Huge clutch of eggs found un a shrub

[OssauChickens]

We thought one of our chickens had stopped laying. She moulted in the autumn and that was that. Occasionally she would lay the sporadic egg in the nesting box. They are easy to identify looking like a cross between a torpedo and a suppository. As she is mainly a meat breed, we put it down to that. The other, a specific egg laying breed has carried on quite faithfully.
Every day, around 90 minutes before sunset I go down and let the girls into their enclosure and uncover their food (living in the mountains means everything else eats it) and give them their treats. Enthusiastically they run towards me, expect to be handled or peck at my shorts and they follow me into the pen. This has been the case for a long time without fail.
This evening I was greeted by only one chicken, the layer. "Where is your pal?" I searched and my eye caught the other laying quite lifeless under a pampas grass. My heart sank - has she been 'had'? When I got to her I found her behaving strangely and when trying to pick her up she revealed a clutch of 13 eggs under her! She wasn't too happy to be disturbed but allowed me to pick her up. The eggs were certainly all hers. It also explained why she was very keen to head down to that part of the garden every morning - after her treats of course.
We removed the eggs and I brought her back to the enclosure where she was pacing and making loud screaming noises. Very pitiful. She was happy to eat though - so not that stressed I guess.
What I find strange is not that she has laid in a different place to the one offered, but that she hasn't stayed sitting on the eggs up until now. Every evening around 17:30 I go down to the garden and am greeted by the girls running from the enclosure direction. This is quite a long way away from the Pampas grass where I found the clutch. Not an area we visit often. This means it has taken her to lay 13 eggs before she decided to actually nurture them. They were all quite warm so she must have sat on them most of the day. But not any other day until now.
Is that strange? She is about 20 months old and quite a large tricolour Sussex.
What to do? Keep them in for longer? Make a separate nesting box? any advice?
As it is still quite cool here - we have only had a couple of sunny days so far and the eggs are in the shade, we decided to do the float test and all sink nicely. 2 weeks is OK for eggs I guess. Will smell before eating LOL

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Your Sussex sounds like a typical broody. The right combo of genetics, hormones and sunlight get them anxious to start a clutch which they usually try to keep secret. I'm not sure if they can count or if they are comlpetely at the mercy of their hormones as to when they begin to set the eggs, but in my experience, once they have been triggered to started sitting it can be hard to get them to stop, even if the eggs are removed. You may see her acting grumpy and strange for awhile and hopefully she'll snap out of it fairly quickly. I have a few that have turned into an angry broody flat pancake of a bird, determined to hatch eggs that aren't there. It takes 21 days to hatch an egg, so a determined broody hen (one with a healthy amount of hormones) will sit that long or longer. Keeping her out of the area where you found the clutch might help her get over it faster. Sunlight and distraction (like hanging a head of cabbage for them to peck) can also help. Actually, any changes to their coop or run will be a distraction as they tend to be suspicious of new things.

There are threads about methods for "broody busting" if she gets really bad. I've found fighting hormones can be very difficult though.

As for the eggs, eggs have a natural protective coating that resists bacteria and keeps the eggs fresh and viable for several weeks as long as the coating is not washed off. Adding this coating (or bloom) is the last step in the process of forming and laying an egg. They should be fine to eat, but a good idea to keep them in the fridge and check them as you go.

 

[RiverOtter]

No, that's totally normal. There's no reason for her to sit until she has a nice big clutch. If she sat for the first egg, her chicks would hatch a day or so apart, so that's no good. And the only way for her to know that she has a perfectly hidden spot is if nothing has taken her eggs 2 weeks later - that lets her know that it's safe for her to sit there in a stupor for another 3 weeks.

 

[OssauChickens]

Brilliant! 1 day on the forum and I've learned more than I could have expected. Thanks so much for your support.
I still remember asking myself why chickens lay eggs anyway, even though not fertilised .
She certainly resembled a flat pancake yesterday but she let me pick her up quite readily to take back to the run - she did make some quite shrill squawks though. This morning I found another egg, but a way from the place of the others. That makes 14 eggs to make her decide to sit on them - fair effort. She went to look there clucking away quite rapidly. Her pal was investigating too. I will have to pretend it's Easter today and go on an egg hunt. It's been a long time that she hasn't laid in the nesting box.
I will try the cabbage thing later on. If she persists in sitting on the invisible eggs today I will put some rocks or logs there to discourage her. Alternatively we have some plastic owls to scare pigeons. The chickens hate them so might place one there on a pole.

 

[OssauChickens]

Just for laughs - although sad really, where are Beattie's (the trike Sussex) babies?
She's now scratching around away from the site, so fingers crossed she'll let it be
So that's 13 pointy eggs plus the 14th I found this morning - luckier than 13

 

[aart]

Yep, she sure sounds broody....pancaking and staccato clucking.
So do you want her to hatch a batch, or not?

Here's all my notes on broodies:

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.


When I have a broody and want her to hatch I wait until she's been in the nest most the day and all night for 2-3 days...along with those other signs I posted.

Then I put her in the broody enclosure with fake eggs in the floor nest, she won't like being moved, but if she is truly good and broody she will settle onto the new nest within a half a day.
Then I give her fresh fertile eggs and mark the calendar.

I like them separated by wire from the flock, it's just easier all around.
No having to mark eggs and remove any additions daily, no taking up a laying nest, no going back to the wrong nest after the daily constitutional.

I remove barrier about one week after hatch. The chicks are usually safe it's the broody who has to 'fight' her way back into the pecking order...which can be quick or take a few days.

Lots of space helps for re-integration.



You'll need to decide if you want her to hatch out some chicks, and how you will 'manage' it.
Do you have, or can you get, some fertile eggs?
Do you have the space needed? Both for more chickens and she may need to be Separated by wire from the rest of the flock.
Do you have a plan on what to do with the inevitable males? Rehome, butcher, keep in separate 'bachelor pad'?
If you decide to let her hatch out some fertile eggs, this is a great thread for reference and to ask questions.

It's a long one but just start reading the first few pages, then browse thru some more at random. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/broody-hen-thread.496101/



If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[OssauChickens]

Wow, that's loads of brilliant info. Thanks.
We did have a cockerel but he 'bought' it fairly early on. Coccidiosis in the soil they reckoned. We have decided against replacing him and just stick to hens. We only have the two at them moment but intend to get some more this spring - we'll just get ready to lay farmyard types.
We're not to bothered about them hatching anything although it would be great for the grandkids to witness - no chance of that at the moment. There a channel between us and travel restrictions for the foreseeable.
She only went to nest for a day. I took her away and put her in the pen. By that time, number 2 had gone back to the bottom of the garden (it's on 4 levels with medieval ramparts in between). We removed the eggs and persuaded number 2 into the pen - closed at night to keep chicken eaters out.
They both seemed happy then. Number 2 had laid her egg in the nesting box this morning. Number 1 - McBroody went to the pampas at the bottom of the garden to inspect the nest which was now empty. Some rapid clucking followed with no.2 looking by curiously. Then the 2 walked off together and haven't returned to the nest site since. We might be lucky. This evening will tell if she's at the top where the pen is. Fingers crossed. She's quite a big and greedy chicken, so I'm sure food will override he broodiness - either that or she'll go for my shorts - they seem to fascinate her.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

If you want more then why not get some chickies for mama hen?? Then you don't have to worry about brooding them yourself and she will be happy.

 

[aart]

Number 2 had laid her egg in the nesting box this morning.

Do you only have the 2 birds?

Something else to keep in mind:
Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop/run for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.