[frenchliving]

Ok, my bantam type hen went broody a few months ago, after weeks and weeks nothing happened and we removed the eggs. The last few days she has shown signs of going broody again so I want to try and ensure that we do it right!

Sunday, she started sitting on eggs, but didnt stay there all day, so I left the eggs that were laid by her and her pal, Monday both hens laid again, she spent most of her time on the eggs (but not completely all day!) I have marked the four eggs under her. Im sure the other hen will continue laying so I can remove any unmarked eggs to eat?? am i best to do this when shes not on the eggs??

I only have 2 hens and 1 cockerel, when do I need to seperate them, nearer to the time off hatching, my son 7 swears he saw a chicken last time, but there was no evidence of it when I checked (he is a storyteller, but im worried the other hen could have attacked/eaten the chick)

Any advice on this process is greatly appreciated.

Last time - the two hens changed sitting on the eggs halfway, and after days and days of laying and up to 6 weeks after the 1st egg had been laid, I removed them. Do you think the other hen will start getting broody again, she is dominant, can she make hen 1 come off the nest for hen 2(dominant) to sit on??

Sorry our hens dont have names, not because we dont care, just because we havent discussed this - it would make it easier to describe (hen 1(sitting) is the daughter of hen 2!dominant)

Thanks for any advice, it was quite disappointing last time when we didnt have any chicks, so trying to make sure we give it our best shot this time!

[joyfull]

if you want her to hatch then she will need to be in her own brooder straight away. If she doesn't get off the eggs at least once a day then you will need to lift her off so that she will eat, drink, pooh and stretch. She may go back to the old coop for a few days (afterall this is where she first started sitting on the eggs) in which case she will need lifting out and carefully placing back on her own eggs - she will eventually get the idea. When the eggs hatch she will need her own run so that you can stop the other hen and cockerel eating the chick crumb.
Be warned that you could end up with just cockerels