Broody Hen Thread!

[PluckyJen]

Thanks for your reply microchic

. Its very hot in SA at the moment. Mid summer so i suppose the heat really isnt helping her situation. Hatching is not an option right now so ill have to break that broody. Is the main thing to change her environment and cool her under carriage? Could i also try a cold cloth on her underside a couple times a day and change her routine vs cage route?

 

[microchick]

There is some conversation about the success rate in doing the cold treatment to the hens belly. Some say it works, others not.

Most swear by the cage method and I did have luck temporary as it was with putting my hen in a small wire cage. It doesn't have to be cold air, just air in general will work.

There is a thread on BYC about breaking a broody that talks about all the different ways to do it and what is successful. Just type in 'How to Break a Broody" in the site search window at the top of the page.

Good luck with your girl.

 

[Coop de Grass]

It's possible. Have you seen her get off the nest any with your chicken cam? If she is staying on the nest 24/7 with the exception of getting off to eat, drink and poop I'd say she is broody.

How is she doing post hawk attack?

She gets off the nest only to eat and drink and then she gets back in. She also moves the eggs before she settles on them. She is doing well after the attack. I took her to the vet... we have now decided not to do that again. She is currently laying golden eggs.
The hawk sliced across the back of her neck, but only got her skin. Luckily, there was no other damage. So they sewed her up and sent her home with oral antibiotics. I will keep her isolated from the flock for another 8 weeks - mainly so that we don't eat her eggs.
In the interim, we may acquire a few chicks, and I will be able to add a few from the incubator. Win-win! She is an Ameraucana chick that I bought as a day old chick from a hatchery here, and I slipped her under my Buff Orpington who had just hatched 4 hatching eggs. So she herself is a foster chicken.

 

[Coop de Grass]

There is some conversation about the success rate in doing the cold treatment to the hens belly. Some say it works, others not.

Most swear by the cage method and I did have luck temporary as it was with putting my hen in a small wire cage. It doesn't have to be cold air, just air in general will work.

There is a thread on BYC about breaking a broody that talks about all the different ways to do it and what is successful. Just type in 'How to Break a Broody" in the site search window at the top of the page.

Good luck with your girl.

I had success by just constantly removing the broody from the nestbox. Basically, you have to harass her by removing her. It took a couple of days - and I can do it because I am home, but it did work. And she is still happy to see me!

 

[microchick]

I had success by just constantly removing the broody from the nestbox. Basically, you have to harass her by removing her. It took a couple of days - and I can do it because I am home, but it did work. And she is still happy to see me!

I tried that with my broody. She just gave me the broody raspberries and found herself another nest to plop her bum down on. She was one determined girl.

 

[redsix]

Thanks for your reply microchic

. Its very hot in SA at the moment. Mid summer so i suppose the heat really isnt helping her situation. Hatching is not an option right now so ill have to break that broody. Is the main thing to change her environment and cool her under carriage? Could i also try a cold cloth on her underside a couple times a day and change her routine vs cage route?

I use a wire dog crate for solitary confinement. I put the food and water outside the crate and spread the wires apart in two places so the hen can stick her head out to get it. I had one hen though that was perfectly happy continuing to sit and be broody in the crate with no straw in it.

 

[microchick]

I use a wire dog crate for solitary confinement. I put the food and water outside the crate and spread the wires apart in two places so the hen can stick her head out to get it. I had one hen though that was perfectly happy continuing to sit and be broody in the crate with no straw in it.

Seriously, that mental picture is just so freaking funny. Poor dear.

Did you happen to see 'Chicken People' on CMT? One of the funniest scenes to me was the one where the breeder found one of her hens sitting in a corner on a cabinet top. She reached under the hen and pulled out a metal ladle? She looked at it, looked at the hen, then at the ladle, asked the hen if she really wanted to sit on a ladle? Then started to push it back under the hen who obligingly lifted herself up so the owner could slide the round part of the ladle under her then settled herself down upon it.

No two ways about it. Hens can really be nutz sometimes.

 

[MilleFleur7]

A few hours old, they hatched 2 days after I thought they would..

Heres the photos I got this morning


and the pips

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

A few hours old, they hatched 2 days after I thought they would..

Heres the photos I got this morning


and the pips

Awe, congratulations to you and to your mama hen.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Hey guys I have a question? How long is it safe for a broody to get of the nest in the first week? We have a first time broody sitting on 3 eggs that have started to develop. Been about 3 days.it's winter here and about 50 degrees.