Broody Hen Thread!

[fisherlady]

I had a hen disappear and after searching, eventually decided she was a goner. Some days later I found her, sitting on a nest far back underneath the coop. She's gone broody multiple times, but always sat in the nest box. I left her alone and planned to move her and the eggs, but while the Thanksgiving turkey was in the oven yesterday, I went to take a peek at her... and some chicks popped out! Now I'm not sure what to do. Did I miss the window of opportunity to move them? lots of chickens go u see the coop, so do the cats, so I am a little afraid for the chicks. What should I do?

In my experience hens move easier after chicks have hatched. The 'wild card' you will have is if there are more eggs under her (staggered hatch). I would prepare an appropriate area of your choice, get a cardboard box and a helper and crawl under and retrieve her and the chicks for move to new area. Make sure you have a comfy nest in the new area and move any unhatched, viable eggs when you move her. It does create a risk to the eggs but consider the risk you feel the already hatched chicks are in....you will have to decide which risk you are more willing to take. Congrats on the new flock additions!

 

[the poppster]

I had a hen disappear and after searching, eventually decided she was a goner. Some days later I found her, sitting on a nest far back underneath the coop. She's gone broody multiple times, but always sat in the nest box. I left her alone and planned to move her and the eggs, but while the Thanksgiving turkey was in the oven yesterday, I went to take a peek at her... and some chicks popped out! Now I'm not sure what to do. Did I miss the window of opportunity to move them? lots of chickens go u see the coop, so do the cats, so I am a little afraid for the chicks. What should I do?

I'd catch the chicks and mom and move them into the coop...and confine them in a fenced in corner with food and water...for a week or so. The mom should bring them back into the coop once she gets used to being in there...make her a nice sheltered nest box in a quiet corner on the floor for her to gather her little family....better than leaving them out where the cat or anything else can get to her babies....or her...better to do something then nothing...at least they will have a chance. Good luck!

 

[amyfitz100]

Thanks for the help and good wishes! It became obvious yesterday morning what I needed to do. When I opened the coop door and let the 23 other chickens out, they all raced to the food -- and three of the brave (or stupid?) adorable little fluff balls zoomed out from under the coop right into the middle of the feeding frenzy. Much squawking and feather flying ensued -- Mama Hen was torn between chasing after them and staying on the other 5 eggs... There were no casualties (truthfully, I think the chicks were winning because they had the element of surprise -- one rooster jumped about ten feet straight up when a baby ran beside him) as I took that opportunity to swoop in and put the babies in a rabbit hutch I already had inside the coop. The challenge was getting the mom. I ended up flat on my belly, swiping a stick to try and encourage her to get up, while protecting my face! She is not always so friendly... My son even held a chick in front of her to help out. Once she got within reach, she was surprisingly willing to be caught. And was certainly happy to be in the hutch with her babies. And food. And water. I candled the remaining eggs that I could reach and they did seem to be duds -- a couple not fertile and a couple that stopped developing. Can't wait to see how the others turn out! The chicks didn't look like I expected...

Gladware keeps chicken fresh! Lol

 

[fisherlady]

Thanks for the help and good wishes! It became obvious yesterday morning what I needed to do. When I opened the coop door and let the 23 other chickens out, they all raced to the food -- and three of the brave (or stupid?) adorable little fluff balls zoomed out from under the coop right into the middle of the feeding frenzy. Much squawking and feather flying ensued -- Mama Hen was torn between chasing after them and staying on the other 5 eggs... There were no casualties (truthfully, I think the chicks were winning because they had the element of surprise -- one rooster jumped about ten feet straight up when a baby ran beside him) as I took that opportunity to swoop in and put the babies in a rabbit hutch I already had inside the coop. The challenge was getting the mom. I ended up flat on my belly, swiping a stick to try and encourage her to get up, while protecting my face! She is not always so friendly... My son even held a chick in front of her to help out. Once she got within reach, she was surprisingly willing to be caught. And was certainly happy to be in the hutch with her babies. And food. And water. I candled the remaining eggs that I could reach and they did seem to be duds -- a couple not fertile and a couple that stopped developing. Can't wait to see how the others turn out! The chicks didn't look like I expected...

