Broody Hen Thread!

[16 paws]

Microchick,

Aggie sounds so sweet. I hope she hatches up a big happy clutch of fuzzy bums.

I have a silkie that is brooding right now. I have been picking the eggs up everyday and leaving one wooden one for her. She is awfully sweet about letting me take the eggs. Just not sure I want to deal with the prospect of getting more roos here if I give her eggs to hatch. I kept having to break her but got busy with something else so now she has been sitting for a week. I am thinking about getting her a couple chicks from the feed store. At least you have better odds for hens that way. I have 35 chickens and 4 are roos. I am very lucky the boys are getting along so I dont want any more males. Roos are not easy to re-home around here.

Happy hatching!
Marie

 

[microchick]

16 Paws I couldn't agree with you more. We have 4 boys and 12 girls right now and yes, our boys are getting along well also with the exception of the occasional squabble over who's got the longest tail feathers and therefore shall be boss kind of argument. Then there is also the 'THAT'S MY HEN GET AWAY FROM HER!" squabble but that mainly happens between the senior most roosters and the youngest. I promised my husband that I would rehome, sell, get rid of and otherwise make any cockerels go away that might be hatched over the summer. Hens we can keep. This little Buff hen has been trying to go broody since December. I broke her once in our broody buster cage but when she turned up broody again 10 days ago I didn't have the heart to break her again. So yeah, I'm hoping for girls. 50% chance half of them will be roosters though and I may be looking at a staggered hatch that I'll have to finish up in a home made incubator as I have a feeling that a couple of the other hens may have said 'You want eggs, here have another one!" She started with 7. I think there are at least 9 or 10 under her. I finger counted and when I found 7 and then felt another one I moaned and stopped counting. It's been so cold here this last week that I didn't have the heart to lift her off the nest for any length of time to really do a visual count. I have been letting the flock in to roost at night but in the morning they are moved to a secondary coop and the roosting coop with the brooding hen in it is closed up for the day.

This has been my first brooding experience in almost 50 years. Next time I'll remember how 'sneaky' those little devils can be.

 

[16 paws]

Haha Microchick,

Yes those broodies can be very clever to try and outsmart us now cant they?

It makes me smile to read your posts about Aggie. I hope you keep us up to date on the progress, I will be following along

Please try and take pictures of your broodie. I am sure a lot of us would love to see her. Thanks for your cute posts!
Marie

 

[blkjak]

Pretty sure I have a hen on a nest of eggs somewhere. I was worried the owl I saw in my yard had made a meal of her but I saw her yesterday morning at the feed dish. It's a little early here for chicks. Hopefully the weather will stay mild for the rest of the winter.

 

[wingitman]

Hens can be a pain in the backside. I've got this problem where ALLL of my hens like to lay in ONE particular box. and this tends to disrupt the broody hen. They have PLENTY of boxes but they're just not good enough! what is it about that one box?

 

[microchick]

I swear they do that just because they are lazy wingitman! One or two eggs in a box are't nearly as attractive to a broody hen as a nest box full is. So why have to sit on eggs for 21 days to make them hatch and then have to raise them for three or four weeks when Broody Mabel is pining away to do the job for the clever hen that has figured that little fact out?

That's the only thing I can figure out about them. Bird brains in deed.

I watched our rooster today offer a hen a piece of apple, he sweet talked her, called her over to him, picked up the apple, laid it back down and when the poor unsuspecting girl put her head down to accept his offering......well she let him know that she wasn't that cheap of a date. He needed to offer her at least a piece of apple and a piece of bread before she would take that kind of behavior from him. A different hen walked by and caught his attention so the diss was soon forgotten.

Chicken society is a trip. Every day it's something new with them.

 

[Halloweengirl13]

My sneaky broody pair Ophelia and Nimue

 

[wingitman]

I swear they do that just because they are lazy wingitman! One or two eggs in a box are't nearly as attractive to a broody hen as a nest box full is. So why have to sit on eggs for 21 days to make them hatch and then have to raise them for three or four weeks when Broody Mabel is pining away to do the job for the clever hen that has figured that little fact out?

That's the only thing I can figure out about them. Bird brains in deed.

I watched our rooster today offer a hen a piece of apple, he sweet talked her, called her over to him, picked up the apple, laid it back down and when the poor unsuspecting girl put her head down to accept his offering......well she let him know that she wasn't that cheap of a date. He needed to offer her at least a piece of apple and a piece of bread before she would take that kind of behavior from him. A different hen walked by and caught his attention so the diss was soon forgotten.

Chicken society is a trip. Every day it's something new with them.

That's interesting microchick, their behaviour sure is a trip. Now that my Orpington has discovered that others are putting more eggs under her she boycotted the whole operation, said stuff it and is back to doing her own thing! I'm confused now i have to scramble around to find someone that can sell me a second hand incubator (hopefully the eggs haven't died yet) and I can save whatever is left.

 

[microchick]

Well that is a real bummer Wingitman. I had a real scare with our broody early on. Evidently she had gotten off her nest only to have another hen take her box over. I found her sitting on 2 eggs in the next box instead of her own. Luckily they were still warm to the touch so I hustled her back onto her own nest where she settled down like nothing had happened out of the ordinary. She is such a good little hen.I'm sure she would sit on a pile of eggs no matter how big it was- like Foghorn Leghorn's old maid hen Prissy?

How far along were your hen's eggs? Did they get cold? I'm thinking about making a home built incubator just to have it on stand by in case we have a staggered hatching thanks to the lazy no account hens that donated to Aggie's cause. My big concern is that she is sitting on a few infertile or quitter Welsummer eggs. Time will tell. Don't count your eggs out until you have a chance to candle the to be sure. Once again time will tell. Good Luck.

 

[16 paws]

Hey Wingitman,

Wish you lived by me, I would let my NEW broody incubate the eggs for you.

I just went out to the coop to collect the eggs for today. I have a curtain on the nestbox, pushed that aside to get the eggs and I almost screamed! My black bantam frizzle was in there so flat I thought she must be dead. I didnt want to touch her just in case she was so I grabbed a little mini rake I keep in the coop and gently pushed her. No movement....

After a couple more times of nudging her she finally looked up at me with those eyes that said, you better get out of here.....

So that makes 2 now, my little white silkie Powder and now Jesabelle. Here we go folks!!!!
Anyone need a good broody?