bronze Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 (edited) One of mine seems to have gone broody (Tina its one of them) and I'm going to leave her couple of days to check she is then I'm tempted to stick some eggs under her. I currently have my eglu free but would like to be able to us as little of the run as possible. I'm assuming she won't really use the run and will just get food and water when she needs it. Would I be ok bodging it so she just has one meter of run or in fact does she need any? Will she need any feed supplements? Plus do I need to shove her off the nest to remind her to eat/drink or will she do it? Fingers crossed she satys broody because the last one managed 5 days I organised my eggs then she snapped out of it on her own accord. (dh doesnt know yet ) Edited February 27, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemcg Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I think she only needs a very small area outside the box to stretch her legs, poo, eat and drink. I'd like one of mine to go broody too - I'd love to see a mum raising her chicks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CockADoodleDoo Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 i am in exactly your position as it is my hen at the top of the pecking order who has gone broody so i am going to put her in the eglu with a 1 metre run and am going to give her six buff pekin eggs. the breeder told me that i could have bantams with big hens if i hatch them because the mother will look after them and as the mother is the top hen i dont think the others will try anything. she doesnt need much space and when the chicks hatch you can just leave her there and that is plenty of space for her to raise the chicks untill they are about 6 weeks old. and yes she will get food and water on her own, best to leave her alone as if you give her too mutch attention she might stop sitting on the eggs! i got this info off the breeder near me so if you have anymore questions i might be able to help! Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krysia Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Good luck our wyandottes used to go broody al the time, As soon we put egg sunder them they stopped and haven't been broody since! We ended up buying an incubator! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 I have an incubator anyway I just thought I might be able to hatch something under without dh noticing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 Well shes still broody and Ive managed to get some eggs so I'm going for it. I actually have two another joined her the day after. Theyre huddled up together in the cube nestbox. Would I be ok to use them both in the same eglu with eggs under them? I would give them a nest each though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pearsons Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 It would be fine to let them all brood together. I've even known hens to share the raising of the chicks. Helen in Hume Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemcg Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Exciting - what eggs did you get? You can have 2 broodies sitting at the one time - the only problem is they might steal each other's eggs, but as long as they both sit and hatch I've heard they can share 'mothering' the chicks quite successfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemcg Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Snap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 hehe I'm experimenting. I bought some clarence court eggs at the supermarket today. One of thems broken already though when I moved the girls across they went a little mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 they're now not going back into the eglu they've been broody over a week if they wanted to stop couldnt they have done it before I went to the hassle of sorting out the eglu. I'll see what happens after they've had a night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...