Broody Hen Thread!

[Selsley]

I have my first broody hen, she never leaves the coop I'm worried about her health...suggestions? There is no rooster either so she is sitting on nothing.

either put her in a cage a few inches above the ground minimum and break her, or get her some eggs,
while sitting they wont eat much anyway, maybe a handful of feed a day, thats all i had to put in the bowl to top our broodys food up,
on the other hand i had 2 hens in prison this week, and they been going through 2 small bowls easy. but they been spending most of their time fighting to get through the barrier.
where the broody just sat there, she will go outside if and when she wants, ours did mainly to roll in the dirt, it seemed having a pooh and feeding were 2nd and 3rd thoughts

even after sitting in a nest for 4 weeks on small rations, i was surprised how healthy she still looked after just make sure her water and food is close if you decide to get her eggs

she could reach these 2 bowls from her sitting position, she moved further back to the edge after hatching, this is the same area used to prison 2 hens for 2 days each its about 4'x2'. and the last one in trashed it, but also seems much calmer since she came out today, no more pecking, and she was surrounded by the 8week old chicks and wasnt inclined to chase them away, although they are still wary of all the hens after being pecked and chased.

 

[lpyrbby]

Are there behaviors any of you have noticed the hens make before actually squatting on the nest? With Betty, what tipped me off to a change is that she was fluffing up in the yard, especially when other birds approached her. She was also constantly clucking, softly. As of now, she's still fluffing up when she's approached, but not nearly as dramatically. I guess if she wants to, she will, eh?

Hi lpyrbby,

I have had 2 buff orpington hens go broody over the summer months. Hen #1 went broody gradually. She walked around fluffed up for days and clucked softly to herself before claiming a nest full of eggs for herself. The second time she went broody it was like switching on a light. BOOM, she was broody. The second hen did the same thing. No warning whatsoever. Hen #1 also has a weird habit of gobbling down oyster shell before she goes broody so I do get a bit of a warning that way also.

My original flock was hatched by a breeder/incubator. I'm thinking it is the breed of birds over how they were hatched regarding their broodiness.

Hope you get your wish. You could always add a couple of Silkies or a couple of Old English Game Bantams or Cochins to your flock if push comnes to shove and you would always have a willing hen to hatch eggs for you.

I've thought about adding silkies, but some of my ladies are rather ruthless to the lowest member of the flock, and I think it wouldn't end up well :/ I may wind up getting an incubator at some point and get some eggs shipped from a breeder. Or, try to stock with a few breeds that are available locally.

Something spooked the bejeezus out of the flock at some point today, so Betty wasn't acting like she has been the last week or so. I'm betting my chances for a broody have diminished significantly. I'm leaving the pile of fake eggs in one nest though, just as an "incentive." With us living in the south, I'm not too terribly concerned about them brooding in cooler weather. It probably won't be until November for the days to be consistently cooler (maybe 40s at night). January and February tend to be our coldest months and then it's uphill from there. We shall see. In the meantime, I'll obsess about broodies and dream of biddies

 

[carlf]

She will be fine. In nature, hens set on the nest for 21-24 days and only get up 1-2 times a day for food & water. So no worries.

You can let her be, give her some fertile eggs to set or try to break her by putting her in a wire cage off the ground.

My BR Little Hen went broody every 2 months once she started laying. I just let her be and kept collecting the eggs from under her. She usually broke on her own after a week of having no eggs to set on.

This spring i let her hatch 11 eggs & raise the peeps, she hasn't gone broody since.
If she goes broody again next spring, I'll let her set again, its really cool to hatch peeps.

 

[Sienatiger]

Can you move a broody hen and her eggs? I tried to move mine to a separate coop but she got really frustrated and wouldn't sit on the eggs, so I moved her back. I haven't tried moving her at night, but I fear if I do that she'll abandon her eggs. Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

 

[nchls school]

It was obviously meant to be! So glad the hen was such a dedicated broody and I hope the chicks grows up to provide as much joy to your wife as their mother did!

The new chicks are doing well and my other hens are starting to lay again.

 

[nchls school]

Can you move a broody hen and her eggs? I tried to move mine to a separate coop but she got really frustrated and wouldn't sit on the eggs, so I moved her back. I haven't tried moving her at night, but I fear if I do that she'll abandon her eggs. Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Many hens can be moved at night, but not all. I use nest boxes that can easily be moved to other locations; it helps if the nest itself is not changed when moving broodys. My family just moved to Tennessee from Wisconsin. In doing so we moved a broody hen with us-from Wisconsin to Tennessee. It took four days to complete the moved. The hen kept brooding through it all and has since hatched four chicks. Yes. A broody hen can be moved, but... If possible, let the hen brood where she is. Good luck!!

