Letting a broody hatch some eggs

[ForFlocksSake]

I posted yesterday about one of my hens showing signs of going broody and asked how I can break her of it. I decided today to instead let her try hatching some eggs. I dont have a rooster, but my friend does and will be giving me a few fertilized eggs tomorrow. For now I am letting my broody girl sit on some unfertilized eggs. I attempted to move her to a secluded area but she wasn't having it. My question is, is it ok to just leave a hen to sit on a nest in the main coop? So far it seems like the other girls are leaving her alone and she is definitely doing a good job protecting her nest. Im aware I will likely have to separate her and the babies (or just the babies alone) when they hatch, but that Is not a problem as I already have some chicks coming the same week and can add them to the brooder. Has anyone had experience just letting their hen do her thing and not messing with the setup?

Do I need to put food and water inside the coop or will she come out to eat and drink? We have multiple feeders and waterers available outside including right outside of the coop door. I prefer not to put food in the coop if possible.

Our coop is not walk- in but plenty big. They are completely enclosed but the outside space they have is HUGE. we've worked hard making a very large enclosure with different sections for them to roam.

One last question - what do I use to mark the fertilized eggs? May be a silly question but can marker penetrate the shell and harm the embryo?

 

[FrostRanger]

No need to separate, broody hens have bad attitudes for a reason. If you want you can put them in a sectioned off area of the coop for a few days after they hatch but they should be OK and the mom will even take care of integration for you

Permanent marker is perfectly safe, don't worry about using it

The food and water being outside is also fine, it will make sure she stretches her legs

I wish you and her luck!

 

[ForFlocksSake]

No need to separate, broody hens have bad attitudes for a reason. If you want you can put them in a sectioned off area of the coop for a few days after they hatch but they should be OK and the mom will even take care of integration for you

Permanent marker is perfectly safe, don't worry about using it

The food and water being outside is also fine, it will make sure she stretches her legs

I wish you and her luck!

thank you. Im feeling a little more confident now. Im sure ive been overthinking it.

 

[Altairsky]

Let her raise her babies, she will be a lot happier

 

[Perris]

Has anyone had experience just letting their hen do her thing and not messing with the setup?

yes, lots of us have. You might find this thread interesting and useful
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/natural-breeding-thread.1653246/

Do I need to put food and water inside the coop or will she come out to eat and drink? We have multiple feeders and waterers available outside including right outside of the coop door. I prefer not to put food in the coop if possible.

Follow your inclination and keep the food outside the coop. She will come off the nest every now and then to eat, drink, poop and dustbathe.

when they hatch, ... I already have some chicks coming the same week and can add them to the brooder

don't assume you can just add new chicks to your broody's brood; she may not accept them. Some people have managed it, sometimes. See various posts in the thread linked above.

 

[Mrs. K]

I can never resist a broody hen! I am with the let her do it her own way. I have moved them, and it didn't work. I finally decided that she knew more about hatching chicks than I did.

Do set the clutch all at once, and do have the eggs well marked all around, (sometimes, it wears off a bit and is hard to see). If you go to the coop and she is off the nest - take a peek and remove any stray eggs. Layers will get in the nest and add their contribution! If you don't catch her off, about every 3 days, I will CAREFULLY lift her off the nest, and she will puff like a beach ball, stomp around, eat, drink, poop, then come back. Again check the eggs.

I used to have a bit of a problem, in that she would set on the eggs and return to the right nest, for days - then I would go down, and she would be on the wrong nest. If that happens, even if the eggs feel a bit cool, just move her back to the right nest. They will hatch just fine. However, lately, when I set a broody hen, I remove all the fake eggs from the other nests. Does not seem to bother my established layers at all. And it is less confusion for her.

Do not count your chicks before they hatch is an old adage, and a good one. Do know that there is a possibility that several of the eggs may not hatch. Once on here, we kept a running total of eggs set, and eggs hatched - the average was 50%, now that is not to say, you can't have a 100% hatch, but don't feel bad if you don't.

My nests are a couple of feet off the ground, and not big nests. The last time, a chick hatched and must have got rambunctious and fell to the floor, and the broody hen followed her. Leaving 2 eggs unhatched. I was about to toss them, when I heard a peep. So I just handed them to the broody on the floor, and she tucked them under her and hatched just fine.

No need to separate from the flock at all. This is the funnest way to add chicks and the least amount of work. However it is the longest 21 days ever!

Mrs.K

 

[NatJ]

I posted yesterday about one of my hens showing signs of going broody and asked how I can break her of it. I decided today to instead let her try hatching some eggs.,,, I attempted to move her to a secluded area but she wasn't having it.

Here's how I eventually decided to handle broody hens:
--Move her to the place I'd like her to sit
--Wait 2 or 3 days
Either she is broody in the place I want her, so I give her eggs.
Or she has broken her own broodiness by pacing back and forth all day fussing.

I tend to be okay with either outcome. But it means I'm not worrying about accidentally breaking her when I want her to sit, and I'm not fussing about an unbreakable broody because I do let those ones sit and hatch eggs (in the place I chose, according to whatever reasons were important to me at the time.)

 

[Mrs. K]

I don't know, I had one set, where I wanted her to set for 2 weeks, then the week-end I was gone - she went back to
"her" nest. And I lost the works. But each of us is looking at this from our own coop.

 

[NatJ]

I don't know, I had one set, where I wanted her to set for 2 weeks, then the week-end I was gone - she went back to
"her" nest. And I lost the works. But each of us is looking at this from our own coop.

It definitely depends on the coop.

When I have moved broody hens, I put them into individual coops. Sometimes that was a small coop, other times it was a large coop that happened to be empty at the time, but either way she could not go back to her old nest.

Sometimes the hen stayed broody, sometimes not.

Having a broody apart from the other chickens is one way to avoid other hens laying eggs in the nest or kicking her out of the nest. If the flock usually free ranges, the broody can go back to free ranging after the chicks hatch, and she can introduce her chicks to the flock at that point. I have done this, and did not have trouble getting the broody & chicks accepted as flock members again. They would range with the flock by day and sleeping in their separate coop at night until the broody chose to move back to the main coop with her chicks.

There have been times when I've had to keep chickens completely enclosed for reasons of predators, and I did not have anywhere big enough for a broody with chicks AND the rest of the flock-- the broody would insist on lots of personal space around herself & the chicks, and that didn't leave enough space for the other chickens. So having the broody share a coop with the flock was not really an option at that point. I could move her before setting, or after the chicks hatched, but I did have to move her. It was easier for me to move her and see if she stayed broody, then give eggs, rather than trying to let her sit in the main coop, remove extra eggs each day, check if she had moved to another nest, and then gather up the hen with her just-hatched chicks to move them to another coop.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

yes, lots of us have. You might find this thread interesting and useful
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/natural-breeding-thread.1653246/

Follow your inclination and keep the food outside the coop. She will come off the nest every now and then to eat, drink, poop and dustbathe.

don't assume you can just add new chicks to your broody's brood; she may not accept them. Some people have managed it, sometimes. See various posts in the thread linked above.

Thank you for all your help! I didnt mean I would add the new chicks to my hens brood, I meant if she rejects her own hatched chicks then I can add those to brooder box with the other babies. Id be too scared to add the chicks from the hatchery to my hens group.