Broody Australorp Now Mother Hen!!!!!! Lots and Lots of Pics!

[Preservation Acres]

Interesting. I put a dozen eggs under her. This weekend I'll candle and see how things are going.

So here's my question for the day. What exactly do broody hens live on? My hen hasn't left the nest FOR ONE MINUTE in 7 days. She only eats when I hand feed her, and she only takes a few bites and she's done.

All she wants to do is brood and sleep.

I'm the only person that she'll let near her. She'll even let me reach under her and look at her eggs. When my wife or kids even goes near the cage, she grows like a dinosaur. It's funny. In my house, all the animals like me best. The chickens, the cats, the parakeets. Funny.

 

[cwhit590]

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Hope it goes well. If you can't see them clearly or are unsure, I would just leave them under momma...and wait...............

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My broody would eat quite a bit when I hand fed her on the nest...but I never saw her off the nest either...oh well...don't know how she did it, but she lived thru it. Twice.

Sneaky little buggers.
em...has she pooped yet?

 

[Preservation Acres]

Once a day, and it's huge. It's the first thing I clean up when I get home.

 

[cwhit590]

If she is making poo, and has access to feed and water...she's fine! Really. Broodies just sit there on the eggs....and..... yeah. That's pretty much it.

 

[Preservation Acres]

Instinct is an interesting thing. She's never been around a rooster, yet she took right to brooding fertilized eggs from other hens.

 

[cwhit590]

Yup! Once they get hit by the broody bug instinct just takes over. Just wait till she has the chicks with her...she should know exactly what to do....it's amazing (and less stress and work for humans)!

I don't think chickens actually *know* what they're sitting on. As long as it's round they will try to hatch it. My broody sat on golf balls for 4 weeks until her foster chicks came in the mail this spring. This summer when she went broody again, I had her on golf balls for a few days till I collected the eggs I wanted her to set on. I took her and the golf balls out, and slipped the eggs in, and she just came right back and she was like

Ooooh...a HUGE pile of round things....SWEET!....must....sit!!!

 

[Preservation Acres]

That's how my hen was. She was trying to hatch four ceramic eggs, and I bought a dozen fertilized eggs from someone local.

I pulled out the ceramic eggs and gave her the real eggs one at a time. She rolled them under her one at a time, and the look in her eyes when she saw how many I had was like a kid on Christmas morning.

 

[Preservation Acres]

I took her off the nest today so I could clean it up. She was stinking up the whole room...geez! I'm still keeping her indoors in a dog kennel.

When I took her off, I tried to get her to walk around some and stretch her legs, but she was obviously very stiff. All she wanted was to get back to her eggs.

If she doesn't get a good hatch out of these, it won't be from a lack of effort on her part. She's so persistent. She won't leave those eggs.

 

[cwhit590]

Is she pooping while sitting on the nest?

 

[Preservation Acres]

Yes. When I picked her up, there was a massive pile behind her. I thought I was doing a good job of cleaning up after her, but when I walked into the room today, I thought I was going to pass out from the smell.

I knew I had to move her to see what kind of smelly mess she was "hiding." She's definitely not having any trouble pooping. She's just not eating much.