Broody Hen Questions

[10xmama]

I am a relatively new chicken keeper. My first round of chickens is just over a year old. This past Sunday we realized one of our girls has gone broody. Initially we thought we would try and break her, but realized this was a chance to add a couple of chicks to our flock in a cool way. We do not have any roo's, so this girl was actually sitting on nothing, as we had taken the eggs from her before we realized what was up and how determined she is.

So here she is -- we call her "The Leader" … creative right. My kids named her that because she seems to be the head hen. She has made it quite clear she is determined to be broody.



Yesterday, my son made her a private temporary nesting box and coop in our barn. We gave her some dummy eggs (golf balls actually). And there she sits..
I have ordered some fertile eggs and are expecting them to arrive early next week.

Here's where she's hanging out:



These are my questions:

1. It does not appear she got up to eat or drink at all today. Should I force the issue? I figured if she got up, we would have seen the big poop … She won't compromise her own health will she? I would think she would instinctively know to get up and refresh herself with some water/food.

2. She went broody on Sunday 6/8. Our fertile eggs should arrive 6/18 give or take a day. That would mean she would likely have to be setting for 30-31 days to get her chicks. Will she persist that long? Will the delay in getting our fertile eggs cause her to give up before they hatch?

3. Any advice for a first timer?

Thanks so much!!!

 

[TheChips]

I have my hen sitting on two fertile eggs right now. I also realized she wasnt really eating as much. I do believe they dont eat as much when they are nesting. But when she is feeling famished she will get up to eat.

Shes been sitting on here eggs since the 28th only seen her want to leave the area twice. Most the time she is in her nesting box. She has gotten up a few times to lay really large poos as if shes been holding it in.

I want to say this is normal behavior for a broody hen. But this is my 1st time being in this specific situation myself.

On your other questions this website is full of amazing knowledge and experienced people! I hope they help you with what youre seeking

 

[missnu01]

Hens will sit and sit and sit and not get up nearly as much as we think they should. And when the chicks hatch your hen will be scrawny with a pale comb and basically look disheveled. It's all part of the process. Not a big deal. If It bothers you a bunch put the food and water so she can eat and drink without getting up, but often they still won't because they know if they eat and drink they will have to poo.
I have a hen setting a nest in the woods somewhere and she usually comes down once a day to eat, drink and dustbathe. Sometimes she skips a day and I'm convinced something has eaten her, but wherever she is she's close to the house and hidden like a needle in a haystack, or like a brown game bantam in the woods. Lol. I can't find her anywhere but I see her every once in awhile. But it does compromise their health, same as a dog that's just had puppies or a person that just had a baby. It is hard work and rough on the body, but it isn't anything they can't handle.
Last year my woods broody and her sister were coop broodies, and they sat for 3 weeks but something i think was stealing their eggs in the night. So 3 weeks went by and the eggs were gone but no chick's so they kept setting and setting. So I gave them more eggs because they would not get up. So they both set for nearly 9 weeks and they looked like scarecrow chickens when they finally got chick's and would get up to eat and move around. Apparently my woods broody feels her eggs are safe because like I said she gets up and hangs out in the yard for about half an hour to an hour during the hottest part of the day. When the mommas were in the coop they wouldn't get up and take care of themselves I think because they were afraid the other chickens would disturb disturb the nest.

 

[AmishThunder]

Since its her first time being broody I would pick her up off the nest and place her near food and water so she wont poop in the nest until she catches on. They steadily loose weight the longer they are broody so some meat to eat would be nice to go with her feed. I don't think the extra 10 days would make her give up but you never know. Good luck!

 

[10xmama]

Thank y'all so much for your thoughts.

Wow a broody in the woods! With all the predators around my woods I would be shocked to see a hen live through that. She must really hide herself!

I thought of a couple more questions:

1. I read that candling the eggs is a good idea? So they don't rot and explode?? That sounds troublesome to me. Do people really dare to reach under a broody regularly to candle her eggs? Doesn't she know somehow which ones are good?

