The Middle Tennessee Thread

[Gentry1350]

Need advice....

I have my first broody! We found her sitting on the pot a couple nights ago and thought she was sick, egg-bound, etc. (our girls lay in large flower pots in the coop)

I'm planning on taking her out today and putting her in an extra large dog crate that we have. What else do I need to do? Do I need to isolate her in the garage, put her out in the shade while the other girls free range, leave the crate in the coop---is there an ideal place to put her while we keep her off the nest?

Is there anything else special that I need to do with her? Thanks in advance!!!


P.S. I don't have any fertile eggs for her to sit on....

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have never successfully broken a broody. Since they almost always win, I generally just give up and let them do their thing. Some I give eggs to and let them have at it. Some I consistently toss off the nest to a great deal of grumbling and complaining. Either way they seem to be broody for 3-4 weeks before they give up, chicks or no chicks. I don't isolate mine or take them out of the main coops. They have access to food and water like normal. Even my most determined silkies will come off the nest for some scratch or other yummy treats.

 

[jc12551]

Need advice....

I have my first broody! We found her sitting on the pot a couple nights ago and thought she was sick, egg-bound, etc. (our girls lay in large flower pots in the coop)

I'm planning on taking her out today and putting her in an extra large dog crate that we have. What else do I need to do? Do I need to isolate her in the garage, put her out in the shade while the other girls free range, leave the crate in the coop---is there an ideal place to put her while we keep her off the nest?

Is there anything else special that I need to do with her? Thanks in advance!!!

P.S. I don't have any fertile eggs for her to sit on....

I have never tried to break a broody. If you want to break her I would leave her crate where she can see the other chickens and be seen by them. That will help her transition back to the flock be smoother. Where are you located? Somebody might be able to provide you with some fertile eggs.

 

[Heme]

First off, hens like shade and being out of rain. Shade (especially for dark colored hens) is important to keep the girl at a common temperature without overheating. She gets too hot and looses water; dehydrates. Sitting keeps her from leaving the nest for food and water and she can die from the lack of nourishment. In some cases a surrogate hen will take over her nest when she jumps out and that happens at times. This way the eggs are kept in motion and the temperature just right for the hatchlings.

I have taken eggs from the nest to candle them during the sitting period and discard the bad eggs. 21 days of unfertile or dead embryos is great for warfare, but brutal if dropped or opened within distance of the nose on your face.

I discourage Hens from sitting now. I use my two 48 egg incubators at 99.5 degrees 45-55 % Humidity in egg turner for 19 days checking each 7 days for bad eggs. Day 19 they go to the floor of the incubator with high humidity and my ratio is now 98%. If you want Hens they need 98-100 degree constant temp. If you want Rosters, lower the temp to 95 degrees for more male birds.

Lastly; the main reason my free range hens are not to sit is because a mistake can occur when gathering eggs and a partially formed chic or bad egg can get into the mix of eggs for sale. You may think you took Fresh Eggs from a nest, but sometimes a hen moves to another nest and fools you. Strange things happen.

 

[Raven1]

I wish just a change in temp. was going to give me more pullets! If that worked we would not have so many unwanted roos in the world.

 

[jc12551]

First off, hens like shade and being out of rain. Shade (especially for dark colored hens) is important to keep the girl at a common temperature without overheating. She gets too hot and looses water; dehydrates. Sitting keeps her from leaving the nest for food and water and she can die from the lack of nourishment. In some cases a surrogate hen will take over her nest when she jumps out and that happens at times. This way the eggs are kept in motion and the temperature just right for the hatchlings.

I have taken eggs from the nest to candle them during the sitting period and discard the bad eggs. 21 days of unfertile or dead embryos is great for warfare, but brutal if dropped or opened within distance of the nose on your face.

I discourage Hens from sitting now. I use my two 48 egg incubators at 99.5 degrees 45-55 % Humidity in egg turner for 19 days checking each 7 days for bad eggs. Day 19 they go to the floor of the incubator with high humidity and my ratio is now 98%. If you want Hens they need 98-100 degree constant temp. If you want Rosters, lower the temp to 95 degrees for more male birds.

Lastly; the main reason my free range hens are not to sit is because a mistake can occur when gathering eggs and a partially formed chic or bad egg can get into the mix of eggs for sale. You may think you took Fresh Eggs from a nest, but sometimes a hen moves to another nest and fools you. Strange things happen.

I encourage my hens to go broody! I mark the eggs they are sitting on so in case another hen decides to lay an egg in there. I used to leave my broody hens in the regular coop. But as my numbers have increased I put broody hens in special broody pens. Helps decrease the number of chicks my Anatolian shepherd "accidentally" kills (she always acts like it was an accident!). I check eggs multiple times a day (well, my kids do lol), never accidentally got eggs that were partially formed. I also candle them before selling them to check for cracks. Currently I have 13 chicks that are mama hatched but not ready to sell. All but three are EE or OE. One is a bantam mix cockeral, one is a black sex link, and one is a bantam mix of unknown sex.

Unlike some reptiles, temperature has nothing to do with the gender of a chick.

 

[FeyRaine]

I've got 2 broodies , one is on her second round for 2014.
The other I moved about 10 days ago onto eggs from the bator, she has a clutch of 6 chicks she is now raising, to include 2 that I moved under her when I saw her first hatchling peeking out under a wing. She did pretty well all things considered. She was not nearly as out of it as my other broody while setting, and is also far far more aggressively protective of the chicks. I still have them in a small pen atm due to preditors, including cats & also we are flooded (6 more inches last night) so they are far more likely to be ok in a small cage w/ mom than trying to build a cat proof life raft ;/

If I can get caught up on other chores soon then I plan to move the re-peat broody onto a larger clutch of nearly done eggs from the bator so she can raise them all for me!
Right now due to space issues she is sitting in a nest in the main coop which is dry but not a good place to hatch chicks.

So far the ticks in moving them have been (1) after dark (use red light or moonlight only) and move slowly & quietly (2) have the new location totally set up , in my case to include HOT from the bator clutch of eggs in a hay nest upon which she is gently set down. So basically the broody will have been sitting the clutch in the new location for 8plus hrs before it gets light and she might realize she is in a different location, but I make sure food water & privacy are obvious for her to see and so far the fact that she is on different eggs in a new place has not mattered at all to either broody.

So far all the chicks have been my mutt EEs, but soon I will be putting SFH eggs under one of these now proven gals

 

[Gentry1350]

I put her in a huge dog crate near the coop. She escaped twice and went back to the nest. I finally let her out around dusk and she ran and hopped on the roost, completely ignoring the nest. She did that the first night too. This is her first time going broody. I wouldn't trust her with eggs.

As soon as I moved her the first time, my big Brahma went and hopped on the pot. I had to kick her off too!

 

[Lots A Cluckin]

You are missed Ethel! I hope Chickie Heaven has endless treats for you to eat and you are able to hatch as many eggs as you want!

My little broody momma I love you so much!
RIP
3-15-12 ~ 6-30-14

It is has been really hard to loose Ethel...I don't normally cry this much or get this upset when I loose one of my birds...but Ethel was very special to me. She has been with from the very first day I got my first chickens and I thought for sure I would have her for several years longer.

She was very healthy and had never been sick a day in her life, but being healthy will not stop a predator for getting her unfortunately. We are not 100% sure what got her but we are thinking it was something like a fox, or coyote because there was no struggle and what ever it was came from behind and she never saw what was coming.

 

[Gentry1350]

RIP Ethel. She was a very pretty girl!