I have 4 hens and 1 rooster.The hens lay 1 egg each day, but all of them lay in the same nest?So there are a pile of eggs now.Do the Hens need their own nest box?
and if so what is the best way of making these nesting boxes.

Rose,
I have one question, are you letting the birds set on the eggs or are you collecting them? If you are collecting them (atleast daily) then they should be fine. I have no idea if you will need more boxes if you are trying to get the hens to set.

Thanks:::
I left 9 eggs in the nest and marked them so i know which are which,then i collect the rest of the eggs daily. someone told me that hens won't lay on other hens eggs in the same nest,is this true?
thanks again

Absolutely not true! Hens instinctively lay where they see other eggs laid. It would be best to move the broody hen and her clutch, nest and all, to a quiet secluded area or even a separate pen to keep the other hens from pestering her and laying their eggs in her nest. I've even seen hens stand on top of a broody hen to lay their egg in with hers.

>It would be best to move the broody hen and her clutch, nest and all, to a quiet secluded area or even a separate pen to keep the other hens from pestering her and laying their eggs in her nest.<

I really dont know who is sitting on the eggs that much because i go and check on my hens/rooster sometimes 5 times a day,and each time there is a different hen sitting or they are all out in the chicken yard.but none of them seem to sitting all the time on the nest.my hens are one year old --maybe not ready for setting on eggs full time?
And how long do i leave these 9 eggs in the nest? is there a simple way of telling if these eggs are going to be hatched chicks? thanks again!

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought you had a broody hen already. By the way, broody hens stay on the nest all of the time, only leaving it to eat and drink a little and to defecate. Broody hens will fluff up when approached and cluck. But, first, what breed(s) of hens do you have? Some breeds rarely go broody at all - leghorns, especially. If you have one of these breeds, then you're probably wasting your time and eggs. I think it's a mistake to leave eggs in the nest because it increases the chance of broken eggs which will lead to egg-eating, a VERY hard habit to break. Just leave a half dozen golf balls or some other artificial eggs in a nest as encouragement. Hens that go broody do so when they get ready, though, regardless of how many eggs are in the nest. Once she does go broody, you can replace the artificial eggs with fertile ones (up to a dozen, MAX). Lastly, most poultry books say 1 nest for every 4 hens but I'd recommend you have at LEAST 2 nests for your 4 hens to prevent egg breakage. Speaking of poultry books, a GREAT one is "A Guide to Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow. I got mine through barnesandnoble.com. I recommend it highly for beginners to the more experienced.

thanks again! you are very helpful. i have 3 rhode island reds and 1 barred rocks. so do you think i should not think that these gals are going to give me any babies????Should i just throw these eggs out then? thanks for the suggestion about book i think i need to get one and some other type of hens?any suggestions on which ones are better for sitting on eggs? thanks again chickster.

Well, you've got breeds that will brood "sometimes". According to my sources, these breeds have been bred to be good egg producers and some of their broodiness has been bred out of them. There's a chance one of your gals will go broody, but you can't expect it. Other heavy brown egg layers that WILL definitely go broody are: Australorps, Orpingtons, Wyandottes, and Brahmas, to name a few. Oftentimes folks will keep a few Silkie Bantam hens that almost STAY broody and use them as incubators (they're neat to look at, too). So, yes, I'd throw those 9 eggs out or, better yet, boil them and feed them (finely chopped only, shell and all) back to your chickens. In the meantime, maybe a friend will allow you to hatch some eggs under one of their broody hens until you get some broodies of your own. Good luck and have fun!

thank you ! for answering some many questions for me.
i guess i better go out and check out my livestock store for some of these BROODY hens! well my gals are very sweet and nice to be around.they are great layers so that good but i really did want some babies being born this year.well there's always next year.
thanks again!

I am new at raising chickens! I have one hen and one rooster. This is the first time that the hen has layed eggs. She layed her first egg on Oct. 10 and has layed one egg each day since. She is now up to 12 eggs. I have left the eggs alone. Will the eggs still hatch if she begins to set them soon or are they no good? Also, I have built her a pen in which to set her eggs. Should I move her eggs and begin leaving her penned up in order to encourage her to set? Thanks in advance for the advice.

how cold can the eggs get before thay are no longer alive? I have Banty Hens that I am collecting eggs from. I want to get quite a few. How long can you hold the eggs before the embryo dies? I have an incubator.

