Broody Hen Thread!

[PD-Riverman]

So I have less than 2 weeks to go till chicks hatch and now I have a coop to hold 4 hens, should I move my hens now and let them hatch them out in a completely closed coop with small run? If I do move them does it need to be complete dark out?

A completely closed coop will be to hot, but I have a feeling you did not mean it "that" way. I have "tractors" that has 4 separate sections---a nexting box and a fenced in area---one for each broody. I move all my broodies to these---Just had my 50th in the last year to hatch. I Move them in the dark of night----using no flash light----If I have to use a flash light to see where I need to walk---I use a dim light(about dead batteries) and only flash it on for a second to get my bearings---even when I place the nest into the nesting box I do not turn on a light. I already have my water and food in the wire/fenced in section before I move them---I set the nest in---ease the door shut---back away---so I do not disturb her any more. Out of 50 moves----I had 50 to stay on the nest and 50 to hatch.

 

[MelissaZeno]

Thank you so much for your help! My worry is right now they are nesting in old milk crates. Who do I bput in first the broodies or the eggs?

 

[DanaeRose]

Hey there, I am having issues with a broody buff orphington. She is almost 2 and this is her first brooding, but she refuses to sit ON eggs. I left her in the coop to make sure is was a genuine episode, cuz she had a change of heart earlier in the year and only lasted 3 days, but she always sits in boxes that DON'T have eggs. I will put some eggs under her and recheck a few hours later or the next morning and she will have moved....... so I put her in my garden away from the nesting boxes to hopefully break her brooding cuz she is not doing me ANY good......

. Has anybody ever experienced this?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Thank you so much for your help! My worry is right now they are nesting in old milk crates. Who do I bput in first the broodies or the eggs?

Thats where I feel I do not have a problem---like some---Mine sit in the 13"x13"milk crate----most of the front has been sawed out. When I move her---I pick up the crate---with her still sitting on her eggs---set the crate in the hatching pen---never removing her from her eggs.

If you have to pick her up off her eggs----you will have to get answers from someone else-----I never do that----Because "I" feel I will probably have one ever once in a while that will not accept that type move. All my nesting boxes/hatching pens have been modified/built to accept these milk crates---just for this purpose.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hey there, I am having issues with a broody buff orphington. She is almost 2 and this is her first brooding, but she refuses to sit ON eggs. I left her in the coop to make sure is was a genuine episode, cuz she had a change of heart earlier in the year and only lasted 3 days, but she always sits in boxes that DON'T have eggs. I will put some eggs under her and recheck a few hours later or the next morning and she will have moved....... so I put her in my garden away from the nesting boxes to hopefully break her brooding cuz she is not doing me ANY good......

. Has anybody ever experienced this?

I get one once in a while that might change her mind in the first couple days---so I always wait 3 to 4 days before I set them. As far as moving off the eggs---I have had that to happen when she was sharing the nest with other hens----which is one reason I move them. If she is staying on the nest at night---after a few nights I would move her to the hatching pen with fake eggs----see what she does for a couple days---if she stays on the nest I would put eggs under her, but "I" would NOT trust her with $200 per dozen eggs---LOL.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

I've got three little chicks (including the "slosher"). These were ferti5eggs from the grocery store (Rockland brand). Hopefully the integration with the other broodies and their three week old chicks will go ok.

 

[SIMZ]

Hey there, I am having issues with a broody buff orphington. She is almost 2 and this is her first brooding, but she refuses to sit ON eggs. I left her in the coop to make sure is was a genuine episode, cuz she had a change of heart earlier in the year and only lasted 3 days, but she always sits in boxes that DON'T have eggs. I will put some eggs under her and recheck a few hours later or the next morning and she will have moved....... so I put her in my garden away from the nesting boxes to hopefully break her brooding cuz she is not doing me ANY good......

. Has anybody ever experienced this?

I've had that happen, too. I moved my hen to a large dog crate with eggs so she could be by herself, thinking that would solve the problem. She'd sit on the eggs for a while and then I'd find her all hunkered down in another section of the cage, away from the eggs. I'd put the eggs under her again and she'd stay. Then a few hours she'd be somewhere else. ?? Yours might be different, but I finally just broke her broodiness after 3 or 4 days of that.

 

[SIMZ]

Thank you so much for your help! My worry is right now they are nesting in old milk crates. Who do I bput in first the broodies or the eggs?

It definitely works best if you can move her in the crate. I have moved them separately before, but make sure it's very dark. I moved the eggs first and then put the broody right on top of them. In that case it went well and there were no problems.

 

[Sonya9]

Question -- I have a broody bantam sitting on a single bantam egg, I expect a hatch date of 7/25 or so.

I plan to get a couple of more chicks so this baby won't end up alone during adolescence (I worry the stress might kill the chick, I have Marek's in my flock so stress is a concern).

Anyway a local breeder will have Norwegian Jaerhon (autosexed) chicks hatching on 7/21. Can I wait and pick them up when the bantam egg hatches and graft them at night?

The chicks will be about 4 days old when the bantam hatches, is that too old to graft onto the broody?

 

[tobit]

I'd recommend to graft any chicks on before day 3, is the 7/25 day 21, because bantams normally hatch on day 18-20... You could try buying the chicks that are to be grafted and graft them at day 2, then hope your broody stays on the nest long enough for her egg to hatch? just an idea...