Broody hen advice

[Chicken poppy]

there are mainly 2 kinds of broody. Mean broody, and nice broody. it really all depends on your chicken.

Their both protective, but mean broodies are obviously, much meaner.

 

[junior67]

there are mainly 2 kinds of broody. Mean broody, and nice broody. it really all depends on your chicken.

Their both protective, but mean broodies are obviously, much meaner.

Hoping she is nice. So far she has let me pet her, but yesterday she did cluck at me a bit

 

[junior67]

well today was a MESS with nest boxes! Think I am going to run to tractor supply and buy some they have and screw them to the wall! I have the broody in her normal middle one. The rest were going in and out all morning all messed up (mind you she has been in there since Mon and they have been fine). had 2 in one box finally (with 1 box free) and they were arguing over the box. another running all over the coop in a panic........ HER box was free since she always uses the same box, another came in screaming away (again her box was free since she uses the same one as the one running around) she finally settled into her box..... I brought out a box to make a temp nesting box for the one running around. not sure if she finally settled into it or not.... I don't know if it was because I moved the eggs from the other 2 boxes to get Ditzy to go back to the same box or what. I did that Wed night though and 4 of them laid yesterday in the boxes.....

 

[Chicken poppy]

Hoping she is nice. So far she has let me pet her, but yesterday she did cluck at me a bit

My nice broody still clucks at me, by them being mean they usually bite and get aggressive and stuff, like i said though it depends

 

[junior67]

My nice broody still clucks at me, by them being mean they usually bite and stuff, like i said though it depends

I figured the clucking was normal. She hasn't gone to bite me yet so really hoping that doesn't change. We will see if I have to take her off today how she is.... LOL I try not to bug her much (I even go inside the coop to get eggs instead of opening the nest box from the outside so I don't scare her. LOL but I do talk to her and give her a quick pet when I get the eggs.

 

[Chicken poppy]

I figured the clucking was normal. She hasn't gone to bite me yet so really hoping that doesn't change. We will see if I have to take her off today how she is.... LOL I try not to bug her much (I even go inside the coop to get eggs instead of opening the nest box from the outside so I don't scare her. LOL but I do talk to her and give her a quick pet when I get the eggs.

Yeah, and just because their bite doesnt mean that their mean specifically (bad at explaining this, haha) like my sweet broody girl bit me once, but never again after. It all really depends. Im sure she isn’t though.

 

[junior67]

She got off on her own today for about 50 min!

And my eggs have shipped and show they will be here Mon. Hopefully in good condition. So think I will put them under her and in the incubator on Tue. Of course the 3 I have from Ditzy were laid Sat, Sun and Mon so will be slightly older than a week.

 

[Pghelp]

My Orpington went broody and there was no question regarding her behavior. She refused to come out of the nesting box and chased away the other hens if they tried to lay there. One distinctive thing she did was pull all the down off her own breast and add that to the nest. She looked hideous but the nest was soft and downy. We didn’t have fertile eggs so I bought day old chicks and slipped them under her in the night. She successfully raised them and they’re now laying and just turned one year old. Never again will I do a brooder! So much less work when the hen takes care of everything! I’m watching her now to see if she goes broody again this spring!

 

[chickencoop57]

I appreciate your perseverance, Junior67! However, I don't do that. I had the same problem. I have four nest box and every time a hen went broody it would get up to go eat or drink , it would come back and sit on another nest, plus she's warming up the eggs off and on and in the heat, you dont know which are good to eat. After about 4 days of that ( the first time I realized this, 3 yrs ago) I decided no more. So I have another fenced-in area next to my garden and anytime a hen goes broody, she goes to that area with a rooster and I'll keep her there for about a week or until she starts laying eggs again.
I mean, yeah, it would be nice to have my hens hatch their own chicks but I just don't see it happening, especially in my coop, so I incubate.

 

[NatJ]

I had the same problem. I have four nest box and every time a hen went broody it would get up to go eat or drink , it would come back and sit on another nest, plus she's warming up the eggs off and on and in the heat, you dont know which are good to eat. After about 4 days of that ( the first time I realized this, 3 yrs ago) I decided no more. So I have another fenced-in area next to my garden and anytime a hen goes broody, she goes to that area with a rooster and I'll keep her there for about a week or until she starts laying eggs again.
I mean, yeah, it would be nice to have my hens hatch their own chicks but I just don't see it happening, especially in my coop, so I incubate.

I had a similar problem, but I solved it a little differently:
a separate coop, with a nest and fake eggs.

I would move any broody hen to that separate coop.
Either she sat on the fake eggs, and I could give her real ones a few days later.
Or she paced back and forth for a few days and quit being broody, so I put her back in the main coop.

I found hens to split about evenly between ones that would sit in a new place, and ones that refused.

My "separate coop" was about 3 feet each direction, which was plenty of room for a nest plus food & water, but not a good size for a hen raising the chicks past the first few days.