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Thanks for sharing. What a good dog you have.

It was day 17 and it was a huge mess. I still had 3 chicks hatch, but 2 eggs were lost in the explosion and another 4 didn't hatch (eggtopsy showed almost fully formed chicks, so I think it was bacteria, as they were liberally coated with rotten egg goo and there was only so much I could do to...

I've struggled with the same issue, having hens go broody in mid-summer when temps are over 100. I always feel bad for them panting away on the nest. The best I could come up with was to set a frozen jug of water as close to (but not inside) her nest as I could get while still leaving free...

That's tough. I had a lone chick rejected and was agonizing what to do, but luckily a second chick hatched late that I had thrown in the incubator after mom walked away from it, so that made 2. At that point it was worth it to set up a brooder. The feed store had a couple of 10 day old...

I'm happy to report that my two broodies who rejected their chicks are no longer broody. No eggs in the coop, plus constantly pushing them off the nest finally took hold. I haven't seen eggs from them yet but they have been off the nest for a few days now. I'm very relieved that I didn't...

That's plan B, if harassing them off the nests doesn't work. I've also heard of other people putting ice packs under the hens. My hope is that with Fall coming on, maybe some of the broody-mania will wane and discouraging them from the nest boxes for a couple of days will be enough. At...

Operation harass a broody has commenced. They've been pulled off the nest twice. They have returned, but look more alert and less trance-like. Next time I pull them, I'm going to remove the straw from their favorite boxes as well. At least I have the pleasure of watching Buff with her 4...

They are both pretty good about nest breaks, but you are right, it would be better for them to be not broody. In the short term, I'm going to try physically moving them off the nest each morning and night and zealously removing eggs, and anything that looks like an egg, from the coop. I think...

Well, my attempt to break my broody hens be handing out chicks was only partially successful. I snuck in last night and put 2 under my Buff and one each under a Sussex and a 1 year old Sussex-mix. Insertion was no problem. I snuck up a hour later and everything seemed fine. This morning...

Well, here it goes. I have 4 chicks in my incubator to dispense tonight to 3 broody hens. The BO will by the lucky recipient of 2 chicks and the others will get 1 each. It is a less then ideal situation, so my fingers are crossed that it all works out.

That's wonderful! It's nice to hear a happy ending.

We had to build on an extension to our coop as a grow-out area for our youngsters. They are only 8 1/2 weeks old, but getting big so fast. One cockerel has started crowing and there is a lot of posturing going on. When they hit 12 weeks, the biggest and most unruly of the boys are going to...

If you give a broody hen just one chick to raise, will it be OK? So far 3 of my 5 eggs in the bator have hatched and another one is pipping. I'm pretty sure egg #5 is going to be a quitter. Problem is I set the eggs when I had ONE broody hen, now I have THREE. That means one hen will get...

I would first try to stick them back under her where she made her new nest, but it's a long shot. Maybe she will hear them peeping and decide to stay put? My only other thought would be to try to put together a makeshift incubator -- maybe a box with some holes/venting cut into it, set on...

I'm back here for some more advice. Sorry about the long post. After yearning for more broody hens, I got my wish. Now I have my hands full! I'm on my 4th broody this year. The first one I expected -- she has gone broody every spring. As a result of her brood, I already have a...

That's too bad about your neighbor taking the chicken eggs, Warrens. They must have gotten an unpleasant surprise when then went to eat them. I'm going to have to assume that in a day or two, she is going to get off the nest to raise "her" duckling. At that point, she is unlikely to be...

How did the duckling adoption happen? Did she hatch the egg? Was she in a broody phase and you gave it her then? Or, did she just glom onto the duckling when she saw it? I've heard it is very rare, but not completely unheard of, for a hen to adopt chicks if she doesn't think they hatched...

If you have already set her with the fertile eggs, I would not do the "practice run" with fake eggs. I would move her and eggs over now and just watch closely to see that she accepts the new nest. Other more experienced chicken people here may have a different view.

Very interesting observations about commercial breeding and broodiness. I very much agree that something important has been lost of the chicken's nature when selectively bred for egg production/looks. Three years ago we ordered 16 hatchery chicks -- 8 orpington and 8 sussex. We picked...

Yay! My hen adopted the late chick I stuck under her last night. She was up walking and clucking around the brooder this morning and I saw all 9 tottering after her. I hope she can take one more tonight as that last hatcher looks pretty lonely in the incubator.