Broody Hen Thread!

[microchick]

Our girl is sitting on 7 eggs, the last one gifted to her by one of the Welsummer hens that just couldn't bear the thought of laying it in one of the other nesting boxes. I think she has 3 Wellie eggs and 4 Buff 0 eggs under her at this point and that is all I'm going to let her have.

At the moment she seems happily surprised that when I pulled her eggs out from under her to mark them, she actually got them back. We are in for a colder bout of weather this next week but the coop is warm so I'm not worried about her. She is a dedicated little broody and I don't think she has even been off the nest today. Probably too afraid that if she leaves her nest for too long, that evil human will come along and steal her eggs from her again.

How's your chick count coming along Alex1010?

 

[PD-Riverman]

I have a metal six-hole nest box in my main coop. Because of the great advice from folks on here I have put dishpans in all the places in case someone goes broody so that they can be easily moved to a more secure area for sitting, hatching and brooding babies. Had worked great last year but now I have a little silkie who doesn't understand all the work i've gone through to help her out.

Is she setting on eggs?

 

[Alex1010]

Our girl is sitting on 7 eggs, the last one gifted to her by one of the Welsummer hens that just couldn't bear the thought of laying it in one of the other nesting boxes. I think she has 3 Wellie eggs and 4 Buff 0 eggs under her at this point and that is all I'm going to let her have. 

At the moment she seems happily surprised that when I pulled her eggs out from under her to mark them, she actually got them back.  We are in for a colder bout of weather this next week but the coop is warm so I'm not worried about her. She is a dedicated little broody and I don't think she has even been off the nest today. Probably too afraid that if she leaves her nest for too long, that evil human will come along and steal her eggs from her again.

How's your chick count coming along Alex1010?

Still just one well that was a hour ago I might wake up to some

 

[Alex1010]

Quote:
I'd sure give them a little while. If you can get to the eggs to candle, maybe do that before you trash them. You don't want to throw an egg preparing to hatch away. When she leaves the nest with the baby, you can take the remaining eggs, candle them to be sure none are viable. I always do eggtopsies to be sure they aren't just late hatching. There are horror stories about cheeping from thrown away eggs, and I don't want to be responsible for that.

Yeah today is day 21 they might just be late except one. Could it be that it's cold?

 

[n3kms]

Is she setting on eggs?

She may have one under her. She or her sister had made a depression further up under the nest boxes that I found the other day. I had not known my two silkies had started laying until I found that. I cleared them out and shoved a bunch of bedding up under so she hopefully would use the nest box. I found one egg yesterday in the spot she is in now and collected it. I did find one silky egg in the nest box one day and one today. Probably her sister laid those. She has sat there all day and is still there tonight. I guess I'll try to go figure something out. I would like to use her to hatch some Black Java eggs. They are medium/large. How many you think she could manage?

 

[PD-Riverman]

She may have one under her. She or her sister had made a depression further up under the nest boxes that I found the other day. I had not known my two silkies had started laying until I found that. I cleared them out and shoved a bunch of bedding up under so she hopefully would use the nest box. I found one egg yesterday in the spot she is in now and collected it. I did find one silky egg in the nest box one day and one today. Probably her sister laid those. She has sat there all day and is still there tonight. I guess I'll try to go figure something out. I would like to use her to hatch some Black Java eggs. They are medium/large. How many you think she could manage?

I put 5 regular chicken eggs(large) under my silkies, 6 under the bigger silkies but I have the nest in a bowl shape in the bottom. Great hatchers.

 

[n3kms]

I put 5 regular chicken eggs(large) under my silkies, 6 under the bigger silkies but I have the nest in a bowl shape in the bottom. Great hatchers.

She seems small to me but I only have the three silkies. One is a cockerel. My Wyandotte who hatched the Javas and the silkies last year was the one I was expecting to go broody. I figured if she raised 3 clutches last year she would surely go broody again. I bought the silkie eggs for my daughter, who helps me with the chickens, to have as pets. Although I did know that they were prone to broodiness and was hoping to make use of that. Didn't realize how small they are. Thanks.

 

[RachaelR32]

Yeah today is day 21 they might just be late except one. Could it be that it's cold?

Mine that are 2 weeks old now were a bit late. I had 2 on day 21, 2 on day 22 and 3 on day 23. One didn't make it as it was too late. They were all set at the same time.

 

[Alex1010]

Mine that are 2 weeks old now were a bit late. I had 2 on day 21, 2 on day 22 and 3 on day 23. One didn't make it as it was too late. They were all set at the same time.

One hatched overnight I hope some hatch today! I'm crossing my fingers..

 

[sharol]

Quote:
My first hatch was incubated, and they took 25 days (BUT, my thermostat was off a degree so they were just a trifle too cold). Last year my first time broody left the nest with her first hatchling. I put the other 8 eggs in the incubator, and 7 of them hatched. The first one was a fluke who hatched on day 19 and the others hatched a couple of days later. She wouldn't take them, so they had to be raised in a brooder (what a pain), but the upside is that they are really tame.