Our Easter Egger wants to be a mama.
She first went broody in spring 2020, around the time she turned a year old. At first I was confused and concerned to find her in the nesting box again and again when checking on the coop. Was she sick? Dehydrated? Depressed?! After attempting to move her and seeing her puff up, nip, and “growl” – and then connecting the dots we hadn’t received a beautiful blue egg in days – the signs clearly pointed to that of a broody hen.
The first go-around we tried every trick in the book to break her of it. Without a rooster, it just seems cruel to let her think she was going to hatch any chicks. Ice packs and frozen vegetables in the nesting area. Place her on the roost at night. Move her to the run a few times a day (luckily I was working from home at the time). Finally, we moved the entire nesting box to the other side of the coop. It took over a week before things went back to normal.
When she was back at it a couple of months later, fighting her hormones and natural instinct just didn’t feel like the more humane option. So, we did what any well-meaning chicken owners with an already perfect-sized flock would do: we sourced a dozen fertile eggs and let her do her thing.
How do you prepare for chicks hatching from a hen? Our only experience was with chicks a week or more old, so it was completely new territory. With the potential hatching just days away, we needed a plan of how to adjust the coop and run to allow for our fuzzy friends.
Here is that plan.
Divide the coop and assemble supplies.
Separate the coop with hardware cloth (chicken wire would work too), allowing for human access to both sides. The side for the hens should have more space for movement and to fly up and off the roosting bar.
Side 1 – mama & babies
- Leave nesting box in place
- Close door to the run
- Waterer
- Shallow bowl with chick feed and chick grit
- Bowl with layer feed placed above chicks’ access
side 2 – hens
- New/temporary nesting box
- Door open to run
- Access to roosting bar
- Hen feeder with layer feed
- Bowl with crushed egg shells and grit
- (Water kept outside)
Have systems ready for hatching day.
Day 1
- Do not panic! And remember it is only natural for not all to hatch or survive.
- Listen for peeping under mama hen.
- Do not try to help chicks if they are taking longer than expected to emerge from shells. Allow 2-4 days for eggs to hatch.
- Remember that mama will regulate the chicks’ temperature and teach them to eat and drink. Don’t interfere with the process.
- Replenish fresh food and water as needed.
Days 2 – 5
- Replenish fresh food and water as needed.
- Remove hatched shells after chicks have eaten the membrane. Do not crush and feed back to hens.
- Remove unhatched eggs after fourth-ish day.
days 6 – 30
- Replenish fresh food and water as needed.
- Monitor hens’ reactions to new neighbors. Integrate together for short, monitored periods of time.
day 31 (ish)
- Introduce chicks to flock permanently. Remove chicken wire separator.
This plan was formed before our chicks arrived. It will be updated as we learn more from experience and refine our methods.
Have you hatched chicks from a broody hen?
Do you have tips or other techniques? Leave a comment below or tell us about it on Instagram!
