This Going Broody Thing

Matt Care

Out of curiosity, just because one of my girls is showing signs of going broody (she hid up in the nettle patch this morning and made a nice 'nest' although I'm pretty sure she'd already laid her egg in the coop nest boxes) how does the logistics of this work re getting the eggs fertilized by the rooster? Does she lay one egg a day and 'see' the boy every day till she has a sensible clutch, or does he do the business once and she is then fertile for the clutch? Does she start sitting and incubating from egg 1 or does she need to produce a clutch over several days before she starts incubating. If the latter, then it's obviously no good me collecting all the eggs each day from the boxes, so do I need to make her a private broody-box and show her it's there?

You get my drift, anyway. I could certainly use some advice on how you 'manage' this stage. These are Sussex Ponte, by the way, first season, 4 hens and a rooster.

Cheers
Matt

Ayla

Best advice is just to let Nature do her thing. If the hen has access to the rooster he will serve her daily. Regardless of the time of day that happens she will remain fertile until her next egg is laid.

Don't touch her eggs. When she has enough to feel happy with her clutch then she'll start sitting. You'll know when this happens b/c she won't move & will become quite aggressive if you try to reach under her. At this point make sure she's secured (if her nest isn't in a safe spot then move the whole thing after dusk when she's calm & hopefully she'll resettle in the new spot). Put some clean water & a small dish of food within a couple steps of her but don't be surprised if she doesn't eat much/anything for the next few weeks. She will lose weight but she'll be alright after.

Keep the area around her calm - if the other hens or the rooster are bugging her move her to a quieter spot. Other animals can peck the eggs the hen is sitting on so it's important that she's in a secure spot.

All going well you'll have chicks in a few weeks, at which point it's a whole new ballgame

Good luck!

Matt Care

Thanks for that. We are not quite sure what's going on at present as she did none of the same behaviours today, breezing about and 'helping' my wife garden and showing no signs of wanting to settle anywhere. I will keep you posted.

Matt

Qualitymark

They'll normally lay for 19 to 21 days and then sit for the same; if you only want a limited number of eggs hatched, write the dates on them as they're laid, and remove the undated ones.

When she's broody, take her forcibly off the nest twice a day and bring her to food and drink, otherwise she may forget to eat or drink; they get a bit dazed.

Make sure she's setting somewhere you can get at easily too...!

Matt Care

Thanks for all your help, people, but this one seems to have lost interest. Better luck next time.

Qualitymark

Matt Care wrote: »

Thanks for all your help, people, but this one seems to have lost interest. Better luck next time.

If you want hens that go broody, get a couple of silkies; they'd steal the children off an auk and hatch them out if they got the chance. Never seen hens to go broody like silkies. They're also guaranteed to make you laugh every time they shake themselves, because they look like 1920s shimmy dancers in fringed dresses. And some of them even have adorable little hats.

By the way, there's an excellent hen column in the English magazine Kitchen Garden (Eason's in O'Connell Street, Dublin have it; I've seldom seen it anywhere else.)