Joany, Janet Stromberg's book," A Guide to Better Hatching" says best temperature for keeping hatching eggs before incubation is 40f-60f. They can stand down to freezing for a short time or above 60f for a short time. But best to gather eggs several times a day, if you want to hatch them. Date your eggs the day they are layed (in pencil--even id the hen and rooster, if you want to know whose chick is whose) and put them small end down, in egg cartons. Elevate one end of each carton and reverse once or twice a day. Eggs up to one week old hatch best, 2 weeks--okay, but hatchability declines after that and while it has happened, 3 or more weeks old is said to be a waste of time. So if you are not ready to use the incubator just yet, watch the dates on your eggs and after 2 weeks, maybe another day or 2, start them all at the same time. And good luck! CJR

trying to get an idea of how to build a brooder for new chicks if they hatch, can anyone give me an idea of what is needed as far as materials and how to build it?? first time trying to hatch chicks thx.

Is there any way to "make" a hen set on eggs/or go broody? I've tried my own experiment, not knowing what to expect. I took a year old buff-orpington put her and 15 (too many I now know!) eggs in a quiet building, gave her food and water and kept her penned up with wire across the top for plenty of fresh air. Oh boy! She ate a couple of the eggs! Now what? I figured maybe it was stress and too many eggs. She then buried all the rest of the eggs, and layed one of her own and set on that. I found about 6 of the eggs and gently put them back under her, and took out the rest. I thought things were going good, she set on them for about a week. Yesterday, she moved 3 of the eggs completely over to the other side of her pen, then later ate one. Did I ruin a good hen? Is there any way I can put her back into the rest of the flock later on (20 other hens and 3 roosters) and hope she won't continue to eat eggs? I think I will let her set until the 21 days are up and see if any hatch. I may try to "make" one set again, but maybe a little different approach.i.e. letting the hen lay most of her own eggs in the pen, not introducing more eggs until she has several under her.Any ideas shared would be greatly appriciated.

Karrie, There is no way you can MAKE a hen set, as it is entirely up to genetics, hormones (and Mother Nature) when or whether a hen will set. However, there are some vital signs to watch for when you are hoping the event will take place! First of all, each hen has her own rhythm. One hen (of a setting breed--some breeds genetically will never set), will lay a "clutch" of eggs, (maybe 15-maybe 40) varies from hen to hen, and then her temperature drops a couple of degrees, she may spend a night on the nest (eggs or not), and in another day, she will be SET and you can find her growly, squeely, maybe peckpeck, and she will not get off the nest! Until this happens, you can forget your attempt, which seemed so logical--just won't work. If you have eggs you want to set, you collect them daily, date them in pencil!!!, and place in an egg carton in a cool place--not fridg. When and if the hen begins to set--when she stays on the nest a couple of nights and days, then at night, place the freshest eggs and the number you want her to cover (according to her size and ability to completely cover them), mark your calendar for 21 days later. This gives you time to Move the Hen to her own quarters for incubating, where other hens cannot lay in the nest with her, and have things ready for the babies when they hatch. Hens don't do any of this--some are great mothers (but after years and years of henraising, I still let them hatch, but raise the babies myself under lights and in their own quarters!) You might obtain the little paperback book, "A Guide to Better Hatching", from one of the Poultry catalogs. Tells you so much about hatching! It is such a great experience--never get tired of it. So change tactics, don't blame the dear hen--she can't do a thing about it, and wait for the day you have a "setter". Good luck. CJR

CJR, Thank you for responding. I bought a incubator this spring and a WEEK after I started it, one of my Buff Orpington hens started setting. I had about a 50% hatch from the incubator, while the hen had 100%. I let her keep them and have been watching the diferences between the two batches. We (I) have enjoyed them a lot. This is my first year with an incubator,and a setting hen. I'm blessed for sure! (I've had R.I. Reds and Red Stars for about 6 years and they never set). Twice now I've thought a Buff hen was ready to hatch a batch, showing all the signs, and lo-and-behold, they got up and left after a few days, before I got a chance to move them into their own apartment. Did I wait too long to move them? I wanted to wait to be sure they were doing the real thing. Will putting some of those plastic Easter eggs in one of the nests help?