I am laughing and laughing as I read this. This happens to us over and over again! One of the main things you should do is try to mark those eggs even with a tiny dot or something, and then remove all the fresh eggs as they add in. Clear away any broken eggs immediately as it will get the hens into eating the eggs, and possibly the unborn chicks as well. Then this is where it will get crazy. The eggs are all different ages, so they will hatch out at different times. Keep a small container of water and some chick feed near the hen in case she decides to sit there for a while. The chicks will need to eat before the others are born. Don't wait too long....I'd only give her say 4 days to finish hatching out, and then I'd remove the remaining eggs. You can either put them under another hen if one is broody, or get them into an incubator if you have one. Listen to each egg, as you will be able to hear the chick inside peeping sometimes. Look for 'pipps'!
NOW the REAL "fun" begins. If you are lucky, the other hens will leave the baby chicks alone and momma hen can take care of her kids with no problems. But if not, the other hens will kill those little babies. I've had it both ways and it only took once and I never had a new momma with chicks in with the regular flock again. The minute the actual setting and incubating is over, I move the whole family to a separate pen.
I would cut a hole in the side of a box and put it over your hen so she can see out and come and go if she wants, but no other hen will try to crowd in. perhaps leave an egg in a nest NEAR the setting hen so the others will lay their eggs there instead of on top of her.
Good luck!
Deb
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2014 12:15 PM
Subject: [CHICKENS-101] broody hen's coop mates bothering her clutch
Hi all,
I have a White Chantecler who is sitting on a clutch of eggs, about a week or so now. We kept shooing her out of the nestbox when she started going broody, but then decided to let her do her thing and see what happens. She is in a coop with about 25 other birds and seems very dedicated. Well, two things have arisen:
The other biddies jump into the nextbox when she jumps down for a drink, and they sometimes lay more eggs on top of hers. She is mounding up quickly and going higher (sort of LOL but not really). I've tried snitching one here and there from the periphery, but she gets very upset.
The other thing is that today I found three broken eggs on the periphery of the nest box. Mama had yolk on top of her head, and I wonder if she tried to either pitch them overboard, or stuff them deeper underneath and broke them...or maybe she pecked them open herself, or maybe the coop mates pecked them? Stepped on them? Pig pile on the clutch when Mama was at the watering trough. Thoughts? I hate to interrupt her now, but maybe it's a losing battle? Maybe not safe if she did hatch any chicks? Maybe I should put "curtains" across her nest? No option to put her anywhere else---and I hate to segregate her even if I could, as it would create other problems.
