A
Anonymous
Guest
Have had 3 very broody hens for a week of so now. The maran always lays and has been sitting round between an old belfast sink and the house wall - straight on to the bare ground. We have hatching eggs that we would like the hens to incubate. We have made wee safe private areas for the 3 of them and tonight put them in with some straw, food and water, and some eggs (not the hatching ones) - just to see if they would settle on the nests. 2 of them were perfectly happy and took to it straight away - they had been sitting in one of the laying boxes in the coop. However the maran doesnt seem to have taken to sitting on the eggs. Do you think it might be the straw - as I say she always lays straight on to the ground and had been brooding there for a while now. Should I remove the straw, try something different or just let her do it her way ? One of my other hens successfully incubated and hatched 2 wee chicks and I had moved her when she was broody from the coop into one of those large dog crates just with a wee basket with some hay in it. Need to give her all the help I can - maybe I should cobble something together round in her favoured corner. She had been sitting there - not locked up at night and so obviously I want her safe - but also happy. Any comments would be well received. My plan was to see how they took to their new surroundings and if happy I would replace the eggs they are currently sitting on with the hatchng ones I would like them to bring on for me. Many thanks. N