City boy trying farming needs advice, I have a wide variety of hens and two roosters. The roosters are seperate from each other ,each rooster with its own group of hens. Two duplexs making one coup. The lower coup has eggs being layed and the upper coup no eggs being layed. But even though we have 5 eggs in one nest(some brown eggs and white eggs)We don't have any hens sitting on the eggs. Im new at this and learning. Im in east tenn. and the weather has been cold in the morn., warm in the afternoon and has been dry for some time.What can i do to get the hens in the lower coup to sit on their eggs? What can i do to get hens to lay eggs in the upper coup? Help please, Thanks, Paul Herrmann,Rogersville, Tn.(phdw2@aol.com)

-- Paul Herrmann (phdw2@aol.com), November 16, 2001

Answers

Hi Paul,

I'ved had chickens for several years now and just had my first hens set late this spring. My hens that set were Buff Orpingtons and I'm really sold on them. Before I had Dominiques and Black Australorps - I liked them too but they never showed any inkling of setting. I would think this is the wrong time of year to even expect them to set especially with the shorter days of winter - heck my hens are barely laying at all right now.

If you're a reader, a book a highly suggest is A Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow. She explains that the downside to natural incubation is the hen - not you - decides when the process begins. However, on the upside she does all the work and you don't have to worry about power outages and such.

My advice would be to wait until spring and let your eggs accumulate in the nest then to smoke out any broody hens. I do think it's true that some breeds are more prone to set than others.

Also, once a hen does set, I think it's important to remove her and eggs from the flock to get a successful hatch. I was lucky to have an extra "chicken tractor" to put my setting hens in so they were alone and not bothered by any one else.

Good luck!

-- Mel Carroll in Central N.C. (frank.a.carroll@worldnet.att.net), November 16, 2001.

New you are. You don't get hens tositon eggs. They do it when there ready to raise a flock of chicks. No hen in her right mind is going to hatch off a clutch of eggs this time of year.

-- RM (Ron@netzip.com), November 16, 2001.

Mel is right, this is a hen thing. :) They only sit when they feel like it, and there's nothing to change that except time. I'd just enjoy those eggs this fall and let nature take its course next spring.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), November 16, 2001.

Paul, post your question on The Poultry Connection, Leghorn Forum. This forum has many experienced, nice people who will be very happy to help you with questions. As mentioned above, with most poultry species, brooding eggs is seasonal. However, I have a buddy in England with new Ducklings and a friend in Texas with a new hatch of Game chickens! I am jealous! Go figure. visit TPC you will be glad you did. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), November 16, 2001.

I have to agree with the hen thing. If they don't want to sit, there isn't anything you can do. Most chicken, now a days, have that quality breed right out of them, and wouldn't to know what to do. If you are serious about wanting chicks, you need to get a breed of chicken that has the broody qualities. You will find that with silkies, astrolorpe and most bantams. I also recommend going to the Poultry Connection. Lots of veterans over there that will give you good information.

-- Wendy A (phillips-anteswe@pendleton.usmc.mil), November 16, 2001.

Paul, What breed of chickens do you have, and how old are they? I would get a copy of the Murray McMurray Hatchery and read it. It has lots of neat pictures. It also tells you which chickens are production (egg laying)ie nonsetting hens; dual purpose chickens, ie you can eat and get eggs and some will set; and the "rare breed" chickens which seem to have most of the setting types. As mentioned previously, it is fall and the older hen will be molting and not laying. A light on a timer in the chickenhouse will extend the daylight hours and help with egg production. Feeding egglaying granules or pellets at this time will help with egg production and be sure to supply lots of fresh drinking water as an egg is 75% water. You can put nest eggs in the nest boxes to encourage the hens to set too. They get a little discouraged when you remove all the eggs every day. Real eggs will get broken or eaten or rotten, so use an artificial egg for a nest egg. You can make them or buy them, I was told to use golf balls but my chickens don't like them.lol!

-- Karen in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), November 16, 2001.

"getting hens to sit on eggs". Well, you need to work up to this. First, I'd recommend getting a cat, and teaching it to pull in harness, then to come when called and stand while being harnessed. Then do it with a pair of cats, harnessed abreast. Work your way up through a coach-and-four; and when you've mastered getting a team of eight to pull a plough in harness then you can move onto getting a hen to set.

Alternatively, wait until spring.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), November 16, 2001.

Yep, they set when good and ready, not a second sooner, usually in spring or early summer. Having said that, I have two friends whose chickens over the years have raised hatches in November. I have a bunch of Australorp chicks right now that hatched the first weekend in October. The hen is still tending them although they are about a third her size. Go figure.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), November 16, 2001.

Don, I think you have the right idea....

If you really want a broody hen, it is best to get a breed that has not had that tendency"bred out of them" Silkies seem to be the best. (personally, I think they are ugly, but many fanciers view them as beautiful) Delawares, Buff Orpingtons, some lines of the Plymouth Rocks and New Hampshires will go broody. None of the white egg chickens have much chance of becoming broody, except the Dorking. Jim

-- Jim Deweese (jedeweese@earthlink.net), November 17, 2001.

Yep, I can confirm that Buff Orpington Hens are broody. I had six and I could depend on two or three of them wanting to sit on eggs each year. I also have a few Australorpes and Golden Comets. I've never had one of them try to set on a nest. Occasionally an Americana has become broody for me. What about a homemade incubator for the spring? I'm thinking about trying it myself. I would guess there is a wealth of information on all types of incubators right here on this forum.... and many experts that can give their opinion on how to use them. I must say, however, I really enjoy seeing a hen with her brood. She also saves me the work of taking care of the peeps. Remember, a sitting hen should be isolated from the flock. She might not like the place that you choose for her... it takes a few days for them to adjust to the spot you pick. Once they accept it I give them the eggs that I really want them to sit on. It's a good idea to read up on this! I do hope you will have good success! Here's a link to some small incubator plans from Mississippi State U. http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_make_incubator.html

-- Renee at Briar Creek (fakeaddy@nomail.com), November 17, 2001.

This is one of the reasons why I'm chary about talking breeds; when we're facing decades of quarantined separation. Here Australorps are a fairly good setting hen (and who else developed Austral-anythings the way they were meant to be?)(except for Australian Shepherds, which are a totally American breed), but decades of selective breeding can mean divergence of breeds.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), November 17, 2001.

I bet you all thought i was being facetious. Well, I was re-reading a fairly recent thread ( http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=005pMu ) and jumpoff joe says he terraces his hillsides with the aid of a small cat.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), November 17, 2001.