
Nov 28, 2012
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I have a flock of 12 hens and 1 rooster. My family just returned from a long weekend and one of my Golden Seabright hens (small, bantam) is sitting on 9 eggs-as far as I can tell none are hers. They belong to my Swedish Flowers, RIR, and Rhodebars. She does not want to move. This is a mountain of eggs for this small bird. Is this broody behavior? And what should I do? I was going to add 4 more birds to my coop today, what is the best course here??
 
Yes shes most likely broody, You should probably separate her from the rest of the chickens. 

Does it do any harm to take the eggs away? I am at my limit (space-wise) so another 9 chicks is too many. Also we are building a new coop and she will be moving into new quarters in a couple of weeks. What to do???
 
If you don't want her to hatch eggs at this time, you'll need to break her broody hormones. the easiest way to do this is to put her by herself in a wire-bottom cage that's hanging or at least elevated off the ground. Feed, water and a roost if you want, but no nest box or nesting materials, just the wire bottom. She'll fuss a bit, but it won't hurt her in the least. It will actually take a lot more out of her body to continue brooding, with no outcome of chicks to balance the stress to her. It usually takes around 5 days in a cage to break a broody, more or less.
 
If you don't want her to hatch eggs at this time, you'll need to break her broody hormones. the easiest way to do this is to put her by herself in a wire-bottom cage that's hanging or at least elevated off the ground. Feed, water and a roost if you want, but no nest box or nesting materials, just the wire bottom. She'll fuss a bit, but it won't hurt her in the least. It will actually take a lot more out of her body to continue brooding, with no outcome of chicks to balance the stress to her. It usually takes around 5 days in a cage to break a broody, more or less.

How do you know when she has been "broken"?
 
Keep her in the wire cage for a day or two then take her out and see what she does.
If she goes back to sitting on the nest then put her back in the wire cage for a longer period of time.
 
If you let her sit on them I would mark on them so if other chickens lay eggs in her nest you will know which eggs to remove.you could find homes for them after they hatch.
 
You'll know she's broke her broodiness when she quits trying to nest in the wire cage. When you put her back in the coop, if she makes a beeline for the nest and hops back on, she need more time in the cage.
 

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