Broody Hen Thread!

[Firefighter315]

My broody hen had her adopted chicks outside for the first time!

 

[fisherlady]

My broody hen had her adopted chicks outside for the first time!

Looks great!

 

[carolinasculpture]

Hi! I tried to skim through this thread, but it sure is long, lots of great advise! So, I have a broody sitting on 10 eggs. She has pooed in the nest and there is poo on the eggs. Should I try to clean them? if so, how and with what? Thank you! None of my other broodies pooed in the nest...

 

[WildHens]

Hi!  I tried to skim through this thread, but it sure is long, lots of great advise!  So, I have a broody sitting on 10 eggs.  She has pooed in the nest and there is poo on the eggs.  Should I try to clean them?  if so, how and with what?  Thank you!  None of my other broodies pooed in the nest...

I use these...blue for not so nasty. .green for clumps and duck eggs....on hatching eggs (before they've been set) I use MannaPro All Natural Egg Cleanser if they're really gross..warm water about 104+F and a capful or so..them in use my fingers and scrape the chunks off and pat dry.. I try to avoid washing them at all bc of the bloom and all that.. the scratch pads should be good enough for what you need tho unless it's smeared thin on the egg, and then I'd probably just leave it.
If u do wash it off, use a hot rag and just gently wipe the dirty spot using a "lift away from the egg" motion if that makes sense..don't rub the spot hard or immerse the whole eggs

 

[James Beller]

Hi! I tried to skim through this thread, but it sure is long, lots of great advise! So, I have a broody sitting on 10 eggs. She has pooed in the nest and there is poo on the eggs. Should I try to clean them? if so, how and with what? Thank you! None of my other broodies pooed in the nest...

Never use any liquid that will remove the bloom. This will open the pores of the egg to bacteria. I would suggest something rough like sand paper and a wash rage dry. Try the wash rage first then use the sand paper or something else that is a rough material that will not open the pores to the egg. Hope this helped. Also try making sure she gets up at least once a day to use the bathroom.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hi! I tried to skim through this thread, but it sure is long, lots of great advise! So, I have a broody sitting on 10 eggs. She has pooed in the nest and there is poo on the eggs. Should I try to clean them? if so, how and with what? Thank you! None of my other broodies pooed in the nest...

I just gently dab dry with something like a cloth or even the soft bedding. If it is dried, I don't worry about it. I believe the less you mess with incubating eggs and the broody the better.

Timothy hay that you get at the feed store in small packets makes a great clumping poo gatherer. I will often use that on top of the nest for that purpose.

PD-Riverman is correct to be sure that food and water requires the hen to get up and take at least a step or two away from the nest. That often helps with preventing nest soiling (but not always, some ladies are less than tidy no matter what).

I've had plenty of chicks hatch healthy and fine from soiled conditions. While not preferred, the inside of a chicken coop (and the backside of a hen for that matter) is hardly sterile.

Nature has supplied healthy chicks with the bloom of the egg and then fully closed navels at hatch that protect them. It is when the navels don't close fully in hatch when omphalitis (infected navels) can set in. Industry attempts to eradicate that with sterile hatching conditions of which we can never hope to maintain.

So generally, I don't worry about anything that can't be cleaned with a dry gentle dab.

LofMc

 

[RachaelR32]

You have some nice options for breeds for that purpose, the Brahma you've chosen, and the Light Sussex recommended by fisherlady. This idea was actually a project of mine for awhile before I got sidetracked and decided egg color was a lot more fun.

It is always good to identify your goals. For me, the ideal dual bird would have hens that laid decently even through winter, not overly broody, and the roos would come to table in a reasonable amount of time so you don't have to feed them a lot of grain before you can process them. If you can get auto-sexing, even better, as you know right off who your layers are and who your meaties will be . It does help to adjust feeding since those birds treated for the table do better with a higher protein formula.

If you are wanting the breed to be broody itself, that can be a bit of cross purpose as you can get too many brooding and not enough eggs (my Marans). I found it best to get some really broody breeds to do the brooding work and let your main breed be for laying and table.

With those thoughts,  I can recommend New Hampshires for that purpose. They have been known to be good brooders and mothers, but not excessively. Both hens and roos are a good size. Hens are not as prolific as a Leghorn or even Barred Rock, but lay very decently. The eggs they lay are large and some even HUGE. I've gotten some of the biggest eggs ever from NH's. Go to a good breeder to get them as the hatchery quality NH is really just a Production Red. 

NH's come to table in a reasonable time, by 22 to 26 weeks if my memory serves, if fed properly. I plan to go back to that project and get some nice NH's when I get done coloring my egg basket.

Brahmas can brood, but one poster here who uses them extensively has noted they tend to break eggs being a bigger hen. And she's noted that while they are a nice size bird, they do take longer to mature...around 7 to 8 months if I remember correctly.

Fisherlady has offered some nice suggestions with the Sussex and I'll defer to her on any further questions for that breed.  

Rhodebars are a good breed and have the advantage of autosexing....you know immediately at hatch who are the females and the males (if you have a good line). I got them to try an autosexing breed and have been very impressed with the hens continued ability to lay well. The roos were very nice size and came to table pretty well by 16 to 18 weeks (I had to butcher early due to family events) but would have been even better by 20 to 22 weeks...but I was feeding them the higher 22% protein as they were in the pen with the Buckeyes. One of my RB hens was persistently broody, while her 2 sisters have not been so much so. They are decent size as hens.

