One of my Barnevelder hens has decided to go broody -- she's been sitting in
the nest box all day, incubating eggs that are not fertile and will never
hatch. For the past three days, I've had to reach up under her to collect
eggs. Thankfully, the hen has been incredibly docile toward me.
This is a first for me, so I asked someone more knowledgeable than
me, Chelsea Ibarra, for help. Chelsea is a great resource for me -- her
response contained everything I needed to know and I've posted it below.
Thanks, Chelsea! I'll be sure to keep a close eye on my broody hen.
Sue,
Broody chickens can go one of two ways: Sometimes if you keep
taking their eggs away they will figure out that sitting on the nest is not
going to do anything and they will get over it. OR, we have had hens that will
just keep sitting on the nest until something hatches (but with un-fertalized
eggs nothing ever will...) and they won't leave the nest to eat or drink, which
is a big problem because they could survive that way for a while until some eggs
hatch but if the eggs never do hatch you just have a chicken starving herself on
a nest. If she is leaving the nest to eat and drink I wouldn't worry about it.
If she is not you could try to put some food/ water near her to encourage her to
eat. With our super broody hen we eventually purchased a couple chicks and snuck
them under her late at night so that in the morning she just thought her chicks
had "hatched." But if you give her baby chicks you have to make sure she is bold
enough to keep the other chickens away from them since big chickens like to peck
at the little ones.
Hope that helps.
Love,
Chelsea
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