First time with broodys!

[Raptorchick]

I've got ten eggs in an incubator, and I was realllllly hoping that one of my buff orpington hens would decide to go broody for me... I didn't pick up eggs for about a week, and my sweetest hen Goldie has now been sitting on them for the past three days. The incubator eggs are due to hatch in ten days.
Currently, Goldie is sitting in a spot where everybody lays their eggs. I'm fairly sure that my other hens are laying on top of her, and she's collecting them, as I haven't seen eggs anywhere else in the coop for two days. Right now they are laying about 2/day, but I'm sure by tomorrow she may be overwhelmed with eggs (and I really don't plan on hatching those- I have five that I collected in the incubator lol).
I have a "brooding coop" prepared for her... When I move her, should I only do that after dark, when she's asleep?
And as for my incubator eggs... I've been told that I can give those eggs to a broody hen, and she will hatch them. Should I wait until lockdown time to move them under the hen, or will it not make any difference if I move them tonight, with ten days remaining?
Thanks ahead for your help

 

[Raptorchick]

Shoot, I think I jinxed it.... I'm out in my chicken run atm, and Goldie is strutting around, not acting broody at all I left 7 eggs in the next box, in case she changes her mind lol. I also have a broody serama, with three developing eggs, I might end up giving her the hatched chicks .... I'm just not supe sure when/how to go about it

 

[diamondsilkies]

Has she been broody before?

If one of my hens goes broody and I have eggs in the incubator, I will normally place fake or unfertilized eggs underneath her and let her sit on those. I then let all the chicks hatch in my incubator, and after they all fluff out, I'll slip them under her that evening.

This method has almost always worked well for me before, but I have some pretty reliable broodies. After you slip the chicks in with her, keep a very close eye on them. Some hens, especially first time broodies, will react badly to chicks, even if she hatched them herself. If there's any signs of aggression between her and the chicks, remove them immediately. For the first few days, she and the chicks may have some communication problems (ie, her calling them and them not responding, etc.). This is simply because hens will talk to their chicks while they incubate, so they know her voice after they hatch. Because your chicks were incubated by you, they won't know her. But after a couple days, they should catch on.

Best of luck to you and your broodies!

 

[Raptorchick]

Has she been broody before?

If one of my hens goes broody and I have eggs in the incubator, I will normally place fake or unfertilized eggs underneath her and let her sit on those. I then let all the chicks hatch in my incubator, and after they all fluff out, I'll slip them under her that evening.

This method has almost always worked well for me before, but I have some pretty reliable broodies. After you slip the chicks in with her, keep a very close eye on them. Some hens, especially first time broodies, will react badly to chicks, even if she hatched them herself. If there's any signs of aggression between her and the chicks, remove them immediately. For the first few days, she and the chicks may have some communication problems (ie, her calling them and them not responding, etc.). This is simply because hens will talk to their chicks while they incubate, so they know her voice after they hatch. Because your chicks were incubated by you, they won't know her. But after a couple days, they should catch on.

Best of luck to you and your broodies!

Thank you
Goldie has never been broody before, and she's done this before too, where she sits on eggs for multiple days, then decides she doesn't actually want to be a mom Maybe I shouldn't be trying to give her eggs lol...
But I have another hen that originally belonged to my mom, her name is Big Mama. Last spring my mom said that one of her hens was broody, and I had a few eggs I wanted to hatch, so I brought them over. I accidentally placed them under the wrong hen. My mom swears she wasn't broody before I put the eggs there. So we ended up with two mamas, and had to split the coop. Most of the chicks from the first broody hen decided they didn't want to be with her, and they found ways around our barrier to be with the other hen (hence I've named her Big Mama ).
I still have my serama girl Kitty, who started with eight eggs and kicked out a bunch, now she has three, due to hatch around the same day. I think I'll give them to her when they hatch, see how it goes

 

[Raptorchick]

Alright, Question #2.... I figure I'll just attach it to this instead of starting a whole new thread
Boyfriend is saying that after Kitty (my broody hen) hatches her babies, she's gonna want to walk around the run with her babies, and I can't keep her "locked up".
I have her in a 4x4, 5ft tall coop, fresh shavings, food, water, very low perches, a heating plate (just in case), and it has two low windows that the babies/momma can peek out to meet the other chickens. Babies are now due to hatch in 3ish days, I'm getting ready
I don't think I should let momma/babies out to roam with the big hens until they are at least a couple weeks old? Kitty is a serama anyways, and its her first time.....
What do you guys think?

 

[aart]

I like to keep mama in sight of the flock while setting,
then let her and chicks out with flock about a week after hatch.
Can you put the broody coop inside the main run?
She'll have to work her way back into the pecking order.