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1)   If one of your hens is sitting in the nest box of the hen house puffed up and refuses to come out you can assume she’s broody. If removed from the eggs she will often peck or squawk at you in disapproval. When set down on the ground she may slump on the ground for a few minutes before rushing off to feed and drink.

2)   If broody hens are set on a nest and haven’t appeared from the coop for breakfast they will need to be lifted off to eat drink and defecate.  This is because hens can lose a lot of condition when sitting and will become weak and pale in the comb. On the day when eggs are expected to hatch leave her well alone.

3)   A Hens egg will take 21 days to hatch from start of incubation (not when they are laid) Bantams eggs could hatch sooner than this while guinea fowl and duck eggs take 28 days to hatch.

4)   When hatching birds there are always going to be excess cockerels. This will not become evident until they start to mature unless they are an auto sexing breed. Depending on the breed they may make good table birds. Occasionally good homes can be found for these male birds but they can be difficult to place. Keeping several cockerels together will lead to fight at sexual maturity. The hens will also find too much male attention exhausting and may then stop laying. There should only be one male per hen house and run.

5)   To stop a hen from brooding, discourage her by placing her in a slatted or wire bottomed cage, making sure she had food and water. This will make it difficult for her to sit on her eggs. Some breeds are strong willed and it may take a while for the message to sink in.

6)   If hens are loosing their feathers don’t panic. Birds go through an annual moult usually in the late summer or early autumn. Some loose hardly any feathers while other will look rather plucked and naked. Hens which are moulting will stop laying as it takes lot out of them growing back new feathers.

7)   If you need to catch a flighty hen then best to wait until she has roosted for the night in the coop. Then gently take her from the perch and while they are in the darkness they should remain calm. Chasing a hen can be extremely stressful and may be harmful to both you and the birds involved.

8)   From time to time a hen will get sick. Then there may be hard options to face such as having the bird put to sleep. If possible a hen should be taken to the vet as soon as possible as the condition may be easily treatable. A poorly hen should never be left to suffer