I can personally recommend the Buckeye breed as dual purpose if they are available in your area. Very sweet temperament. Hens lay decently, large eggs, and the hens themselves are a nice size for table, which does mean they increase your feed bill a bit. Roosters come to table very nicely by 16 to 24 weeks depending upon how you feed them (5 lb weight by 20 weeks is the ideal). It was fairly obvious who my roos and hens were by week 6, definitely by week 10, so you can change feed to better target table weight (you want Buckeyes and other meat purpose birds on a meat bird feed if you want to maximize table weight).

Buckeyes are really hard to come by where I live, and I was not happy enough with the project to continue trying to get really expensive shipped eggs to perfect the best flock...and I went off to egg color.

So when I go back to this project, I will attempt it with New Hampshires. If I still have my Rhodebar girls, I might try rebuilding a line with them infusing with New Hampshire. With some work you can create a defacto Rhodebar infused with RIR for better laying...I'll have to read up the genetics to see if I can do that with the larger NH. You  breed back over subsequent generations culling until you've got the single bar in the females and the double bar in the males....but that's a lot of work.

Good luck on your breed choice...sometimes you have to fiddle around until you get the right breed that is easily obtainable and has the characteristics you want and thrives in your environment.

LofMc

Thanks.

I think the breeds available here (Ireland) must be quite different as I'd not heard of New Hampshire Red, Buckeye or Rhodebar before. We don't have hatcheries like you seem to over there, or chicks sold in feed stores! Its all small - medium breeders or people just hatching a few in the back yard.

Searching the breeder lists I can find only one that has NewHampshire Red and they are across the boarder in NIreland. They sound like a good place though and have some of the other breeds I'm interested in but haven't been able to find. Show lines apparently.

The Rhodebar and Buckeye don't seem to be being bred by anyone in Ireland at the moment.

I have however, in searching for those, found someone who seems to have good quality L Sussex only 2 hrs away.

My current broody is doing well. Day 5 and today was the first day I've seen her choose to come off the nest. I did lift her off yesterday as I was concerned she hadn't eaten or pooped for days! When my cockerel comes over to her run when shes off the nest she rushes at him with wings outstretched! Good thing they've got wire inbetween them!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thanks.

I think the breeds available here (Ireland) must be quite different as I'd not heard of New Hampshire Red, Buckeye or Rhodebar before. We don't have hatcheries like you seem to over there, or chicks sold in feed stores! Its all small - medium breeders or people just hatching a few in the back yard.

Searching the breeder lists I can find only one that has NewHampshire Red and they are across the boarder in NIreland. They sound like a good place though and have some of the other breeds I'm interested in but haven't been able to find. Show lines apparently.

The Rhodebar and Buckeye don't seem to be being bred by anyone in Ireland at the moment.

I have however, in searching for those, found someone who seems to have good quality L Sussex only 2 hrs away.

My current broody is doing well. Day 5 and today was the first day I've seen her choose to come off the nest. I did lift her off yesterday as I was concerned she hadn't eaten or pooped for days! When my cockerel comes over to her run when shes off the nest she rushes at him with wings outstretched! Good thing they've got wire inbetween them!

Sorry, didn't realize you are in Ireland.

Yes, breeds there will be different there than what we can get here.

You likely will do best with the Sussex or Brahma.

New Hampshires are an American breed as are the Buckeyes. Rhodebars I believe were part of the autosexing breeds created by Punnett in England in the late 40's when he was doing those experiments that produced the Legbars. I think he originally crossed Golden Brussbar cockerals with Rhode Island Red hens to produce the auto-sexing Rhodebars. However his work may have pretty much died out in the UK. Rhodebars are a breed that is rarer in the US but being brought back because of its great usefulness.

Good luck on your choices in lovely green Ireland...I've only spent about 30 minutes at the Dublin airport on a changeover...would love to have explored Ireland more...both north and south.

LofMc

 

[RachaelR32]

 Sorry, didn't realize you are in Ireland.

Yes, breeds there will be different there than what we can get here.

You likely will do best with the Sussex or Brahma.

New Hampshires are an American breed as are the Buckeyes. Rhodebars I believe were part of the autosexing breeds created by Punnett in England in the late 40's when he was doing those experiments that produced the Legbars. I think he originally crossed Golden Brussbar cockerals with Rhode Island Red hens to produce the auto-sexing Rhodebars. However his work may have pretty much died out in the UK. Rhodebars are a breed that is rarer in the US but being brought back because of its great usefulness.

Good luck on your choices in lovely green Ireland...I've only spent about 30 minutes at the Dublin airport on a changeover...would love to have explored Ireland more...both north and south.

LofMc

I think the Rhodebar may be available in the UK. I found one person in a forum a year or so back who said they were importing some from the uk and that there are people who will transport chickens and handle the paperwork. Nothing to indicate that they have bred them since getting them though. I'm not at the stage of wanting to import chickens yet though!


The cream legbar is the only autosexing breed I could get hold of I think.

The New Hampshire does look good - ready to process in 12-16 weeks according to my book, which would be an advantage as not having to keep them around so long. So thanks for mentioning it. I shall certainly keep it in mind for the future

 

[JaeG]

UPDATE: Bo is sitting on the 6 eggs we put down! fingers crossed things go well. would it mess up my BO if I took her off nest everyday to eat/drink groom and defecate?would it make her think she shouldn't be on eggs? she never got off the eggs when she was sitting on the 10 and she lost a lot of weight. I thought she was gonna starve her self and she would die!! so should I take her off nest everyday?

Just thought this thread would help you in your dilemma.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/264238/can-a-broody-hen-kill-herself-by-being-broody