Broody Hen Thread!

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Ok if your coop is big enough or you have a covered secure run...get a nice size cage with a hardware cloth floor. Set it up on some cinder blocks or bricks...to get it off the ground...put a feeder and waterer in it and put her in it...make sure it's in a shady spot and secure a piece of plywood on top at a steep angle, to make sure no one perches on top of her...then leave her in her cage for three or four days...she's safe,has food and nothing can get to her....don't put any bedding in the cage...don't want to give her anything to make a nest out of...and you want to let her cool off...fine hardware cloth is best...easier on her feet....she my not be to happy...but it won't hurt her...and it might work...
 
chicksurreal said:
Latest broody this year, number 8 out of 11 Dark Cornish girls. This is Maybelle. She's been waiting, not so patiently, for about 2 weeks to get a spot of her own. I set 9 eggs under her last night. Go Maybelle!
ya.gif


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Sweet! I also just set one of my Dark Cornish the other day. So far she's doing great....except for getting a little confused finding her way back to her little coop when I let her out.
 
SIMZ said:
Sweet! I also just set one of my Dark Cornish the other day. So far she's doing great....except for getting a little confused finding her way back to her little coop when I let her out.
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Yeah, I try to let them out when I'm going to be out there for a while. I have one coop set up in a separate run, but this one is a section of the main coop where she's locked in unless I let her out. I work from home so I can be in and out of there whenever I want. She lets me know when she wants to come out and I wait for her to dust bathe and take care of her business. She comes clucking at me when she wants back in.

I knew that Dark Cornish hens were a more broody breed, but I had no idea how broody until we got these girls. Like I said, 8 of them have been broody this year with two of them going broody twice in a row!
ep.gif
 
I had five broody hens this year, and so far I've only gotten one chick. Three were broken up by a skunk (which I just caught tonight and BOY DID IT SPRAY!), only one egg hatched under my Sebright hen, and I have a Silkie who was suppose to be sitting on some shipped eggs but the eggs were too delicate (they went to the incubator), so she has a random mix of our farm eggs (we have a few roosters, so they are fertile) that I hope will hatch for her. She is around day 12 now.

Poor girl decided to go broody in the cement room but it was raining so much her nest flooded. She was all wet, but still sitting on that nest. I moved her to a dry crate with some new eggs and she settled in. However, she has been moving her eggs from one corner to the other, as the skunk was coming each night and trying to get into her pen, and I think that disturbed her.
 
Help. :( I need advice. :( I have a broody hen...she has been broody for 8 days, 10-11 if you count the days I kicked her off of nest...anyhow...she was a great broody-I decided to do the whole broody adoption thing, with day old chicks. I put four under her last night(so day 7 of sitting on nest straight, 9-10ish for being broody overall). I know, that is early, and I was going to wait 2 weeks, but the chicks at feed store would not be there in a week, and I watched/read vids that said you could do it sooner as long as hen was for sure broody, and she was. Anyhow...it seemed to go great last night. I placed 4. They settled, and she purred. Then, this AM, I go out there and there is only 1 left. She is the ONLY one with access to nest as I screened her in. I placed a very small chick waterer in back of nest, and it was empty, so it must have gotten knocked around. Anyhow...I cleaned out nest and checked her over and I cannot find the other 3. :( Where could they have gone? Could she really have EATEN them? How is that possible? They were probably 2-3 days old at most. The one I have left has a very slight red area on her toe-wondering if it is a peck...I tried to move her off nest to check her for chicks hiding in her fur, and she fought me back to the nest. She still wants to brood. She was not happy about seeing the chick left either. :( She pecked it and then ignored it.

I feel stupid. But I need advice now. :(

1. Was it because it was too soon? Should I hold onto these chicks and try again in a week? Or do you think she is just a homicidal hen that has lost her chance to brood, meaning I need to broody box her?

2. Can a hen eat 1-3 day old chicks with no evidence at all left behind?!


****ETA**** I found two chicks under the run! They managed to escape the top of the screen during struggle. I still have one chick totally unacccounted for.
Thanks
 
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heiditam said:
Help. :( I need advice. :( I have a broody hen...she has been broody for 8 days, 10-11 if you count the days I kicked her off of nest...anyhow...she was a great broody-I decided to do the whole broody adoption thing, with day old chicks. I put four under her last night(so day 7 of sitting on nest straight, 9-10ish for being broody overall). I know, that is early, and I was going to wait 2 weeks, but the chicks at feed store would not be there in a week, and I watched/read vids that said you could do it sooner as long as hen was for sure broody, and she was. Anyhow...it seemed to go great last night. I placed 4. They settled, and she purred. Then, this AM, I go out there and there is only 1 left. She is the ONLY one with access to nest as I screened her in. I placed a very small chick waterer in back of nest, and it was empty, so it must have gotten knocked around. Anyhow...I cleaned out nest and checked her over and I cannot find the other 3. :( Where could they have gone? Could she really have EATEN them? How is that possible? They were probably 2-3 days old at most. The one I have left has a very slight red area on her toe-wondering if it is a peck...I tried to move her off nest to check her for chicks hiding in her fur, and she fought me back to the nest. She still wants to brood. She was not happy about seeing the chick left either. :( She pecked it and then ignored it.

I feel stupid. But I need advice now. :(

1. Was it because it was too soon? Should I hold onto this chick and try again in a week? Or do you think she is just a homicidal hen that has lost her chance to brood, meaning I need to broody box her?

2. Can a hen eat 1-3 day old chicks with no evidence at all left behind?!


****ETA**** I found two chicks under the run! They managed to escape the top of the screen during struggle. I still have one chick totally unacccounted for.
Thanks
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I'm sorry to hear that.

I had a hen that hatched her own babies. We helped one hatch too early (our fault completely) and then gave it to her. She was in a locked cage. A few hours later, the chick was completely gone, without a trace. She must have swallowed it whole!

1: It could have been too early in her mind, or she could have just not liked the fact that the chicks didn't bond to her. Day-olds imprint on a mother but older chicks sometimes don't and she could have viewed them as a threat.

I'm so glad you found two chicks! Are they okay?
 
GitaBooks said:
I'm sorry to hear that.

I had a hen that hatched her own babies. We helped one hatch too early (our fault completely) and then gave it to her. She was in a locked cage. A few hours later, the chick was completely gone, without a trace. She must have swallowed it whole!

1: It could have been too early in her mind, or she could have just not liked the fact that the chicks didn't bond to her. Day-olds imprint on a mother but older chicks sometimes don't and she could have viewed them as a threat.

I'm so glad you found two chicks! Are they okay?
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Thank you. Yes, they are all okay now. I was so happy when I found those two...I keep going out there hoping to find that fourth. Broody acted funny this AM-she got off her nest and was mad-sorta walking around making her angry noise...then she went right back onto nest to brood, despite not having any eggs.
 

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