Broody Hen Thread!

[silkiechick1]

My chickens will be seven months old soon and one of my silkies started being broody about 2-3 weeks ago. Recently three of my other hens have become broody and they are all four sitting in the same nesting box. The one who gets stressed is my silkie when she goes out to get food and water and comes back and sees there are other hens in her spot, since they are mostly her eggs she is laying on. I don't want all my hens to start being broody and I'm really only wanting my silkie to hatch the eggs so I can have my own first set of chicks. Any advice?

 

[the poppster]

My chickens will be seven months old soon and one of my silkies started being broody about 2-3 weeks ago. Recently three of my other hens have become broody and they are all four sitting in the same nesting box. The one who gets stressed is my silkie when she goes out to get food and water and comes back and sees there are other hens in her spot, since they are mostly her eggs she is laying on. I don't want all my hens to start being broody and I'm really only wanting my silkie to hatch the eggs so I can have my own first set of chicks. Any advice?

Separate her from the flock...if you can...if you want her to hatch out a few chicks...but you don't want the others to go broody....a nice size broody cage, with enough room for her water and food....space to move around a bit...and a nest box..is all she will need till the chicks hatch and start to get active. It can be an area within the coop, if there is room....fenced off so the others can see her but can't get into her area or nest box. She won't need much room.

 

[PD-Riverman]

My chickens will be seven months old soon and one of my silkies started being broody about 2-3 weeks ago. Recently three of my other hens have become broody and they are all four sitting in the same nesting box. The one who gets stressed is my silkie when she goes out to get food and water and comes back and sees there are other hens in her spot, since they are mostly her eggs she is laying on. I don't want all my hens to start being broody and I'm really only wanting my silkie to hatch the eggs so I can have my own first set of chicks. Any advice?

Simple, """break""" the broodinest of the 3 you do not want broody(if you don't know how to easly break them--ask)---then as stated, separate the one you want to stay broody from the rest of the flock. Some hens move easy---some do not accept the move if you do not do it "Sneakie'". If you did not mark her beginning eggs, you got another problem called a staggered hatch---a hatch where all the chicks do not hatch at the same time. This is caused by other hens laying extra eggs in her nest and you not removing them. That makes the hen have to decide---to either stay on the nest after the first few hatch to hatch the rest and let the chicks starve or abandon the nest with other eggs about to hatch and take care of the ones that have hatched. Sure you can feed the chicks that have hatched by putting food/water at the nest which will cause the mom to eat and she will poop in the nest which is a different poop than normal----Really. You can remove the chicks as they hatch and put them in a heated brooder---your call. Its Just always best for "You" to set your broody properly so all the chicks hatch at the same time! Good Luck!!

 

[Attila the Hen]

I'm sure this question has been answered (probably several times) in the 1000+ pages of posts to this thread. In the interest of efficiency, I hope someone will indulge me this once...


What's wrong with a hen being broody? I have no roosters and seven hens, one of whom loves sitting on everyone's eggs. I let her. She seems happy, so why not?

It's all been said here that it is hard on the hen. I have a tiny hen who insisted on being broody. She sat for 21+ days and nothing hatched. She remained determined to start over so I gave her a couple of fertile eggs. I didn't really want anymore chickens either. Anyway, she hatched 2 chicks and she was the proudest mama around. She now thinks so much of herself that she is an alpha chicken. I've never observed other hens getting broody because one did. I also know that a hen will sit on anyone's eggs if she is broody. My turkey hen insisted also on being broody and I took her eggs and gave her chicken eggs which she successfully hatched.

 

[jhopp6]

My best broody Violet. She's never had babies of her own, but she sure takes her job seriously!

 

[jhopp6]

 

[microchick]

Nail biting time for me. Lock down period for Aggie and her eggs officially begins on Tuesday with hatching hopefully beginning on Friday. I haven't done any more candling. I figure at this time it's between the hen, God and Mother Nature. All I have done is open the nest box lid in order to give it a sniff for possible rotten eggs. So far everything smells fine.

I have a small emergency incubator ordered that will be here on Mon or Tues to handle any staggered hatchings I might be facing. My big problem has been finding chick starter. Nobody has it close to us. Too early in the season and they don't want to keep it in stock over winter. I had one supplier actually say to me when I told them we had chicks due to hatch on the 28th that they guess it was time to get some starter ordered for spring. I'm going to try Orschelns today as we have to go into the nearest city which is 20 miles away. As they are getting chicks in on the 28th I imagine they will have chick starter in stock......I hope.

Jhopp6 your little Silky with her babies sure made me smile this morning. What a good little momma she is!

 

[fisherlady]

Nail biting time for me. Lock down period for Aggie and her eggs officially begins on Tuesday with hatching hopefully beginning on Friday. I haven't done any more candling. I figure at this time it's between the hen, God and Mother Nature. All I have done is open the nest box lid in order to give it a sniff for possible rotten eggs. So far everything smells fine.

I have a small emergency incubator ordered that will be here on Mon or Tues to handle any staggered hatchings I might be facing. My big problem has been finding chick starter. Nobody has it close to us. Too early in the season and they don't want to keep it in stock over winter. I had one supplier actually say to me when I told them we had chicks due to hatch on the 28th that they guess it was time to get some starter ordered for spring. I'm going to try Orschelns today as we have to go into the nearest city which is 20 miles away. As they are getting chicks in on the 28th I imagine they will have chick starter in stock......I hope.

Jhopp6 your little Silky with her babies sure made me smile this morning. What a good little momma she is!

In a pinch I would find a lower protein food that doesn't have added calcium and just make a scrambled egg, put it through a food chopper to grind it fine and add it to the feed to boost protein.
Our tractor supply store is getting chicks next week, so the feed should be coming available in most places soon...

 

[microchick]

Thanks for the tip Fisherlady. If push comes to shove I will do that. Most of our local suppliers are Amish and they are closer than the local MFA so I usually use their ADM egg maker when I can't get into town.

I'm pretty positive that the local Orschels will have it in stock.....I hope, LOL.

 

[fisherlady]

As an FYI, we buy finch feed (wild bird seed) and hulled sunflower chips and put it through our little food chopper with scrambled eggs. Then put it in a low sided dish for the broody and chicks, our broodies love the stuff and it is their favorite thing to use to teach Littles how to eat.