Butterbot Posted September 6, 2021 Report Share Posted September 6, 2021 I'm tired of throwing mountains of grain at my chickens- how specifically do I keep them broody? Their weight is good, they've eaten a pile of grain, should I just leave them alone? I built their enclosure pretty far from the rest of my stuff? Should I just back off and trust the process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saricane Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 I have the same issue. An enclosure in the heart of the base, with 3 henboxes, 4 or 5 hens and a rooster. I gave them hundreds of grain, but they are all stuck at 4 portions, and the eggs in the henboxes all have the label "a broody hen is needed". I really wonder if this new process introduced in 1.15 is fully functionnal or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junawood Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 Yup, same problem. I don't really need those chickens, but it's weird and it used to be really easy, and the new process also worked in a creative test world (though those chicks turned into teenage mutant chickens ), so I'm not sure what's going on. In that one pen next to my house in my normal survival world I have one rooster, one hen, one henbox, one trough and I gave them enough grain and after a while there were three eggs in the henbox. A couple of months and more grain later...still those three eggs in the henbox while the hen just went through different stages and lay more eggs on the ground. Now I added a few more henboxes and troughs with grain to see if that changes anything, or if I have to stay away for...a year? I dunno. But it's definitely not working the way I'd expect it to, even if "Be careful not to spook them or the incubation period might take longer." [wiki] is true, because getting too close for a moment shouldn't stop the whole process or whatever happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philtre Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 I find that occasionally if the incubation timer isn't progressing you just have to pick up all the eggs and start over. Feed them until they start laying, then try to stay at least 11 (? I forget exactly what the panic range is) blocks away from the coop for a few days. Animals like foxes and wolves coming into range will also spook the hens, so you may want a second perimeter fence around the coop about 11 (or whatever it is) blocks out. It feels like it always take a lot longer than 5 days, even if you don't go near the chickens, and sometimes, like I said, it seems that the process just stalls out and has to be reset with fresh eggs. I think it helps to have just a few hens, maybe because they have more chances to eat when you fill the troughs than they would if there were a lot of hens. 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saricane Posted November 12, 2021 Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 (edited) I set a new layout for my little "poultry factory", according to what @Philtre said. I built a very long but narrow enclosure, not too close to my base. I placed the trough at one end (the closest to my base), and the henboxes at the other end. So i can fill the trough without disturbing the ladies in their boxes. And it works. There are chicks now. Fortunately, if the hens are disturbed and leave the box, the process will not abort. Edited November 12, 2021 by Saricane 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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