Broody Hen Thread!

[Puddin Fluff]

Here is my broody Mama. She has a couple of siblings who are wanting to join her and I am trying to discourage. I still need eggs to eat.

This is the Papa to be if all works out.

 

[n3kms]

Here is how my broody situation is going. Anastasia has been faithfully sitting on the fav nest in the coop. Apparently she scares away all comers because the two eggs I have marked are the only two she has been sitting on. Candled one and it was growing. So, last night I go out to the coop to get her out and put the dishpan with straws and eggs in and she is sitting In a different box on 4 other eggs. So I put the straw and eggs in the dishpan and put it in her original spot and take her out of the wrong nestbox and put her in the dishpan. She was still there this morning. This afternoon she was in the wrong nestbox again on 6 eggs. I moved her back and she stayed put. Apparently when she gets up to do her stuff she goes for the box with the most eggs. There is probably no hope for the two eggs that she has intermittently abandoned but I was hoping to use her for my incubator eggs anyway. I've been working on her broody coop. When I'm done I will move her and she will only have one nestbox to chose from. I would like to slip 2-3 of the incubator eggs under her near hatch time if she continues to sit and if she does okay when they hatch give them all to her to raise. How does this plan sound and at what point would you put the eggs under her? They are due April 21.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Here is how my broody situation is going. Anastasia has been faithfully sitting on the fav nest in the coop. Apparently she scares away all comers because the two eggs I have marked are the only two she has been sitting on. Candled one and it was growing. So, last night I go out to the coop to get her out and put the dishpan with straws and eggs in and she is sitting In a different box on 4 other eggs. So I put the straw and eggs in the dishpan and put it in her original spot and take her out of the wrong nestbox and put her in the dishpan. She was still there this morning. This afternoon she was in the wrong nestbox again on 6 eggs. I moved her back and she stayed put. Apparently when she gets up to do her stuff she goes for the box with the most eggs. There is probably no hope for the two eggs that she has intermittently abandoned but I was hoping to use her for my incubator eggs anyway. I've been working on her broody coop. When I'm done I will move her and she will only have one nestbox to chose from. I would like to slip 2-3 of the incubator eggs under her near hatch time if she continues to sit and if she does okay when they hatch give them all to her to raise. How does this plan sound and at what point would you put the eggs under her? They are due April 21.

Calculate how long she has been sitting, then if its been a couple of weeks (I think it has?), I would give the eggs that are about 4 or 5 days from hatch. You want her to begin to hear the chicks inside the eggs before she starts hatching them to help kick her into lock down.

LofMc

 

[GigiAndClaire]

Hey,


Everyone! this will be a thread about broody hens! Post pics, tell stories, ask questions, suggest, ANYTHING!! /img/smilies/wee.gif


GOOOOO!!!!! /img/smilies/celebrate.gif/img/smilies/celebrate.gif

 

[GigiAndClaire]

So really new to this I assume I have a broody Banty hen she sits on big eggs and I move her to get them out and put her back and she continues to sit on nothing. What would happen if I let her sit on the eggs in the coop and dont move her out? I have a rooster so how long do they sit before the eggs will hatch, if they are going to? The chickens are all 1 yr old.

 

[n3kms]

Calculate how long she has been sitting, then if its been a couple of weeks (I think it has?), I would give the eggs that are about 4 or 5 days from hatch. You want her to begin to hear the chicks inside the eggs before she starts hatching them to help kick her into lock down.

LofMc

Thanks, that's what I wondered, if they were aware of the babies moving and it made a difference on how they accepted them. At hatch due date she will have been broody about 15 or 16 days.

 

[aart]

Here is how my broody situation is going. Anastasia has been faithfully sitting on the fav nest in the coop. Apparently she scares away all comers because the two eggs I have marked are the only two she has been sitting on. Candled one and it was growing. So, last night I go out to the coop to get her out and put the dishpan with straws and eggs in and she is sitting In a different box on 4 other eggs. So I put the straw and eggs in the dishpan and put it in her original spot and take her out of the wrong nestbox and put her in the dishpan. She was still there this morning. This afternoon she was in the wrong nestbox again on 6 eggs. I moved her back and she stayed put. Apparently when she gets up to do her stuff she goes for the box with the most eggs. There is probably no hope for the two eggs that she has intermittently abandoned but I was hoping to use her for my incubator eggs anyway. I've been working on her broody coop. When I'm done I will move her and she will only have one nestbox to chose from. I would like to slip 2-3 of the incubator eggs under her near hatch time if she continues to sit and if she does okay when they hatch give them all to her to raise. How does this plan sound and at what point would you put the eggs under her? They are due April 21.

