Broody Hen Thread!

[Lady of McCamley]

Brooding within the flock certainly creates some unexpected scenarios...I have had similar situations, usually it is with co-broodies...one stays on the floor with the chicks at night and the other roosts and rejoins the chicks in the morning. I have had other hens lea their chicks tucked in a low nest box while they go for the roost and then gather the chicks at first light and head out.
These events have happened after the hen tried to get the chicks to follow her up onto the roost boards but they didn't manage it for some reason...we know this because we are able to review our coop cameras.
Most times this has gone on it takes about a week for the chicks to start following the hen up to roost. Many of our hens will start moving them up at 2-3 weeks old. Nothing cuter than seeing the Littles up on the shelf trying to be 'big' chickens!

It does sound like your dynamics in the flock are getting very broody friendly and should soon allow some much more stress free brooding.

Interesting...so your large fowl, flock integrated broodies will fledge around 2 to 3 weeks...the chick not quite being 2 weeks worried me a bit as it is still getting cool at night, or will be. The great weather we've been having is abnormal and we will be (or rather today already are) back to cool rain.

My bantams don't seem to want to fledge until the chicks are feathered which is about 4 weeks of age...is that a bantam thing? (Silkies will mother forever...the Cochins only a little less so).

I'm not averse to babies running around in their down jackets during the day as I learned long ago that the babes do not need carefully controlled heat lamp environments until they feather....but night time still concerns me.

Baby is still with Aunt Olive today, and I pulled it out from Olive (who is still sitting tight) to show it food and water around the corner, and it promptly returned to Aunt Olive. I haven't seen it out today with Splash momma, and I'm okay with that as we are back to drizzle and cool....which my adult birds seem oblivious to, foraging in the rain all day long....but baby down is different.

All to ask how soon can down babies survive without the heating of momma at night? Is Splash momma "normal" expecting her 1 1/2 week old chick to survive overnight in the nest while she roosts above, creating a spot for it? (Also being the lonely only it won't have anything to huddle with unless the Cal Grey stays put, probably unlikely, or I tuck it in with nested Olive).

Thanks for your insight...the flock integrated brooding has been interesting to watch....and will definitely make flock integration a breeze when one of my big gals volunteers to sit. (Gotta love the consistency of the bantams though for "off season" brooding)..

LofMc

 

[varidgerunner]

So I recently had a bit of a mess up in an experiment I was doing. I had some extra hens, all asian game mix, I housed them in a large coop with a ten hole nest box. They are all sisters and have a very good mature rooster to keep them from having disagreements.Four of the five all went broody within a couple weeks, (they are around ten months old. I know that they will find their own spots if left to their own devices, so I wanted to see what would happen if I let them go broody in one coop. More predator secure, anyway, but I do let them do it in "the wild" every now and then.

So a couple days ago I heard peeping, since they were a little off the ground I decided to help them down, I made sure they were done hatching, and pulled her out of the box and started putting the chicks down with her. She hatched 13 of 16 eggs. The hen next door, had evidently been hearing all of that peeping, and was convinced that she had chicks. She left her own clutch and hopped down there with the chicks. I shut her in the nest box, but she wasn't having it, so I just let her down. So now I have two hens sharing 13 chicks, an abandoned clutch and two hens setting tight on large clutches of their own. They aren't right next to each other, so maybe things will go better.

So just something to be aware of, if they can hear peeping close, they might go from egg mode to chick mode without having any babies hatching.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Quote: I checked her again, and she has 3 chicks hatched, and 2 pipping! That means that 5/6 survived! I also put a couple of Barred Rock chicks under her. Everyone seems to be doing fine.

 

[Prettypenny]

Okay so I'm confused. I have a buff orp sitting on 5 eggs, due to hatch in 5days. My chicken raising book says to not disturb the hen after day 16 (today) but to leave her food and water and let her be. She's in the nest box, but I took all the dividers out and used chicken wire to make it a cozy place where the other chickens can't bug her. It's probably 3and a half feet long, and 16 inches deep. Lots of you are saying to not have her food and water close to the nest, in case she poops on the eggs. Should I keep letting her out of the nest once a day to poop, or leave her be like my book says?

 

[fisherlady]

Interesting...so your large fowl, flock integrated broodies will fledge around 2 to 3 weeks...the chick not quite being 2 weeks worried me a bit as it is still getting cool at night, or will be. The great weather we've been having is abnormal and we will be (or rather today already are) back to cool rain.

