Broody Hen Thread!

[fisherlady]

My first Broody!!!! I was hoping some of my Cochins would go Broody....But I guess Wynonna the Wyandotte will do!

Here she is in the shared nest box. Once I knew she was serious I attempted moving her to a private area where the other hens woudn't take the Eggs I wanted her to hatch!






I think she likes her new digs!!! She gets her own food and water and dosen't have to share anything!

Congrats on the broody! She certainly looks determined! Nice set up for her! She will be a beautiful mamma.

 

[wewcz5]

My hen had 5 of her eggs hatch Saturday and Sunday. She still has 6 eggs in her nest. One is piped and all are cold. She has been on the nest but I notice her lifting up because the babies are walking around. I tried to candle the eggs and only give her the most developed eggs. She has 21 eggs in there! Should I rescue the cold eggs? I have week old chicks in a brooder from the feed store. I can put them in there is I have to. I really would rather my hen keep them but if there going to die I will put them in the bator.

 

[wewcz5]

My hen had 5 of her eggs hatch Saturday and Sunday. She still has 6 eggs in her nest. One is piped and all are cold. She has been on the nest but I notice her lifting up because the babies are walking around. I tried to candle the eggs and only give her the most developed eggs. She has 21 eggs in there! Should I rescue the cold eggs? I have week old chicks in a brooder from the feed store. I can put them in there is I have to. I really would rather my hen keep them but if there going to die I will put them in the bator.

I'm sorry that was supposed to read had 21 eggs. When I moved her to her private area she had 11 eggs. It seems the hatching period is drawing out because the other hens kept laying in her nest. What to do???

 

[fisherlady]

My hen had 5 of her eggs hatch Saturday and Sunday. She still has 6 eggs in her nest. One is piped and all are cold. She has been on the nest but I notice her lifting up because the babies are walking around. I tried to candle the eggs and only give her the most developed eggs. She has 21 eggs in there! Should I rescue the cold eggs? I have week old chicks in a brooder from the feed store. I can put them in there is I have to. I really would rather my hen keep them but if there going to die I will put them in the bator.

Edit to remove question about egg count... it was fixed while I was typing reply.
Staggered hatches can often cause a broody problems... she can sit on her nest for 2 or 3 days after the first chick hatches to wait for other eggs to hatch, but after that she needs to be up to take care of the first hatched chicks. If she is up and around to take care of her other chicks then your best option is to pull the unhatched eggs an put them into an incubator to allow them have their best chance to finish hatching. If any more hatch in a day or so you may still be able to sneak them back under the broody at night, but after a few days it may be more problematic and you will have to raise them.

Grafting week old chicks to the hen may cause problems because they may be much bigger than the ones she has hatched herself, but some folks can do it with mixed results. It depends on the size differences of the chicks and the personality of the mother.

Congrats on the 5 she has and I hope the rest do well for you.

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

I'm sorry that was supposed to read had 21 eggs. When I moved her to her private area she had 11 eggs. It seems the hatching period is drawing out because the other hens kept laying in her nest. What to do???

Do what you feel is best hun. Move the new chicks to the bator and let her keep the eggs would be my first choice as she may take some chicks back if nothing else happens with the eggs.

 

[wewcz5]

 Edit to remove question about egg count... it was fixed while I was typing reply.
Staggered hatches can often cause a broody problems... she can sit on her nest for 2 or 3 days after the first chick hatches to wait for other eggs to hatch, but after that she needs to be up to take care of the first hatched chicks.  If she is up and around to take care of her other chicks then your best option is to pull the unhatched eggs an put them into an incubator to allow them have their best chance to finish hatching.  If any more hatch in a day or so you may still be able to sneak them back under the broody at night, but after a few days it may be more problematic and you will have to raise them.

Grafting week old chicks to the hen may cause problems because they may be much bigger than the ones she has hatched herself, but some folks can do it with mixed results. It depends on the size differences of the chicks and the personality of the mother. 

Congrats on the 5 she has and I hope the rest do well for you.

I ended up putting a piece of 1/2 inch wire over the door of her house. Her babies couldn't get the idea of walking up the short board going back in their house. As soon as I put all of them back in mama jumped back on the nest. They have food and water in there so they should be okay.

 

[korlia]

Hi!! Me again. My second broody!! Yay! I need advice. My cochin bantam went broody and I coudn't get bantam eggs anywhere. The only fertilized eggs I could get hold of were those of buff orps and koekoek ( SA breed), so they are "normal" size eggs. The guy gave me 12 eggs but I thought that would be too much for her to cover. So. I gave her six on Friday. She seems to be covering them fine but now Im starting that 6 are to much?? Should I leave it or how should I go about?

 

[fisherlady]

Hi!! Me again. My second broody!! Yay! I need advice. My cochin bantam went broody and I coudn't get bantam eggs anywhere. The only fertilized eggs I could get hold of were those of buff orps and koekoek ( SA breed), so they are "normal" size eggs. The guy gave me 12 eggs but I thought that would be too much for her to cover. So. I gave her six on Friday. She seems to be covering them fine but now Im starting that 6 are to much?? Should I leave it or how should I go about?

