Bitchin’ Chickens Broody Hens 2026

Six years ago I posted an article entitled ‘Do As I Say, Not As I Do’, the story of one of my broody hens, Shona. This edition might be called ‘Do As I Say… Part Two” or maybe ‘Timing Is Everything’. It’s a bit of a convoluted tale, so you’ll have to pay close attention to keep up with all the moving parts.

Two of my hens went broody in March – too early in the season, in my opinion. After two weeks, Piggy packed it in, followed shortly thereafter by Betty. I knew they’d go broody again so that was fine by me. No sooner had sanity returned to the coop when two more hens went broody. Despite my best efforts to dissuade them five weeks later they were still convinced sitting in an empty nest box would result in a clutch of fluffy chicks.

I usually plan when I let my hens sit on eggs so that I have multiple broody hens in case one hatch go sideways, as well as timing hatch day for when I’m on vacation and can monitor things. I’m not sure what I was thinking – maybe pity for those two (Buffy & Luna) who had been sitting for so long or worry about their health – but I put them in the broody coop, each with their own nestbox and four eggs. I only wanted blue or green eggs to ensure that I didn’t end up with any frazzled chicks. Four eggs seems hardly worth the effort. What if some, or heaven forbid none, of them hatched? That’s how little foresight I had. So the next night I gathered eight more coloured eggs, marked them with an ‘x’, and slid four under each hen. Eight isn’t my maximum but I learned my lesson last year by putting eggs under my hens over a three day period.

By this time, I had more hens going broody. I moved Ember to the adjoining broody area and put eight coloured eggs under her on the first night and added four more on the second. I left the other broody hens in the main coop as back up in case any of these three hens got off their eggs once chicks started hatching, leaving the others to die. If a hen is really broody it’s easy to give her incubated eggs that will hatch in just a matter of days (or hours, in some cases).

Ember & Piggy

Piggy was still broody so I set her up in the shared coop with Ember. She’s been a reliable pinch hitter in the past so I knew she’d take care of any abandoned eggs. I gave her one of Ember’s eggs to keep her motivated. The next day I moved the four marked ‘x’ so that she would have something to hatch.

On the second day I found Ember off her eggs and Piggy, happy as a clam sitting on them. Who said chickens can’t count? She clearly knew that eight eggs were better than four. I could not get Piggy back on to her eggs and that sent Ember Into a flap. I threw in the towel. I took Piggy back to the main coop and put all the eggs in one nest box to the approval of Ember.

Remember when I said my planning was off? I wasn’t kidding. I’m usually well prepared for chick season which includes treating my hens with Ivermectin to kill mites. My hens in this particular 4’x4’ coop have no access to the outside, so no dust bath. I’ve tried providing them with a litter box filled with sand and ash, but that was a hard ‘no’. My oversight meant that my poor hens were dealing with the little critters longer than necessary. I did treat them, but feel guilty that it was too little, too late.

Mites In The Broody Coop

Buffy proved the error of my ways. Four days later, just a couple of days from hatch she was off her eggs which were now cold. As luck would have it I discovered this minutes from having to catch a ferry to work. I was in as much of a flap as my hen. I carried Betty back to the main coop and looked for Piggy who was normally in the nest box trying to be broody. Unfortunately her timing was off and she was out having a snack. I scooped up another broody hen and just as I was about to put her on the eggs I spied Piggy heading for the coop. Back on the eggs. She was having none of it. Hens are best moved at night, in the dark. This was 6:45 am and way too light for her to be tricked into some nefarious plot. I had to put Plan B into action. I left Piggy where she was and added Ember to the coop. There were three nest boxes, one with 12 eggs. Piggy was walking around, Ember was in a nestbox, but not the one with the eggs. I had to run to catch my ferry and hope that someone would feel maternal and save the eggs.

When I got home four hours later Piggy was agitated to get out and Ember was on the eggs. Crisis averted – or at least for a day or so.

The next day Buffy’s chicks started to hatch. Twenty four hours later, her first two chicks appeared. Within 48 hours nine chicks had hatched and the remaining seven eggs were abandoned. One had started to pip so I added it to Ember’s stash, then set Piggy up in a dog kennel with the last six. Last year, in a very similar situation she managed to hatch six of seven abandoned eggs, including some that emerged three or four days after the first ones. I wasn’t so hopeful with these ones, given their inconsistent incubation at the end. Most chicks that don’t make it usually perish within the first three or the last three days of incubation.

Late Quitters

The only thing worse than discovering full formed chicks that have died within hours before hatching is watching chicks die after hatch.

I’m writing this several months after the fact and just reading this is making me confused!

So what was the result of all this chaos:

Buffy & Luna were housed in the same 4’x4’ coop in separate nest boxes. Once their nine chicks hatched they moved into one nestbox and raised them together. (One egg broke, 5 were unfertilized, one died just before hatch and one died at 4 weeks old).

Buffy & Luna And Their Nine Chicks

Ember’s chicks hatched at day later. She had her own compartment in the adjoining coop. Of the 13 eggs I put under her (including some that had been abandoned by the first two hens) only three hatched. Seven were unfertilized/didn’t develop, 3 were late quitters, and one died shortly after it hatched. After a couple of days she moved her chicks into the same coop with Buffy and Luna, in her own nest box.

Piggy hatched eight of the eleven eggs. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, three hatched but died within hours. This is unprecedented for me and I still don’t know the cause. I asked a chicken friend for her opinion and she said in her experience weak chicks came from poor parent stock. Most of those eggs came from a friend so that might be the issue, although some of those chicks appeared vigorous at hatch.

Betty & Chicks

Betty, who was given the eggs that her coopmates had abandoned didn’t fare so well either. Nine of the dozen hatched. I had to assist one of them and two others also died shortly after hatch.

Assisted Hatch Chick Survived

Instead of being excited to check the chicks each day I started dreading it. Fifty one eggs produced twenty-nine chicks! Of that bunch, four were late quitters (died right before hatch) and eight died post-hatch. It was sad to see so many losses. I’m hoping that was an anomaly and next year’s chick season is more prosperous.

Luna, Buffy & Ember

The surviving 22, now either 14 or 18 weeks old, are all doing well. My goal was to produce blue egg laying frizzles. I ended up with nine frizzles, five of which are cockerels. Overall my gender ratio was slightly skewed: 13 cockerels and only nine pullets. Genetics is an interesting thing and hatching, even when left to ‘nature’ is not for the feint of heart.

FYI: For brevity, I’ve skipped telling you all about the other hens that have gone broody, that I didn’t give eggs to as well as Piggy and Buffy going broody several times over the summer. My partner and I adopted a six year old Standard Poodle, Cedar, just after the first chicks hatched. Consequently, I ended up spending less time with my chicks than usual and didn’t get as many photos as I would’ve liked. I’ve recently retired and hope to remedy that for next year’s hatching season.