2. Which leads me to hatch rate... The eggs I have coming are from a hatchery. I ordered 6 eggs. I know they are not guaranteed to hatch but with a broody (not an incubator machine) aren't my chances better?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Before she even starts to lay a hen builds up a lot of fat, especially in the vent area. This fat is mostly what they live off of while broody. They still need to get up daily to eat and drink, but most of the weight loss is fat purposely put there for that reason. Being broody is hard on them, but it is not nearly as hard as it seems. Eventually that fat does run out though, so I don’t like to go much beyond 5 or 6 weeks of a hen being broody on a nest. How hard that is on her depends on how much she does eat and drink. Once they hatch the hen gets lots to eat while teaching her chicks to eat and starts to rebuild that fat pad.

There is nothing wrong with tossing a broody hen off the nest once a day. She’ll probably just set there for a bit, then either go get something to eat and drink or return straight to the nest. Practically any of them will get up off the nest at least once a day on their own. I’ve had hens that come off the nest twice a day and stay off an hour or more each time, but others that only come off only once for maybe 15 minutes. How warm the weather is has something to do with it but each hen is also just different.

I’ve never had a broody hen reject a bad egg. I’ve never candled eggs under a broody. When the hen lays an egg, she puts a coating on it called bloom that works pretty well to keep bacteria out of that porous egg. It’s not perfect, but it does a real good job. As long as the eggs are not fairly dirty or you did not wash or scrape that bloom off before starting them, the odds of them exploding or going rotten are really thin. It does happen though.

Since my broodies hatch with the flock, I mark the eggs I want her to hatch and check under her daily to remove any the other hens may have laid in her nest. As long as you remove them daily, you won’t find any surprises inside when you open them. You can use them. Sometimes they peck and it can hurt. Gloves may be a good idea.

When I was a kid my job was to collect the eggs. That meant I had to check under a broody hen if we had one. There were some broody hens I really did not want to check under and I did not have gloves, but no way was I going to tell my father I was afraid to check under a broody hen. They can draw blood, by he way.

Most of the time broody hens do a better job of incubating than we can with incubators. You are dealing with life so anything can happen. As you obviously know they don’t come with guarantees under a broody or in an incubator. Shipped eggs have a reputation of having bad hatch rates for different reasons. I have had 100% hatch rates, 5 out of 5 turkey eggs, with shipped eggs. I’ve had a 25% hatch rate, 1 out of 4 turkey eggs, from the same person. I think the reputation of being hard to hatch is correct, but sometimes you can do pretty well.

Good luck!

 

[missnu01]

My broodies have more issues than I do. So my hatch rate is way better with my incubator than my broody hens have had at least in the coop. We will see how setting in the woods works out. I haven't candled any eggs under a hen. I'm also surprised my woods broody hasn't Been eaten but I can't find her and I look everyday. We are pretty overgrown this time of year and I notice the chickens commonly hang out under tangles of briars. Either way she is hidden from me and my kids and apparently everything else. All is well that ends well. Only maybe another week or so and she should be able to come back to the coop. Surely she isn't planning on trying to keep the chick's in the woods to brood them because then she will surely be asking for trouble.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens evolved as Jungle Fowl. They lived in the wild with predators all around, laid eggs in the wild, hatched chicks in the wild, and raised chicks in the wild. Yes, a lot were eaten by predators, whether brooding or not, but enough survived that they did not become extinct. Robins, mockingbirds, wild ducks, wild turkeys, wild pheasants, wild quail, and others live much the same way today. They are not going extinct.

Yes, she is at risk brooding out there, but you can find many stories on this forum where a hen completely disappeared for three weeks and came back with a bunch of chicks in tow. She will probably bring them back to the flock to raise them. There is more safety in numbers. There is a good chance she will take them into the coop at night and sleep in a corner on the coop floor, but this is not a guarantee. She could wind up taking them anywhere.

I much prefer my broodies in the coop too but if one is hiding out there I can’t do much but wait and see what happens. At least yours is coming back to eat and drink so you know she is doing OK. Many broodies are never seen until they bring their chicks back.

I do wish you luck but don’t despair. They have a pretty good chance.