Hey just wondering about my layers and 2 Ancona ducks

[Joe Gillett]

Hey my friendly bird lovers!! Was wondering if this happens to anyone else… I have 6 layers and 2 ducks and lately I’ve found that one particular chicken plays surrogate and sits on all the girls eggs she will puff up and literally stay sitting in a dozen eggs wether they are chicken or duck eggs? Is this normal??

 

[aart]

Sounds like she's broody.
Do you want her to hatch out chicks/ducklings?
Do you have a male chicken and duck?
All eggs should be gathered daily.

Here are my go-to signs of a broody:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?

If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

 

[DobieLover]

Hey my friendly bird lovers!! Was wondering if this happens to anyone else… I have 6 layers and 2 ducks and lately I’ve found that one particular chicken plays surrogate and sits on all the girls eggs she will puff up and literally stay sitting in a dozen eggs wether they are chicken or duck eggs? Is this normal??

She's broody. Happens all the time. If you don't have fertile eggs or want more babies, you should break her.

 

[sourland]

She's broody.

 

[Joe Gillett]

She's broody. Happens all the time. If you don't have fertile eggs or want more babies, you should break her.

How do I do that?

 

[DobieLover]

How do I do that?

Put her in an elevated wire dog crate with food and water and a piece of wood for her to perch on in it. Leave her locked in it for three full days and two full nights. Let her out about 1 hour before roost time at the end of the third day and watch her. If she roosts with the flock, great. If she head back to a nest box, lock her up for another night and day and try the next night to let her out. Keep going until she roosts and stays out of the nest boxes.