My bantams don't seem to want to fledge until the chicks are feathered which is about 4 weeks of age...is that a bantam thing? (Silkies will mother forever...the Cochins only a little less so).

I'm not averse to babies running around in their down jackets during the day as I learned long ago that the babes do not need carefully controlled heat lamp environments until they feather....but night time still concerns me.

Baby is still with Aunt Olive today, and I pulled it out from Olive (who is still sitting tight) to show it food and water around the corner, and it promptly returned to Aunt Olive. I haven't seen it out today with Splash momma, and I'm okay with that as we are back to drizzle and cool....which my adult birds seem oblivious to, foraging in the rain all day long....but baby down is different.

All to ask how soon can down babies survive without the heating of momma at night? Is Splash momma "normal" expecting her 1 1/2 week old chick to survive overnight in the nest while she roosts above, creating a spot for it? (Also being the lonely only it won't have anything to huddle with unless the Cal Grey stays put, probably unlikely, or I tuck it in with nested Olive).

Thanks for your insight...the flock integrated brooding has been interesting to watch....and will definitely make flock integration a breeze when one of my big gals volunteers to sit. (Gotta love the consistency of the bantams though for "off season" brooding)..

LofMc

Most of my girls don't actually fledge the littles until they are 6-8 weeks old, but they do try to get them up onto the roost boards with the rest of the flock as early as they can...our hatches are usually 5-10 chicks so they pile in a box together quite comfortably during mild weather, i have never seen a hen leave them unattended when the weather is really cold, so I guess any cheeping gets her to stay low with them. During the day the hen cares for them like normal. Your hen may be a bit confused by her desire to return to flock activities and instict to care for the chick....sometimes becoming a good broody takes practice, they don't always get it right the first time.

You can try getting the chick and placing it under her wing when she is on the roost, she may just not understand how to teach the little one how to get up with her. Once the little guy gets some roost time it may be more likely to follow her up there the next time. I am tickled it has an Auntie to cuddle it at night but that can only be a temporary solution for him.

 

[fisherlady]

I checked her again, and she has 3 chicks hatched, and 2 pipping! That means that 5/6 survived! I also put a couple of Barred Rock chicks under her. Everyone seems to be doing fine.

That is great news!e

 

[fisherlady]

Okay so I'm confused. I have a buff orp sitting on 5 eggs, due to hatch in 5days. My chicken raising book says to not disturb the hen after day 16 (today) but to leave her food and water and let her be. She's in the nest box, but I took all the dividers out and used chicken wire to make it a cozy place where the other chickens can't bug her. It's probably 3and a half feet long, and 16 inches deep. Lots of you are saying to not have her food and water close to the nest, in case she poops on the eggs. Should I keep letting her out of the nest once a day to poop, or leave her be like my book says?

You can leave it in her brooding area, just place it at the far end so she has to get up off of the nest to reach it.

You can continue to let her out daily, our hens get themselves out whenever they want and are frequently off of the nest for short breaks even on day 20...there aren't many absolute rules, just guidelines for average behaviors which you can tailor to suit your hen's personality, flock and coop situations.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Okay so I'm confused. I have a buff orp sitting on 5 eggs, due to hatch in 5days. My chicken raising book says to not disturb the hen after day 16 (today) but to leave her food and water and let her be. She's in the nest box, but I took all the dividers out and used chicken wire to make it a cozy place where the other chickens can't bug her. It's probably 3and a half feet long, and 16 inches deep. Lots of you are saying to not have her food and water close to the nest, in case she poops on the eggs. Should I keep letting her out of the nest once a day to poop, or leave her be like my book says?

Hopefully you have a cage big enough that she can get off the eggs and poop. NO I would Not let her out----if she is a good moma she will not eat the last couple days anyway so she want have to poop. Follow the book----just leave her alone, do not bother her, or look under her while she is hatching. Good Luck

 

[16 paws]

Lady of McCamley
I would put the baby on the roost with mama. I think the chick just hasnt figured out how to get up there with her. I just had a silkie broody that had her chicks on the roost at one week. They are five weeks old now and she is still going strong on mothering them.
Marie

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

Well, Miss Ramin did have her Broody Poop today, not a bad one. I did get out the larger water trough I had (old pond for the ducks), cleaned it out, and put in fresh shavings. Gently put her in, and gave her the eggs one by one, she tucked them under her and settled in. Had no desire to stretch her legs, even with all the room she now has. Did have a nice drink of water, and enjoyed her chick start (switched her from her layer pellets). Unless it is to change her food and water, I am just going to let my girl be, till the little ones hatch.