I'd give her a few days to get settled in the broody coop.....
.....make sure she's gonna stay put and is eating drinking pooping before taking away the dud eggs and giving her the incubated ones.

Best of cLuck...can't wait to see what happens with this.

 

[chickalicia]

Don't give up on the eggs that r growing and she goes and sits on other eggs. I had a broody sit on her eggs up till last week and I found them all kicked out of nest and have fallen a good three feet. I put them in the incubator after candelijg and even one. Of the eggs that had a crack in it after being repaired most hatched in incubator. So maybe if you have inc. put em in there or gather all eggs and put in one place for her to sit on

 

[n3kms]

Don't give up on the eggs that r growing and she goes and sits on other eggs. I had a broody sit on her eggs up till last week and I found them all kicked out of nest and have fallen a good three feet. I put them in the incubator after candelijg and even one. Of the eggs that had a crack in it after being repaired most hatched in incubator. So maybe if you have inc. put em in there or gather all eggs and put in one place for her to sit on

Since the timing was off I had intended to put them in the incubator when she had hatched the others but I figured with her abandoning them twice for an unknown period of time they wouldn't make it. But I will candle them when the time comes and see what's what.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

So really new to this I assume I have a broody Banty hen she sits on big eggs and I move her to get them out and put her back and she continues to sit on nothing. What would happen if I let her sit on the eggs in the coop and dont move her out? I have a rooster so how long do they sit before the eggs will hatch, if they are going to? The chickens are all 1 yr old.

Welcome to BYC and welcome to the broody thread!

Different questions here, so I'll attempt one at a time.

It sounds like she is broody. If she is staying in a nest on eggs or nothing pretty much 24 hours of the day with only a quick eat/drink/poo...she is broody.

Yes, you can put eggs under her to let her hatch while she is in the main coop. It really depends on your broody, your flock, and your coop conditions as to how successful that will be. Some brood in the main coop and do just fine. Others have troubles. Some broodies get confused after their daily outing and return to the wrong nest. (Not good for the eggs as they chill). Some higher pecking order broodies hog the favorite nest and intimidate everyone else such that you have eggs being laid in the yard or odd places (not good if you want to gather and eat eggs). Some lower order broodies get pushed out of the nest by other hens wanting to lay, so they take up residence elsewhere abandoning the developing eggs (not good if you want chicks). Some hens stick to the nest, but you get the dog pile on top of them, and with all the coming and going eggs get stomped on and kicked out (not good for developing eggs).

All to say...can you brood in the main coop without removing them? Yes, if you have the right hen and right flock. Could there be problems with this? Yes, commonly enough that most of us separate out our broody so she can do her job in peace and quiet without distraction.

It takes 21 days from day of set to day of hatch, plus or minus a day.

If you decide to set eggs under her, mark the fertile eggs, and place them at the same time under her removing all other eggs. If you keep her in the main coop, you will have to check daily, if not twice, to make sure she is sitting on only the marked eggs and that the others haven't laid so many she can no longer cover them all...because she will keep scooping more and more eggs under her. It is very important that later eggs are not left under her as it will cause a staggered hatch...some chicks hatch at day 21 that were set 21 days before; some chicks aren't due until day 23 or 24 or 25 since they were set later. Momma however can hear them in the shell and refuses to budge. It is normal for her to sit one or two days more after the first hatches, and the chicks can do without food and water that long, but longer than that momma will have to make a decision to either get up and care for her babies abandoning the babies in the shell, or ignore the hatched babies and stay the course on those who still have several more days left to go...this often causes losses one way or the other.

Keep us posted of your progress if you decide to brood, and good luck.
LofMc