Gladware keeps chicken fresh! Lol

That is great! I had to chuckle at your description of their first flock encounter, since we raise our within the flock I can totally picture what you described (especially the surprised rooster!)
The new additions are adorable , our barnyard mixes are my favorites, always wonderful to watch how their appearance changes.

 

[S5apiotrowski]

I am unsure if my new broody is accepting her grafts, or just tolerating them!

Its a young cochin and a first time broody - sitting a lot, often without eggs for the better part of 10-14 days. She prefers the nesting box, but occasionally loses interest and does hen things before jumping back in the box.

Our incubator eggs are hatching and we have placed a few chicks under her. She is staying put (her freedom of movement is also somewhat restrained). She hasn't smothered the chicks and the chicks seem to take to her - but she seems somewhat indifferent to the chicks. I am not sure if this is the "broody zen" where she is concentrating on hatching nothing, or just lack of interest in the chicks. She does know the chicks are there - she has pecked at them a few times, but has not attacked them.

She currently has 3 chicks. I have two more brooding indoors and may hatch out one or two more. I'm debating if I should add the other two tonight, or wait until the morning to see how all are doing then.

 

[fisherlady]

Below is a post from the 'old fashioned' broody thread from last February , I thought it may be helpful for some folks on this thread. Remember that this is just based on my experience in our coop with our flock dynamics, but I believe it may provide a good base for someone to begin evaluating their own situation with....



Quote:
Originally Posted by fisherlady

I agree with Lady of McCamley, it is very possible to do, but it totally hinges on the hen's mentality. Many hens are tricky about fostering... it isn't their fault, and it doesn't make them bad broodies, it is just a hormonal thing, this seems more pronounced when the hen is a newer broody (only one or two hatches). I have found my more experienced broodies seem much less phased by odd things

Remember that the natural progression of brooding is (from my observations)

a). Pre broody.... the hen's hormones are starting to act up, they tend to be vocal and grumpy, mine often walk around emitting a low 'clook, clook, clook' noise for a few days during this phase. This is also the time they start hogging a nest box during the day and gathering eggs when they can. They often still roost at night during this early phase, so it is easy to miss if you aren't around them for extended periods during this time. I have come to recognize these as an early warning sign.

b) Setting broody... the hen has committed to setting full time on the nest now, her hormones have fully kicked in and she wants eggs no matter what! She may still take in extras she can find so it is up to us to prevent that during the setting period. While setting she will instinctually turn the eggs multiple times a day and shuffle their position in the nest to what she feels is the best benefit to the eggs. During this time she will only leave the nest one or maybe two times a day (if even that often) during which time she will be the whirling dervish queen of speed scratching, dusting and drinking.

c) Hatching broody.... it seems that the last few days of a normal clutch the hen senses the increase in movement of the chicks in the egg and you will often hear her softly purring and clucking to the chicks. This period seems to help prepare her for the sudden appearance of the newly hatched chicks. Although a broody can't count the number of days she has been setting she does recognize the changes in the vibe from the eggs as hatch nears.

d) Mama broody.... usually this kicks in on day 2 after the hatch (give or take 24 hours) At this time the hen decides it is time to leave the nest and care for all of the little ones which are out and about. She will often give up on late eggs, sometimes even viable ones, because the instinct is to care for the already hatched, not hope for more. I re-purpose an old phrase to explain this..... 'a chick in the open is worth 2 in the shell' Some folks don't understand the importance to general survival that this is... and it is also the reason that staggered hatches are so dangerous to the hatching process.

