[Vonnie]

 
I realy need some good advise and hope that someone out there can help me.  I am a newbie to the life of hen keeping, I have had 5 for about 8 months and love them dearly.  Recently we went away for 3 weeks and left them in the capeable hands of a reliable neighbour.  On our return we found them clen etc however 2 of them would not come out of thier coop.  Turns out we dont think the eggs were being removed regularly enough and we now have 2 broody hens.  As such we have spent the past few days trying to break thier habbit to nest but to no avail.  After reading a few items on the internet and speaking to a local supplier we decided as we have enough room to give it a go of letting the girls site and hatch some fertile eggs.  We obtained 12 eggs,(6 cream leghorns & 6 Dark brown morans) and the girls have took to sitting on them straight away.  My question is what do i now need to do as information really differs from place to place?  Do I need to separate them from my other girls? Do i need to have the indoors? etc etc etc.  Thing is I want happy health hens and happy health chicks so want to do this properly.....Can anyone help please
Vonnie

[WR1]

I know for deffinatly your better off seperating them from the other girls , they can get pritty moody !!

And as to the other questions your better off waiting till the other better people come along

[poultrygeist]

Hi vonnie. Welcome.

I've moved your question to the Hen House. It may be too late for you, but have you read the advice on pros and cons of hatching eggs ? 

Beyond that, I know even less about the topic.

Rob

[poultrygeist]

You're welcome.

I realised I forgot to post the link 

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=42631.0

I hope someone less forgetfull than me can advise you on your more pressing problem.

Rob

[Vonnie]

OMG my chicks are on the way!!!!! I am so excited...... Went out to look at my 2 broodies at around 5 pm and 4 of their eggs have started to crack and one so much that it is clearly visable whats inside, totally amazing .  This is my first lot of hatching and hope to have some success.  Started with 12 eggs, lost 2 over the past week with no visable egg or chick in the coop so not sure what went on there, but have 10 remaining.  4 possible Cream Legbars and 6 possible Dark Brown Morans.  Hopefully they wont all be cockrels.  Not sure how long the process of hatching is but hope to have them running about soon.  Will let you know how things develop.