Broody Hen Thread!

[Puddin Fluff]

After more researching that's the conclusion I've come too as well. SOOOO I picked up some fertile EE eggs for her to hatch

Still considering leaving a couple of hers too. Moving her to her safe place away from other laying hens tomorrow..a girl needs her privacy! Really I just don't want to have to check for new eggs..she's not the sweetest thang

 

[FarmerMac]

I used golf balls or those wooden eggs from the hobby store to encourage the chickens to know where to lay. It worked so well, she went broody and continues to even after I leave the nest empty. I didn't have to worry about broken or rotting eggs while they were in training. Also heard it discourages possible egg eating if it does break. That is funny though, Chickens are going to do what they want when they want! It's amazing the "looks"they can give you, just letting you know you not totally in charge.

Same here, one of my game hens went broody within a week after I put 12 fake eggs in her nest. I had some eggs in the incubator and when they hatched I swapped the two babies for the eggs. Some of my hens never go broody, no matter how many eggs they have in the nest, they just keep on laying eggs.

 

[Sherry4559]

My Polish hen went broody for the second time, i let her sit on 3 Americana eggs they hatched the 14th.

 

[16 paws]

Yeah, but at least you know the hens have a reason for being surly when they have chicks under them. I have a perfect imprint of a beak plus a puncture wound on my finger from our stupid hormonal rooster. I gotta get that boy some girls of his own.

microchick,

I wanted to tell you this but forgot.....
I have only had one roo that tried to be aggressive with me. His name was Trousers, he was a big beautiful Americana rooster.
This is what I did. I left a broom in the coop. Everytime he came near I would swish the broom by him. I NEVER hit him, I just quickly swished it by him. He did not like that at all and after a few swats in the air he got the hint that it might be him getting a wallop next.After that he showed his respect for me. I passed it on to a girl I met in the feed store and she used it with her roo and she emailed me to thank me, said it worked for her as well. You may want to give it a go and see if it changes his attitude. I also have a no kill policy here so I am glad it worked.

 

[microchick]

Thanks 16paws, I'll set a broom out and give it a try. I tried a small container full of water a couple of days ago. When he didn't give me space, I tossed it in his direction. I didn't hit him with it but he scooted out of the way anyway.

I still hate it that I gave away two roosters last year for aggression. I couldn't trust them with the other birds as they would corner the smaller cockerels and try to kill them....literally. One ended up with a damaged hock before I witnessed what was happening and put the two bad boys in a pen by themselves. Then they started to attack me. I tried everything with them from carrying them around (when I went to pick up one, the other would attack me) to separating them (made them meaner) and finally I decided (after getting bitten, not pinched but bitten where they hung on and twisted their heads)that enough was enough and I needed to put on my big girl panties and deal with them.

I'm determined to keep Larry though. he is really a nice bird, beautiful and big. I really want to get his genes going in the flock and I recognize his behavior as being hormonal more than anything else. Plus being the youngest, he is odd man out with the hens even though he is very nice to them. He hasn't figured out that he outweighs the biggest rooster by 5 pounds and is inches taller than he is. He could easily be flock master if he figured out that he could beat Red with his wings tied behind his back.

The other three roosters are respectful. The two Welsummers need reinforcement every now and then but they are easy to work with and my Buff O, Red is a doll. he usually follows me around with his harem in tow begging me for treats. I can toss him bread and he catches it in mid air and passes it down to the girls.

Here is my Larry Bird last fall when he was round 6 months old. He is just a big rooster at about 9 months of age.
He was supposed to be a girl. Fooled everyone.

Your boy is gorgeous. I love his sickle and tail feather color.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Omg Microchick he is beautiful heck ya you want his genes omg i want some of the eggs he helps make for when I have a hen go broody he is just beautiful!!!

 

[16 paws]

microchick,
He is a hansome lad. What breed is he?
Keep in mind also that he is young and when he matures he may lighten up. Sometimes its growing pains.

 

[microchick]

Thanks 16 paws and Dani4Hedgies. He's a Lavender Orpington. He's the main reason I'm hoping another hen will go broody sometime soon as the breeder has LO and Black O eggs that I can put under here lucky girl so she can hopefully give me a few hens to breed with him. His color has faded a little as he has matured but he still has that beautiful lavender/blue tint to his feathers with the occasional vein of silver running through his feathers. I was hoping the at the Buff O girls would accept him but they are crazy about the Buff O and the senior Welsummer roo and won't let him near them. Same with the Welsummer girls. Little floozies. I saw him flirt with one of them one day and dance for them. When he made the big move on her she went at him with both feet. Scared the heck out of the big lug.

Since you need to occasionally inject some Black O genes into the the Lavender genetic makeup in order to keep the lavender gene going I want some black O girls along with some Lavender hens. My husband took some pictures of him last night. I'll have to see if he won't process one or two for me. He has the most impressive head and neck coloring going for him. He is just low on self confidence right now being the youngest roo.

 

[16 paws]

Update on the Saint Patricks Day Hatch in Vista, Ca

How sick is it that I planned my hatch during my vacation time???? Who needs to go anywhere with all these cute little fluffy bums to watch.....I do need some serious help

Here are some pics of Puff and some of the babies. Sorry about the quality, I dont own a cell phone so I am taking them with a digital camera.

So out of the nine I gave her 7 have hatched. She kind of moved off the other 2 that were left so I gathered them up and put them in my garage under a light. Well see if anything happens.

Had to take a couple shots of my backyard to show how here its been spring for a while now. This is the back of my house and the coop sits a few more feet down. That is the deck I observe and watch for predators like bobby. There is a wooded area behind the coop and run area.





This is the path that I always trip and fall on when I am running down to the coop to see whats making them all squak

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

beautiful babies and home and heck getting to spend a week watching chicks in that weather IS a vacation here in KC its been nice for the last week but now we are having spitting snow and ice with below freezing weather all weekend thankfully I have my new chicks from Danz in my house