 

[carlf]

Let her be, there is no need to move a broody hen into a coop of her own. Hens have been setting & hatching clutches as part of a flock for thousands of years, they dont really need our help other than protect them from predators and give them food & water.

 

[rebrascora]

What people often don't really seem to understand is that it is the location of the nest and not the actual eggs themselves that the broody hen homes into. Only towards the last few days of incubation when she can feel and hear them and starts talking to them, does she form a bond with the actual eggs (or rather the contents thereof). This is why it is possible to give broody hens the eggs of other hens or indeed other poultry to hatch. So, if you move her nest, the next day when shegoes for her broody break, she will try to return to her old nest site. If they are fastened into their own broody enclosure they will usually give up and go to the new nest and settle on that and after a day or two, they will be homed into that new nest location. If you move their nest, but they still have access to their old nest location, they will more often than not return to it as that site is already programmed into their system, even if there are no eggs at the old nest site.

If you keep her in a communal nest box, you need to mark her eggs and remove any others that are added by other hens on a daily basis. But it can happen that she goes for a broody break and comes back to find another hen on her nest and then she may climb into an adjoining nest if there are eggs in it and her eggs can then get cold, so there are pros and cons to moving a broody. It is not really a natural situation for hens to hatch chicks in communal boxes but if they are penned, they usually don't have any other option... no hiding places for them to make a nest of their own. Whereas, if they are free ranged, they will often seek out a quiet hidey hole to make a nest and lay their eggs away from other hens. Because the location is notably different from the communal nesting boxes, the hen can't make a mistake and get back onto the wrong nest.

Personally, I like to keep my broodies within the flock but I have a cupboard in the hen house that I fasten her in with holes in the door for ventilation and an old drawer for a nest inside. I put food and water in there, but let her out once a day for a broody break. Broodies go into a trance like state when they are incubating eggs and therefore a dark, quiet place where they are not disturbed is best. Allowing her out with the flock once a day ensures that she remains part of the flock, but I can supervise her broody break and ensure that she goes back to the right nest and then fasten her back in and know that she is safe on her nest for the rest of the day. They quickly realise that when the door opens, it's time to get off and take a break. For me this is the best of both worlds. Of course, if like me you free range and a broody has a secret nest rather than a communal one, and I can make it safe for her (or can't get to it...I've had a couple that were really sneaky) I just leave them to it.
Enclosed pens and communal nests are usually the cause of eggs getting rolled out, cracked or accidentally abandoned. The broody often gets blamed, but in my opinion, it is the close confinement with other chickens which is the root cause of the problem and this is when a separate broody pen can be helpful, so it depends a lot on your set up.

I agree that having portable nests is useful for this, so that the hen, nest and eggs can be moved altogether and if done at night, the broody will hardly notice, but that can work against you the next day if she still has access to the old nest site, as she will have no idea that her nest has been moved...ie she doesn't pay much attention when she gets off the nest for her broody break as she is just interested in getting a bite to eat and a poop and maybe a dust bath in a hurry and then find her way back to her nest on autopilot when she is ready.

Hope that makes sense.

Regards

Barbara

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

We had a GLW go broody earlier this year. She's probably the last hen I would have thought would go broody, so it was alarming when she wouldn't leave the nest box, and even more so when realized she had denuded herself of feathers on her underside.

After we figured it out, we took pity on her and set 6 eggs from various hens under her. A few days after sitting faithfully, she got up and left the nest for several hours. We figured she had abandoned the nest, so we placed the eggs in the trash bin. A while later, we saw that she was back on the nest - yikes! - so we pulled the eggs out of the bin and put them back in the nest. Clearly, she had only been taking a food/stretch break, and knew it was warm enough for the eggs to be left alone. She ultimately hatched 3 chicks (2 roos, of course) and was a very good, protective mother. We learned a lot from that experience!

 

[nchls school]

We finally made the move to Tennessee. It took us four days of travel from Wisconsin due to illness, getting lost while going though Chicago, severe storms, sudden braking to avoid accidents, etc. All the birds made the trip safely. Some in wire cages and a few that were with chicks or brooding eggs in plastic tubs. The hen above stuck to her nest through it all; even 100+ temperatures. A few days after arriving at our new home these four chicks hatched. A real surprise considering all that happened during the move. I had really though it hopeless to expect the eggs to hatch; the eggs were from my wife's nine year old pet that had been killed by a hawk a week before our move. My wife is thrilled to have the chicks. The old hen had been a treasured pet.

All four chicks are doing well and growing fast. I'm still amazed they hatched after being brooded in a moving vehicle for four days. This hen has earned a permanent place in my flock. She's a Japanese bantam.