Buff Orpington hen brooding

[bobbi-j]

I read the same article and your right it worked! But why do chickens brood?

That's how chickens have been reproducing for centuries before human intervention...

 

[Jsisso]

Will they start laying again?

 

[bobbi-j]

Is your hen setting on eggs? Generally they "'wean" the chicks at around 4 weeks or so, and sometime after that they'll start laying again.

 

[Jsisso]

Yes, but they aren't fertile and I suspect she is stealing others eggs

 

[Den in Penn]

Yep they do steal eggs occasionally. If the eggs are not fertile then I would either break her or get her chicks to raise. Brooding take a lot out of them. And if the eggs aren't fertile then she may sit way too long on them.

 

[Mrs. K]

@ CMERK This is the second time one of our Buff's decided to brood. She is in a nesting box about 2 feet off the floor. We know the chicks will not survive the drop to the floor, so what do we do?

They are mostly down and will get down out the the nest quite easily with no damage. Many a chick has been hatched in a hay loft 8-10 feet off the ground. If it worries you, put a pile of hay directly below the nest, they will be fine.

I have had broody hens raise my chicks for years. I have had very good luck with her hatching eggs, or taking day old chicks. All of them have hatched out of a nest, and then when the babies have hatched, leave that nest, and create a clean nest on the floor.

Mrs K

 

[LiveInBliss]

HI All,

So I too have a brooding buff HOWEVER I do not have a rooster. I decided to use my human intervention skills to purchase brand new pullets and sneak them under the Buff in the middle of the night so she was to find her "babies" when she woke up. She did but doesn't seem too interested. I left them be from about 3am-6am then went out to check on them. All babies were happy but she was still her brooding mode and didn't really care too much that they were there. Then I moved her around a bit to make sure babies were ok..

Did I totally mess up bringing them in? About 7am I figured everyone needed food/water so I got out the portable play pen and put babies and buff in there with heat lamp (outside)...Buff stayed for about 10 minutes but then jumped out, took a mud bath and went straight back to her nesting box to brood.

Will babies be warm enough out there under the lamp without her? Should I put them back in the nesting box with her until she likes them?

So lost. HELP!

Thank you!

 

[mmmyyykkkeee]

How many eggs does a buff orpington lay before it goes broody? I can't wait for my BO to brood..

 

[bobbi-j]

HI All,

So I too have a brooding buff HOWEVER I do not have a rooster. I decided to use my human intervention skills to purchase brand new pullets and sneak them under the Buff in the middle of the night so she was to find her "babies" when she woke up. She did but doesn't seem too interested. I left them be from about 3am-6am then went out to check on them. All babies were happy but she was still her brooding mode and didn't really care too much that they were there. Then I moved her around a bit to make sure babies were ok..

Did I totally mess up bringing them in? About 7am I figured everyone needed food/water so I got out the portable play pen and put babies and buff in there with heat lamp (outside)...Buff stayed for about 10 minutes but then jumped out, took a mud bath and went straight back to her nesting box to brood.

Will babies be warm enough out there under the lamp without her? Should I put them back in the nesting box with her until she likes them?

So lost. HELP!

Thank you!

How long had she been broody before you gave her the babies? I realize hens can't count days, but they do instinctively know about when their eggs should be hatching. Did you remove any eggs from the nest she'd been sitting on? Often, a hen will stay on the nest for around 24 hours or so, just to be sure all the eggs are hatched that are going to. At this point, I'd take her off the nest, block it off, or whatever you need to do to break her broodiness and plan on raising those chicks yourself. You could try to put them back in with her, but that's not going to make her "like them" if she senses that they're not hers. It will most liketly go the other way and she may injure or kill them. When I've bought chicks for a hen to raise, I just put them under her at night and let her do her job. The less we humans mess with them, the better. The babies will be fine in a coop or shed or in the garage with a heat lamp on them. The only time I have baby chicks in the house is when I incubate them artificially, and at that point it's only for a few days. When I order them, they come as day old chicks and go right in the coop I have set up for them. They are brooded in the coop, and I've gotten them as early as April when it can still get down to the 20's and 30's here at night. Hang in there. It will be fine. That's the thing about raising chickens - you have to be flexible and able to adjust. Just because we have ideas on how things should be, it doesn't mean that they have read the same books.

How many eggs does a buff orpington lay before it goes broody? I can't wait for my BO to brood..

There is no magic number of eggs she'll lay or age she'll be. The last BO I had went broody once when she was a year old. Unfortunately, she was not in a safe place so I moved her and her nest one night. She flipped out, broke all of her eggs and never went broody again. You are dealing with a living animal, and if it's a hatchery bird, they tend to not go broody as often as a heritage bird. I hope she does go broody for you, but until she does, don't count your chickens before they hatch!

 

[MrsPeterTHooper]

There are a lot of different signs that a hen might be broody. I’ve had hens show all of them but it was false. She never did go all the way into full broody mode. The way I tell if a hen is broody enough to be trusted with hatching eggs is that she has to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of in her normal rooting place. That test, two consecutive nights, has always worked for me.

If you have a broody hen, you have a few options. You can do nothing. The hen has built up a fat reserve to live on while being broody. That’s why they don’t have to eat and drink a lot. They will lose a lot of weight while broody, but that is pretty much just excess fat stored for that reason. But some hens will remain broody after that reserve is used up. Personally I would never go this route. I either break them or give them eggs or chicks. They are also not laying eggs while they are broody.

Another option is to get fertile eggs for her to hatch. If you want to go this route, we can give you some suggestions on how to find fertile eggs. Or you can get very young chicks for her to raise and give them to her.

Another option is to break her from being broody. I use a cage with a wire floor, just leave her in there with food and water and no nest for a few days. That’s always worked for me. Here’s a thread about breaking a broody that might help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2176186#p2176186

I don’t know what is going on with your Buff. I assume you have checked under the other hen to see if there are any eggs there. Some broodies won’t allow other hens to lay in their nest, though most are willing to share. It’s possible the Buff is hiding a nest somewhere. If it has just been a day or two, it may just be a cycle she’s going through. It’s also possible something is getting the eggs. If that hen is truly broody, that may have upset the dynamics of their little flock to throw her off laying for a few days. There are just so many different possibilities it’s hard to say.

Good luck.

I have a broody BO too, and I don't have a rooster so all eggs are unfertilized. I don't have a cage to put her in to break her. How long will she brood if I let nature run it's course?