Hen eating broody hens nest when she gets up to eat/drink

[emccoy]

Hello! We have a broody hen that is sitting on some eggs (all good there!), but when she gets up to eat/drink once a day another hen races in and eats as many eggs as she can before the broody one gets back. We keep replacing the eggs for our broody girl, but at this point it’s getting ridiculous. The egg eater doesn’t eat any of the other eggs that are being laid daily, just the ones being sat on. Any tips? Thanks!

 

[DobieLover]

Lock the egg eater in a crate with food and water until the chicks hatch. What a wacko.
Or secure mom in a much larger area so she can have her own food and water and place to dust bathe that the wacko can't access.

 

[FuzzyDinoNuggets]

Most people recommend separating the broody hen until they hatch

 

[emccoy]

Lock the egg eater in a crate with food and water until the chicks hatch. What a wacko.
Or secure mom in a much larger area so she can have her own food and water and place to dust bathe that the wacko can't access.

This is what we initially thought of doing but I figured I’d see if anyone else is experiencing this. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[DowntownWings]

I always separate my broodies. I tried to let a couple broodies hang out in a separate coop together and they kept fighting over and breaking the eggs. Maybe eating them, idk. I just know there was an egg mess twice and the hatch went very poorly. I would stop replacing them depending on how far apart they are in age from the initial ones or you’re going to have a staggered hatch which can be bad for the hen (she sits too long and ignores the hatched chicks or ignores her own health and dies) and bad for the chicks (she walks off with the hatched chicks and leaves half-formed chicks to cool and die in the eggs). I don’t know if you’re marking the new eggs to keep them separate so this is just my unsolicited advice.

 

[emccoy]

I always separate my broodies. I tried to let a couple broodies hang out in a separate coop together and they kept fighting over and breaking the eggs. Maybe eating them, idk. I just know there was an egg mess twice and the hatch went very poorly. I would stop replacing them depending on how far apart they are in age from the initial ones or you’re going to have a staggered hatch which can be bad for the hen (she sits too long and ignores the hatched chicks or ignores her own health and dies) and bad for the chicks (she walks off with the hatched chicks and leaves half-formed chicks to cool and die in the eggs). I don’t know if you’re marking the new eggs to keep them separate so this is just my unsolicited advice.

We replace them all each time, and it’s only been a few days (so in theory she would only be on the nest 3-5 days longer than “normal”). We’ll likely put her in her own spot