Our silkie goes broody quite often, and she weighs less than 2 pounds but has covered 8 eggs and hatched all 8... 6 should be fine for your girl. Just make sure she has plenty of bedding to create a cushy nest to keep them warm in. If they have good bedding amount it helps insulate the eggs to make it easier for the broody to maintain the temps.

I usually candle around day 7-10, any eggs that look clear I give 3 more days and recheck. If I am sure they are clear I then pull them.
I hope you put the other 6 in the incubator, if you did, then you can give her eggs from the Bator to replace ones you take from her if they don't develop, or if you have incubator eggs which hatch at the same time as hers do then you may be able to sneak them under her for her to raise.... though if she ends up with a total of 10 chicks she may need a bit of supplemental heat in her broody area to help if any chicks end up not covered if it is cold in your area. If it is warm then she will probably be fine and you can let her do the work of raising them.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

She looks happy! And I love her digs!.

You are lucky that you were able to move her and she was ok.

I tried to move mine who was sitting in the favorite nesting area and she would not have any of it. She ended up breaking 2 eggs in her 'fight' to get back to her nest, so I just moved them back.

There has been a few nosy girls bugging her, but mostly they have been ok. I often finds an extra egg and 1 was kicked out and had gotten cold.... so she is sitting on 9.

But now I am worried about the hatch. She is right next to the run door. We had put up a wind break a long time ago, so that will help. It has been really cold here and I have not been keeping that door open, but allowing them instead to roan in part of the barn (coop takes up part of it) Any suggestions Lady of McCamley?

Would it be better to put a temp board there with a small opening (I could put some HW cloth up) or completely section the area off with HW cloth.

Also, how long should the chicks and mom be separated from the rest of the flock? And will that area be big enough for that period of time.

Also, as you see, I could add the light for the first few weeks if the temps are really cold here in NH (it will be in single numbers this week). Today is day 15.

Any advice would be helpful.


The last picture is just a cabinet door, could be easily removable. The wooden box to the left of her is open facing her, I thought it would be a good place to put the chicks food when they come.

And as a side note, the girls do not EVER use the nesting boxes above Mildred. They layed where she is or in an orange tub that was next to her (I moved it to give her more room- they are still using it thank goodness!) Oh and 1 girl loves to lay and sit in the milk crate above it all!

You've got a lot of good options...and it all depends on your flock chemistry and the temperament of your broody and the temperament of the chicks and your building setup/materials.

Your set up looks fine as to the cold. They are inside, out of direct weather. The wind break is a very good idea as that will keep cold air blowing in from the door...which you are keeping closed, also good. So that set up is just fine for raising chicks. You could put a light up to keep water from freezing...or not (if you've already got a constant water source). My broody just hatched in very cold temps (wind chill 7 degrees) and babies did fine without any lighting whatsoever. Keeping the drafts and direct weather away is what is important. Ambient cold, not so much so...mom has her down feathers and the little guys run around with their "zipped down jackets" just fine.

As to blocking mom off into a small box of just the nest...I probably wouldn't do that...she needs some room to occasionally stretch her legs a bit when she wants to. A few days after hatch, she will be up teaching the babies to scratch, and babies can get knocked around if there is cramped quarters as she scratches (I lost a chick that way...lesson learned). She also needs to be able to dust bathe to keep parasite load down otherwise babies can become infested (If indoors due to weather, I poultry dust mom, and she dusts babies as they run through her feathers).

At most, if the other hens get too nosy, or if your building has too many nooks and crannies (see paragraph below), I would create a little chick playpen by setting up some sort of partition in front of that nest box. Doesn't have to be really big...I keep my hen and chicks in the broody hutch with its small inside "breezeway run" for at least the first 2 weeks in bad weather which is maybe 2 feet by 7 feet long....then let them out to the attached outdoor run (which is still penned off from the other birds, though everyone can see each other). I keep my broody separate because she is a Banty Silkie and low on the pecking order in a large fowl flock, so she gets no respect by the other birds...however, she stands up for her chicks, so I like to keep the stress down for her.

If you do let them run in the large building as all is well with the flock, check corners and cubbyholes ...I find the little stinkers are experts at getting stuck in the smallest back corner and will just peep like crazy rather than figure out how to go back through the way they came

...I've lost chicks from cold that way...stranding themselves away from mom's heat. I also like having them quartered off as it saves the risk of stranded chicks AND saves a lot of back stress for me....The other thing that can happen with large quarters is...if some of them don't go back to the nest at night with mom (sometimes one or two of the dumb little things will forget what they are doing and not follow mom and siblings back in stranding themselves), you've got to round them up and put them back with her...and they run and fly like Silvester trying to catch Tweetie....so I just quarter off the little darlings with mom until everybody knows the ropes.

Otherwise, mom will take care of them. You probably won't see them much the first 2 weeks in cold weather, mom will be sitting a lot with them tucked under her. After that, they've begun to feather and you'll see them run around more and more. They'll be fully feathered by 4 weeks and looking 6 weeks old. It's amazing how well broody moms grow chicks in cold weather.

Congratulations on your broody, good luck with the hatch,
Lady of McCamley

 

[zinkie]

Thank you very much for taking the time and for all the advice.
I am so nervous!!!

I am sure I will have more questions.