any info about sitting hens

[eleanor2]

my daughter has a cockerel.they collect many eggs every day.but she thinks one is ready to sit her eggs.any info anyone on how you know when a hen is ready to sit.how do you set apart your nesting boxes etc.will a hen stay on her egg,daughters children go collecting the eggs.she thinks they might have frightened a sitting hen.

[sunflower]

A hen has a built-in calculator! She knows when she has laid a clutch...12 eggs and will start to go broody....that is...even if the 12 eggs are not there, she will be reluctant to come out of the nesting box, even for the sunshine and will sit there. As far as I know, you cannot frighten a sitting hen. In fact I think it is the other way around. If a hen goes broody and you do'nt want her to, she will be very persistent. Some henkeepers have very firm ways to stop their hens going broody. Dipping their hen's bottoms in cold water or locking her in the outside lu for 24 hours.!!!! How exciting if your daughter's hens are going to sit and hatch. She might need a brooding henhouse where she wo'nt be disturbed, because the other hens will want to go and lay in the nesting box and will line up all day waiting to get in and make a dreadful noise. It is also important that, if she succeeds in hatching out her young, she and her babes definately need a separate henhouse and run. Other hens can turn and be dangerous for tiny chicks. The chicks, as they grow cannot be returned to the main henhouse until they 'come into lay' otherwise they will be henpecked. Once they start to lay, then they are considered as equals with the other hens. Let us know with pics how it progresses.

[eleanor2]

hi sunflower thanks for info.will forward it to daughter.little grandson is only 4 so i imagine he would only get egg off nest if hen not sitting on it.the hen did go mad at grandson.this is what is making daughter think things arnt normal.a couple of the hens are acting strange. her hens are fed,watered,cleaned and allowed to roam all day.shut up at night.other than that daughter is learning as she goes along.