Broody hen with ONE egg...is this normal?

[Ruthie]

We have one broody hen who has been sat on her ONE egg for over a week now. That's fine, but I always assumed that hens would hatch more than one egg at a time....can anyone shed any light on this please? Also if this egg is eventually hatched is it ok to leave the chick in the hen house with its mother and the other hens or do I need to separate it/them for a while??

Regards

Ruthie- hen mother to be...maybe!

[Wicce]

Hi Ruthie.  You'll be pleased to know that this is quite normal; some chickens go broody quite suddenly and haven't been able to build up a little clutch of eggs, and also perhaps you have been eating them?  If you want her to hatch a few more eggs then put some more fertile eggs under her and she'll happily sit on the lot.

When the eggs hatch it would probably be better if the mother hen and chicks were not altogether in the hen house with the other chickens.  Chickens can be quite spiteful and you may find that the chicks could be attacked by other hens.  Best to separate the little family - a little house with a run is nice - until the chicks are big enough to cope with the big world outside mum's feathers.

 

Good luck and enjoy the chicks.

Mary

[Ruthie]

Thanks for that....not too sure if the other hens will have fertilised eggs as there are bantams in there with ordinary hens and I'm not too sure if the bantam roosters have ever taken a shine and dared to tackle the other "big" hens. Our last "big" rooster Orlando Bloom got eaten by the fox so the "big" hens are roosterless and now we have been given the bantams I don't think that we could harmoniously introduce yet another rooster....oh the complicated life of a hen house. Its like eastenders!

Regards

Ruthie

[Lepoulailler]

It's perfectly normal.  At least she's sitting on one egg.  Lot's of ours go broody at this time of the year when we are hatching like mad, and many of them aren't sitting on anything at all.  As said before, you could add some fertile eggs - but the difficulty now is that the chick inside the one egg will be one week into the hatching process if it is fertile (try going in a dark room and holding the egg up with a bright torch - sometimes it makes it easier if you do it via an old toilet or kitchen roll - it channels the light (or you could buy a candler...!).  If it is fertile and you add eggs now she is likely to do one of two things.  Either when the chick is born she will get off the nest and abandon the other fertile eggs, or she will sit tight on her nest, and abandon the chick.  If you decide to go ahead, be ready with an infra-red lamp to keep baby chick warm....

If you want her for the eggs, and don't want her broody you can try putting her in a place with a draft up her bottom end for a couple of days - an old trolley, a wire cage lifted off the floor etc.  Usually cools them down and works a treat.  Much depends upon the breed as silkies will come off the nest for a couple of days and then before you know it they will be back trying to hatch some babies....

Good luck with your hatch if you decide to go ahead.

Peta

http://www.lepoulailler.net

[cheryl]

One of our hens decided to sit tight in a nestbox a few days ago. The next day she seemed to have lost interest, but she and the other hens have been laying their eggs in that nestbox until at the last count (this morning) there were 10 eggs.

When I cleaned the henhouse a few minutes ago she was sitting back on the eggs, though they had obviously gone stone cold over the intervening days.

Will the eggs be OK? I have read that eggs can be stored for about a week with no heat before incubation. Is that right?

Do I move her and her chicks (if they hatch) as soon as they're all hatched? I haven't got another hen house, so would a stable be alright for them?

Many thanks

Cheryl

[Ruthie]

......we've been removing the other eggs so she is always left with her original "fertilised" egg as I assumed that the dates wouldn't match up for hatching. She seems hell bent on hatching her one egg and although she has got off her egg each day it seems to be for a set time...I guess that she knows how long she can leave it uncovered while she has lunch and stretches her legs! The egg is rarely uncovered for any length of time even then though because the other hens hop in the same box to lay their eggs even though there are other boxes around to lay in.

Anyway we're all looking forward to the big day and the new arrival....how bizarre is that!! Will start knitting in anticipation...

Cheers

Ruthie

[Chanto]

Hello to all you knowledgeable chicken people.  Please help me.

When I visited my french friend on Saturday for my usual supply of free range eggs he gave me a warm egg straight from the chicken.  "Here", he said, "perhaps you have your own chicken".  Being a mum (of humans) I got all broody and emotional and put the egg in my bra (no laughing please). My french friend thought this really funny and gave me another four warm eggs.  Later, I visited another friend for my whole lamb which has been slaughtered that morning.  I told him about my eggs (now named Charlie and Co.) and he gave me an incubator to hatch my eggs.

I've been incubating my five eggs since Saturday and Charlie's friends are promised to another friend who is desperate to keep some chickens.  I haven't a clue as to what I'm doing but should I get any chicks in 3 weeks I intend to keep Charlie as a pet. 

So, my questions are - if Charlie hatches will he/she be lonely as a single chicken?

What do I do if suddenly one morning there's a fluffy yellow chick instead of an egg?  And, how long will it live?  I could never kill it to eat it (yes, I know about the lamb but I didn't know it's name nor see it before it was killed so I don't feel so bad)

OK, so I guess you think I'm a nut and today I felt really bad eating my boiled egg at breakfast but I've always wanted to hatch an egg and if anything comes of Charlie and Co. then I'd rather like to try a duck egg.  I'll even build a little pond for it to swim in. 

Please don't phone the local physo hospital = my husband has already arranged for them to come.