Broody Hen Thread!

[Chookin gooood]

I would say it is worth a try- there is no harm trying!!!!! There is still a chance it will hatch just the chances are just less than one that is at room temp!

 

[billyb]

don't worry about the watery poo bill she is trying to cool off when a hen broods they raise their body temp to incubate something like fever and when they are coming off the brood they attempt to lower the fever by drinking lots of water and expelling it regulate temps hens in a hot environment will do the same it's normal

Ok thanks!

 

[billyb]

And post pics when she takes them out for the first walkabout !

Will do!

 

[billyb]

Just hot dogs or ham. My chickens love to eat rats though. They will scratch up a mole and try to eat it!! LOL!! =)

Ok thanks! Hahaha

 

[Bush Chickens]

Ok,well because we don't really have a proper coop whatsoever I have Stormy in the basement in a big box with a lid,setting in a little box with 2 of her eggs(which were in the fridge couple days!fingers crossed!)and 1 other hens egg,and some ping pong balls,and I'm going to get 1 egg from the other other hen tomorrow and put it under her.I've never done anything of the sort and I'm worried I'm gonna mess it all up.it pretty dark in the box,is that ok?and we can't touch her on a normal basis,only if we catch her,so is it ok to pick her off them so she can eat once a day?I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING!!!should I candle the eggs in a week??if I don't will the bad ones really explode all over her??? I'm scaring myself into a frazzle!!!what do I do???

 

[chicken farmer]

My little blue cochin banty hatched her eggs yesterday!

Did you notice the spider by the board on the right bottom of the pic Lol

 

[Jharper]

Did you notice the spider by the board on the right bottom of the pic Lol

They probably saw it and ate it!!! Hahaha

 

[GardenGal]

Hi! My computer is freezing so I can't read up on all that's going on here. I just set 7 Lavendar Orpington eggs under my big old Light Sussex, Mary Ann. Had chickens for 3 years now, first time hatching though. And I told my husband no chicks this year And he hasn't even quoted that!

 

[Member 151789]

emergency question!!!!!!!!!! i was baby sitting some kids for my friend and they wanted to paint their nails, so i gave them some polish and they were playing with it. i was in the bathroom when i heard a "oh no!" apperently, they were trying to paint my new born chick's nails and it ate a couple of drops right from the bottle! it has it all over its eye feathers, and it's whole inside mouth is pink. will it die? i didnt want to get mad at the kids, but inside i was raging! they should have asked me first....kids... anyway, i hope it will survive...do you think it will make it? how do i help it?

 

[Keggen]

Caohorse, I have no idea but I hope the chick is ok. I think I would offer it a lot of water but I don't know what else.

Questions for you all:
I went to do my nightly coop close up on Monday and like usual I checked my broody for extra eggs and took them inside. Tuesday I wasn't feeling well so my daughter closed up the coop without taking the extra eggs that other hens keep laying with her. I figured one extra night with them would be OK.

Wednesday I closed up and took the broody off her nest momentarily and counted 16 eggs. She has been sitting on 11 so I started looking through for the extra 5 but I found 6 that were not marked.

I checked and double checked. 6 were new between Tuesday morning and Wednesday night, but that meant one of her original 11 eggs was missing!

We went through every egg that had been gathered that was in the fridge and could not find any that were marked. We searched the coop, too.

So what the heck happened to that other egg?! I'm still paranoid that I somehow gathered it up and that it's in one of my eggcartonss, destined to be sold to my buyer tomorrow. I'm horrified at the prospect, actually.

Any ideas?

Ok next question. Tonight when closing up I decided not to remove the broody from the nest but instead carefully reach around her for the eggs, take the new ones and put back the marked ones. I'm really surprised by what I saw with the hen. Her body seemed weirdly bloated, or maybe soft, kind of like a balloon that you've had for a few weeks that has lost most of the helium and is soft and squishy.

That's the best way I can describe it. Most of the feathers on her belly and chest were gone! The remainder looked just weird, very hard to describe. Anyone have any idea what is going on with her? She seemed poofy , which is normal since she started brooding, but her body seemed very weird.

I have been giving her scratch as a treat a few times a week, but maybe she is not getting enough food?

Alright last question. How do you ensure the baby chicks from the broody will be able to maneuver your coop well enough to get food and water? I'm not really concerned about the other chickens yet, but am worried about the water dish I have, thinking baby chicks might die if they try to use it. Any ideas?