AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hi all, its been a while, intact last time i was here we were talking about incubating some eggs to add to our hen house (we had 30 eggs, hatch 21 chicks and 1 pass away as it was not quite right . ) Anyway we are down to just the 9 now - our 3 original old girls and 6 newbies -the rest were either roosters and lost their heads or where sold with 3 passing on us during 2 big heat waves up here last year.

so fast forward to today.... one of our lil babies (now over 2) went broody about 3 weeks ago, and she became very annoyed that i would steal her "babies" every day ... so i decide to track down some fertile eggs for her to sit on - she's been on them now since the 7th may, and has so far been a very good mumma, including getting her feathers in a ruffle when i go out to check for new eggs....

so heres were I have some questions - 1 - all the hens that are laying atm are all laying in the same box that miss cheep cheep is nesting in - so i can only assume they are kicking her out to lay there - theres only 3 laying atm as its gone a lil cooler over the last week or so. so I'm worried that one of these other hens might break a fertile egg... - should i be concerned???

2- is she ok to stay in the same hen house as the rest of the girls? or should i find a new home for her for the next few weeks?

3- will the new chicks be ok in the house with mumma and all the other hens? - we need to secure the actual house and run to make it chick proof yet (its chook proof but not so much for the lil ones..), but the original plan is to leave them with mum and let her do her thing.

4- seeing as she's crazy and decided to go broody now and refuse to stop (every other chook we have managed to convince to give it up but not this girl!) and its on the cusp of winter - will they be ok - we live in central qld, it gets hot during the day and cold at night (during winter) - we were thinking of setting up a heat lamp or 2 for them??

5- hen house is odd set up - is a garden shed where everyone sleeps and eats, then it goes thru into the old wooden hen house we originally brought when we had 3 hens.... then out that door to the run, plus they are let lose thru the yard in the arvo when the dogs get locked up, catch is they all use the wooden house laying boxes despite having laying box in the shed... - if i was to separate them - would they learn to lay in a different spot? would miss cheep cheep get too lonely? - i mean they will all see be face to face but i am concerned about the open roof run and 6 little eagle dinner chicks runnig around so the thought is to make the wooden house theres for a few months... at least its fully enclosed and safe...

i think thats it for now... i swore black and blue when i got these eggs that they would be her problem, not mine - yes ill make it chick proof but thats it... turns out i can't escape the expectant worry mother role hey... lol

thanks

How exciting for you.

1 & 2 Yes you should be worried that an egg may be broken or eaten. Miss cheep cheep requires her own little house where the others can't get to her or the eggs.

3. The chicks need private accommodation with Mumma. Some of the other hens may get jealous or not so friendly towards the littleuns. Move them as soon as possible.

4. They should be fine under the broody when they hatch. Mumma knows best.

5. Yes they will get the hang of a new nest box pretty quickly. You could put some fake eggs or golf balls in the new nest box just to show them the way. Miss cheep cheep won't get lonely. She has a job to do and that's all she's focused on.

Good luck with your broody.

If other hens are laying eggs in the box you get a mix of good and bad eggs so only a few may hatch

I only allow 1 sitting hen per box

Yup 2 chickens in a box = trouble! Nothing worse then seeing a jealous chook attack another mum's chicks

Same here

I had same problem and moved mum and eggs to a small nursery...not easy but worth it...do you reckon you can manage a large guinea pig cage or rabbit hutch from a recycle centre to move them to?

she kicked 3 eggs out early last week and over the weekend stopped sitting on them, by the time i found them they were stone cold so I'm pretty sure we will be chick less , tomorrow arvo i will go check them again and remove them (have been holing my breath that i just keep catching her on her dinner break.. but based on the egg temp i think she's over it...) oh well...

Did you try candling them?

Google it or look through this forum for 'how to' xx good luck