C H I C K E N S

popsofpudding asked: Hello one of my dear favorite blogs <3, I happen to have had a chicken of mine, a light sussex hen, to go broody. She's been in the same nestbox for at least 2 and a half days, so I'm assuming she's broody, and I know that it takes about 21 days for her to hatch the eggs. What I wanna know is how many eggs should I put under her, right now there's 4, only one being hers. And if there is anything else I should know. This is, hopefully, my first broody hen, so I'm somewhat nervous, and excited! <3

First off, congratulations! Having a hen go broody can be very exciting, not to mention fascinating to watch.

The number of eggs you put under her is up to you. Clutch sizes can range from 4 to 19 eggs, depending on the size of the bird. You just have to make sure that all the eggs fit snugly under her to keep them warm.

I would be wary of adding in more eggs, even though it’s only been a few days, since that second group of eggs will be out of sync with the others (development wise). If those other eggs fail to hatch around the same time frame as the first four, the hen might disregard them. This behavior is pretty much a fail safe to make sure the mother does not continue to incubate unfertilized eggs.

As for anything else… I know that when Esme went broody we sealed off the section of the coop she was nesting in so that the other chickens wouldn’t bother her. This isn’t exactly mandatory, but I would say it made things easier for her. The only problem with that is that we had to physically remove her from the nest (usually by carefully scooping our hands under her and lifting her off, so that we didn’t harm the eggs) once or twice a day so that she could go to bathroom since she wouldn’t poop in the nest area. We’d give her about fifteen or twenty minutes to go to the bathroom, stretch her legs, and peck in the grass before she usually wanted to head back inside. We always made sure she had some food and water in there with her, and kept the eggs wrapped in a towel to conserve their heat whenever she was away. Then of course we’d remove it and let her settle back in.

Once the chicks hatch, the only thing you will really have to provide is food, water, and shelter for when they’re in the coop, but when they are out and about with mother you need only watch. She’ll take care of everything, trust me.

I hope this helps, and feel free to ask if you have anymore questions. Good luck!