I have encountered problems when messing with the normal progression of brooding, but the problems can be minimized and/or avoided when you understand that they are possible to begin with.

a) hens can't count days, but their hormone levels evidently do fluctuate and some hens just don't do well with being suddenly presented with chicks when they have only been in 'setting' mode for a short period. I had a hen who had been a great broody before when I gave her a group of eggs which were due to hatch only 10 days into her brood. She just didn't transit to hatch mode and the first two eggs which hatched she suffocated because she just was sitting too tight.... she just wasn't understanding that hatch time had kicked in. We removed the remaining eggs and gave them to another broody and we replaced them with fresh eggs to this hen. She happily sat on them for the 3 weeks and hatched 6/6 and was an awesome mama to them. Her failure to short hatch didn't mean she was a bad broody, her hormones just didn't adjust in time. I now normally wouldn't short hatch a hen with less than 2 weeks of brood time to avoid the possible problem.

b). some hens are great fosters but others can seem very confused when chicks suddenly appear without the 'hatch mode' preparation time. These hens aren't bad broodies, they just need a bit of time to transition to mama mode. These situations need very close monitoring to help lost chicks get back under the broody and also sometimes some chick protection, a confused hen may peck at a chick and hurt or scare it during introduction. Simply cupping the chick under your hand and sliding it under broody without her even seeing it or having the chance to peck at it can drastically reduce stress to both broody and chick. Broody will hopefully begin getting into the mama mode with just hearing the chick under her for the first 12-24 hours.

c) mixed foster method. This is my preferred and I have done well with it. A hen who has recently hatched (within past 2 days) will usually readily accept more chicks with very little fuss. Her natural hatchers have already helped her transition through the hatching mode to mama mode and hens can't count, so more chicks just appearing with her own seems to be pretty simply and acceptable to her. The only risk is if the new ones are a different color. Some hens do seem to show preference to their own if they are old enough that she was out of the nest with them. Some hens may reject an odd colored chick. So watch for that risk. If mama has 6 yellow fluff balls and you try sneaking in a black australorp chick she may object.

Now remember that these stages and situations are just some general observations in my coop, and their are exceptions to every rule... I have a hen who will have nothing to do with chicks which aren't hers (a rarity in our coop, but she is a character) and I have a couple of hens who will adopt anything that cheeps, even if it is a much older chick.... some hens will adopt chicks at the drop of a hat when they haven't even been broody or only broody for a short time. We are totally at the mercy of the hen's personality on this.

. Our faithful Janeway, with her own chicks (maybe a week old) and a group of almost 5 week olds she decided still needed a mama when their own broody went back up on the roost (see the little white head poking out from under her right side? that is one of the older group). Janeway kept that older group with her until her own were 6 weeks old, in fact, the older chicks abandoned her more so than the other way around, I think she would have kept them longer yet, even though they were nearly as big as her by the time they were 10 weeks old!

 

[fisherlady]

I am unsure if my new broody is accepting her grafts, or just tolerating them!

Its a young cochin and a first time broody - sitting a lot, often without eggs for the better part of 10-14 days. She prefers the nesting box, but occasionally loses interest and does hen things before jumping back in the box.

Our incubator eggs are hatching and we have placed a few chicks under her. She is staying put (her freedom of movement is also somewhat restrained). She hasn't smothered the chicks and the chicks seem to take to her - but she seems somewhat indifferent to the chicks. I am not sure if this is the "broody zen" where she is concentrating on hatching nothing, or just lack of interest in the chicks. She does know the chicks are there - she has pecked at them a few times, but has not attacked them.

She currently has 3 chicks. I have two more brooding indoors and may hatch out one or two more. I'm debating if I should add the other two tonight, or wait until the morning to see how all are doing then.

please read the above post, it seems your hen is still in setting mode, she may need a bit of time to adjust to mamma mode.

 

[S5apiotrowski]

Thanks Fisherlady - the information is extremely helpful.

