Winter "Broody"

[Our Roost]

One of my buff orpington hens decided to go broody within the last few weeks. After 3 days I noticed she hadnt moved from one of our nesting boxes. Its the end of November and its cold as heck out as winter has set in here in Michigan! I have 2 concerns. The first is that she got pushed out of the nesting box by another hen wanting to lay an egg around day 4 or 5. 5 eggs were beneath her. Maybe not all hers? I moved her back in with the flock in hopes she would abandon her broodiness. Not so. She wouldnt have any part of it and soooo, she moved to another nesting box and started over. We discarded the eggs from the original box she was nesting in. My second concern is food and water for her over the 21 days she is sitting on the nest. And lastly, if she does hatch chicks in this cold weather, will they survive?

 

[earlybird10842]

One of my buff orpington hens decided to go broody within the last few weeks. After 3 days I noticed she hadnt moved from one of our nesting boxes. Its the end of November and its cold as heck out as winter has set in here in Michigan! I have 2 concerns. The first is that she got pushed out of the nesting box by another hen wanting to lay an egg around day 4 or 5. 5 eggs were beneath her. Maybe not all hers? I moved her back in with the flock in hopes she would abandon her broodiness. Not so. She wouldnt have any part of it and soooo, she moved to another nesting box and started over. We discarded the eggs from the original box she was nesting in. My second concern is food and water for her over the 21 days she is sitting on the nest. And lastly, if she does hatch chicks in this cold weather, will they survive?

Broodies will eat small amounts if they get really hungry. She won't starve.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Mine just hatched out 2 chicks yesterday. They know how to survive. Just mark your eggs you want to hatch with a sharpie so you can pull out unmarked eggs, or move her to somewhere isolated so others cannot get to her. I put mine in our tractor