[p00rstudent]

Hello everyone

On tuesday one of my chooks has gone broody, and i am considering trying to hatch some eggs under her. I should be able to get some fertilised eggs by tomorrow, is it just a case of replacing the exsisting (non fertile ones) that she is sat on with the fertilised ones and then just leave her to get on with it? is there anything i need to watch out for?

Currently she is in her coop and run, with her own feeder and drinker, she orginally had made a nest for herself under a bush in the garden. She didnt put herself to bed tuesday night like she normally would and when i tried to pick her up to give her a quick check over she made a real racket fluffed herself up and pecked my hands to bits, which is completely out of character for her as i have always been able to pick her up and carry her with out any complaints before.

So based on this i assumed she was broody. Thus yesterday morning I moved the nest and her into the spare coop and run, and she almost imediatedly spread herself out like a pancake on top of the nest and made the warning rosey noise, so i left her too it for the rest of the day and checked on her in the evening and she hadnt moved and again started making that warning rosey noise when i opened the lid of the coop.

So i was thinking of trying to hatch some eggs under her, which i should be able to put under her tonight/tomorrow. Is there anything that i need to do after that or will she just get on with it? What about cleaning the coop, normally i do this once a week, but do i just leave it till the eggs have hatched? also what do i do when they hatch? do i leave them with her in the spare coop and run or would i be better off putting them under a heat lamp?

In the past i have hatched them in an incubator and kept them in a brooder under a heat lamp, this will be the first time i have tried to hatch eggs under a broody hen and was wondering if any one has any advise for me? Hints or Tips?


Thank you in advanced for any help you can give.

[JaK]

Yes, replace her eggs with fertile ones. If she doesn't do it herself, take her off the nest to eat, drink and poop twice a day (I only did it once a day with mine and she keeled over!), clean up any bits you need to while she is off the nest.
What eggs will you be hatching?
Good luck 

[p00rstudent]

It will be a dolly mixture, the cokerel is a light sussex but he is in with girls of various breeds so there will probably be quiet a lot of variation amongst them.