I think my hen has been in the pre broody stage for a couple weeks and she just started staying in the nesting box overnight - but without any eggs. She is not an egg hoarder yet. We did try to move her to a brooding area earlier in the week, and she was not content - just wanted to go back to her nesting box. Then again, there are 2 she likes, and she is easily confused as to which one to get in... and the eggs don't seem to change that.

I did have chicks underneath her for about 24 hours. The chicks were very happy. After 24-30 hours, I tried moving all to a safer brooding area. The hen was distracted and wanted to peck around and was very inattentive to the chicks - not communicating the way my first broody did with her hatchlings. I gathered the chicks and put them in my brooder - back to the original plan.

My hen was not distraught over the disappearance of the chicks. She scratched around for awhile. When I removed the barrier to her nesting box, she jumped right back in. I ran some errands to get a new spare bulb for the brooder, and when I came back, my hen was scratching around by the coop door - she was waiting for another hen to lay an egg and then she took over that nest. I did get some ceramic eggs with the bulb, and I set them up in the brooding box area and put my hen in there. Right now she is circling around, trying to figure a way out back to her nesting box.

I figured I'd do this for a couple of days - I am unsure if she will get comfortable with the new nest, if her broodiness will break, or if she will just return to the old nest I robbed her from.

All-in-all, it doesn't matter. If she sits on ceramic eggs for a couple days, I'll let her try to hatch some chicks. I'd just rather have her isolated from the others than having little spats in the nesting box and damaging eggs!

 

[fisherlady]

Thanks Fisherlady - the information is extremely helpful.

I think my hen has been in the pre broody stage for a couple weeks and she just started staying in the nesting box overnight - but without any eggs. She is not an egg hoarder yet. We did try to move her to a brooding area earlier in the week, and she was not content - just wanted to go back to her nesting box. Then again, there are 2 she likes, and she is easily confused as to which one to get in... and the eggs don't seem to change that.

I did have chicks underneath her for about 24 hours. The chicks were very happy. After 24-30 hours, I tried moving all to a safer brooding area. The hen was distracted and wanted to peck around and was very inattentive to the chicks - not communicating the way my first broody did with her hatchlings. I gathered the chicks and put them in my brooder - back to the original plan.

My hen was not distraught over the disappearance of the chicks. She scratched around for awhile. When I removed the barrier to her nesting box, she jumped right back in. I ran some errands to get a new spare bulb for the brooder, and when I came back, my hen was scratching around by the coop door - she was waiting for another hen to lay an egg and then she took over that nest. I did get some ceramic eggs with the bulb, and I set them up in the brooding box area and put my hen in there. Right now she is circling around, trying to figure a way out back to her nesting box.

I figured I'd do this for a couple of days - I am unsure if she will get comfortable with the new nest, if her broodiness will break, or if she will just return to the old nest I robbed her from.

All-in-all, it doesn't matter. If she sits on ceramic eggs for a couple days, I'll let her try to hatch some chicks. I'd just rather have her isolated from the others than having little spats in the nesting box and damaging eggs!

Sounds like a good plan, if you can darken her nest box with a blanket or towel it may help her settle. Look forward to hearing how she makes out.

 

[PD-Riverman]

She is not an egg hoarder yet.

We did try to move her to a brooding area earlier in the week, and she was not content - just wanted to go back to her nesting box.


All-in-all, it doesn't matter. If she sits on ceramic eggs for a couple days, I'll let her try to hatch some chicks. I'd just rather have her isolated from the others than having little spats in the nesting box and damaging eggs!

Its best for you to collect ever how many eggs you would want her to set on---then place them all under her at the same time----so all will hatch at the same time.

I moved about 70 broody hens in the last year---all stayed and all hatched----There is just certain ways to do it that works for me.

If you want her to set----you could put her back in the original nest with some ceramic eggs to see if she will stay on them-----then in a couple days move her in a way that she should accept the move and if she does then place some real eggs under her. Good Luck