what to do with my brooder rir

chickenmama109

Free Ranging
7 Years
Joined
Mar 5, 2017
Messages
3,576
Reaction score
4,781
Points
527
Location
texas
so i think my rhode island red is now broody but she has gone broody in one of the main laying boxs and ive seen the hens get in one together i dont want that to happen should i put her in my garage in a boorder and when should i put them in the flock and there was there days of eggs in the box when she went broody last night do i take the eggs that she lays so i will not get to crowded





thanks to all help and tips
 
I'm assuming you want her to hatch eggs and you have a cockerel or rooster, so the eggs she got are fertile. How old is this chicken and is she a proven broody?

First, since you aren't sure how long the eggs have been there, I'd candle tonight and see how far along they are. Keep at most 9 or 10. If they look like they're at very different stages of development, then you're going to have problems with a staggered hatch. You have a couple options then.

Either throw out the ones that are at very early stages of incubation and keep the ones that are farther along, or let her keep them all and once she has left the nest with the chicks that hatched first put them under another broody or in an incubator. The problem with staggered hatches is that after the first chick hatches the hen will only stay in the nest at most a day or two before giving up on the other eggs, whether they're good or not.

Second, mark all the eggs you keep under her. If she's really broody then she won't be laying. But other hens will still want to lay there, so you can either close off her nest and let her out at least once a day to drink, eat, poop and maybe take a dust bath or risk letting other hens lay in there and crushing the broody's eggs. I don't advise moving broodies as too often they'll just abandon the nest.

Third, broodies are usually good at what they do. Try not to worry too much. It's really cool to watch a mama hen show her chicks how to scratch and take a dust bath! A good broody really would give her life for her chicks.

Hope all goes well!
 
Ditto what was previously said about don't move her and mark the eggs.

My RIR hatched some White Leghorn eggs for me awhile back and she did everything in the main nest boxes. I only had one WL hen at the time so it was easy to keep track of the eggs.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom