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Original poster

How do I make my chickens sit on their eggs?

42 replies

steppemum · 05/02/2022 10:40

Hi all.
I have chickens, 3 bantams and an accidental cockerel.

The cockerel is on borrowed time. As the mornings get lighter and he starts crowing earlier, he gets more and more antisocial, and we will have to rehome him.

But before he goes, I'd love to have a cluck of chicks.
All 3 bantams are laying, and one of them had a cluck of chicks before I had her. (the other 2 are her daughters)

I've never had a cluck of chicks, so I'm feeling a little at a loss. We do have a separate run and house that we can put the chicken and her chicks in.

None of them show any signs of being broody.
How do I persuade one of them to sit on the eggs? Do I just stop picking up eggs?
Do I leave the eggs in the nest box and let her sit in there until they are hatched and then move to the separate run?

and finally, I know the cockerel is mating with the hens, how long does this last?
How many eggs does he fertilise? 1 day's egg? 7 days?

Thanks!

OP posts:
Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 10:42
Grin

not a cluck of chicks, but a clutch, obviously!

OP posts:
MargaretThursday · 05/02/2022 11:28

Don't know about chickens, but with budgies, it's stopping them getting broody is the issue here!
They start laying the eggs and then sit...

Does anyone want to rehome a nice baby budgie? Grin

YesitsBess · 05/02/2022 11:30

You do understand before you start this process that 50% of what she hatches will be male yes? What are the plans for the boys? Removing roosters is harder than usual (and it's really hard generally unless they're rare) as moving birds about is not advised by DEFRA at the moment.

YesitsBess · 05/02/2022 11:30

*rehoming not removing

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 05/02/2022 12:01

You can't make them, they'll do it when they feel like it.

Yes, it is bloody difficult to get rid of excess roosters.

LemonViolet · 05/02/2022 12:04

Is it not the done thing to just eat the roosters?

BaronessBomburst · 05/02/2022 12:04

It's not that hard Grin

CovidCorvid · 05/02/2022 12:07

They’re more likely to go broody when it’s a bit warmer but yes stop picking the eggs up. You’ll probably have to kill the cockerel along with any male chicks.

eatyourcrustspls · 05/02/2022 12:08

Kill the male chicks?!

Pasithea · 05/02/2022 12:08

You can’t they will get broody when the time is right.

SunshineOnKeith · 05/02/2022 12:31

You can't expect them to sit on eggs if you keep taking away the eggs 

Hens are triggered to go broody by appropriate nest box provision, presence of eggs and increasing daylight.
Daylight also affects doers in cockerels. Grant we'll be mating the hens but that doesn't mean he eggs are fertile. You need to candle them after a couple of weeks and then return the fertile ones to the hen to sit on.

You don't seem very informed @steppemum - do you have heat lamps and know how to brood/feed chicks? What will you do with the males?
It might be worth doing a bit more research

SunshineOnKeith · 05/02/2022 12:33

@eatyourcrustspls

Kill the male chicks?!
Well yes. Unless you don't buy anything with egg or chicken in it, you financially support the killing of both male and female chickens on a weekly basis Why does killing make chicks in this context get a !
Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 13:34

@YesitsBess

You do understand before you start this process that 50% of what she hatches will be male yes? What are the plans for the boys? Removing roosters is harder than usual (and it's really hard generally unless they're rare) as moving birds about is not advised by DEFRA at the moment.
well there are several options for the rooster (and the male chicks)

and yes one does involve eating him/them Shock

We have bought in tiny chicks before, so are quite happy raising the chicks/heat lamps etc.
That isn't a problem, neither is getting rid of the excess males.

We've had adult chickens for years. We have just never had a rooster before, so we've never been in the position of having a hen actually sit and hatch eggs.
and none of our chickens have ever become broody!

I had assumed that if she hatched them, then she would raise them? I wasn't planning on removing her, just putting her and her chicks into the separate run so I could provide the chick food etc in an appropriate way.

OP posts:
Pyri · 05/02/2022 13:37

Being absolutely thick, why do you kill the male chicks and not wait until they’re bigger then eat them?

Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 13:37

You can't expect them to sit on eggs if you keep taking away the eggs

well yes of course, but there is also no point in leaving 3 eggs per day and then the eggs go off and the hens don't sit.

Hence my question about what are the signals, how do I tell what is going on etc etc .

I'd forgotten about candling eggs too.

OP posts:
Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 13:38

@Pyri

Being absolutely thick, why do you kill the male chicks and not wait until they’re bigger then eat them?
we would (wait til they are bigger and eat them that is)
OP posts:
Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 13:39

the trouble is, they might start fighting once mature.

OP posts:
gogohm · 05/02/2022 13:41

Sorry for being thick, but why can't you just raise male chicks then eat them- I know they aren't the breed typically for meat but I'm sure they would be fine in a casserole. We ate my grandads chickens as kids.

SunshineOnKeith · 05/02/2022 13:42

@steppemum

You can't expect them to sit on eggs if you keep taking away the eggs

well yes of course, but there is also no point in leaving 3 eggs per day and then the eggs go off and the hens don't sit.

Hence my question about what are the signals, how do I tell what is going on etc etc .

I'd forgotten about candling eggs too.

Yes you will 'waste' some eggs if you want hens to go broody To paraphrase another idiom:

You can't brood your eggs and eat them too!

Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 14:25

Keith - what am I looking for that tells me it is time to leave some eggs and wait for them to want to sit?

So far:
checking eggs are fertile (candling)
waiting for warmer weather.

Is there anything more precise that might help?

Serious question, because if I stop collecting all eggs now, but they are unlikely to sit before say May, that is a hell of a lot of eggs and time!

So really, what should I be looking for, and when then would most chickens be looking to sit? March? May?

Also, there are 3 nest boxes, but they all lay in one.
Once one hen is sitting, will the others lay in the other boxes? We have actually always had this with all the chickens we've ever had, that they all prefer to lay in one place.

and can you move a hen that's sitting? I mean move her and her eggs (and the nest)?

OP posts:
BobHadBitchTits · 05/02/2022 14:30

chickenandchicksinfo.com/what-time-of-year-do-hens-go-broody/

This might help, OP.

Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 14:33

@BobHadBitchTits

https://chickenandchicksinfo.com/what-time-of-year-do-hens-go-broody/

This might help, OP.

Oh great, thanks
OP posts:
Whattochoosenow · 05/02/2022 14:34

Buy a small incubator and hatch them yourself?

Ihaventgottimeforthis · 05/02/2022 14:35

A lot depends on the hen. Our bantams would choose the most random places to brood, and some of them were absolutely fierce if you approached them sitting, others would be moved quite happily.
I'd keep taking eggs away until spring, nothing sadder than having chicks die in cold wet winters. Hopefully they will spontaneously go broody in spring.
If you're serious about eating bantams, and want something worth eating more than a bag of bones, you'll have to consider keeping the males fairly confined & feeding them v well. It'll be more trouble than it's worth trying to cook them.

Original poster
steppemum · 05/02/2022 15:13

Ihaventgottimeforthis
thanks that's helpful.

The rooster isn't a bantam.

I rehomed 4 chickens last summer after the fox had wiped me out.
It was a bantam mum and her 2 daughters, and there was another young chicken about 4 months old. It is a different breed, and as 'she' grew up, it became clear that 'she' was actually 'he'
he is a full size large breed cockerel, quite spectacular and beautiful. But we have neighbours and he is noisy. Not too bad at the moment as he starts at daybreak, and is locked in the hen house so quite muted, but it will get worse as the mornings get earlier.

One reason for wanting the chicks is that they will be mixed breed, so hopefully larger, and I have space for more than the 3 I have.
And it is always fun to have chicks around

OP posts: