Broody Hen Thread!

[heatherlaw]

Thanks heatherlaw,
Good idea to let mama keep them for a while. I cant imagine taking them away from her. We are no kill so butchering is out.
Thanks so much
Marie

If meat birds are out you could still buy hatching eggs for fancy or popular breeds and sell the chicks, or if you already have a rooster and hen of a certain breed use their eggs. That's what I do. I have a cute sizzle pair and I hatch their eggs. The babies are cute as can be and super easy to re-home so I don't get over run with fluffy chickens

 

[heatherlaw]

Oh and to answer your other question, I sell the babies as soon as mama feels done raising them. You can usually tell because she starts hanging out away from them and not paying attention to them anymore. Then I pull them out and see if she freaks out without them.

 

[rooboo]

I've got this broody hen that's trying to hatch the feed barrel. She's a crested cream legbar crossed with either a black copper marans or australorp. She just has a fit when I have to take the lid off to get feed out. CRAZY BIRD!

UPDATE : She hasn't given up yet, and it should be due to hatch in the next couple days. Any ideas on how I could candle her giant black egg? LMAO

 

[PD-Riverman]

That brings up a question I have for anyone who wants to chime in.

Do you always let your broodys hatch eggs or do you sometimes break them? If you do let them all hatch what in the world do you do with all the chickens? Just wondered because I have a lot of chickens and a lot of broodys. I would love to let them all set because I feel guilty when I dont let them have a chance at motherhood at least one time. But I really dont need anymore chickens. If you sell them at what age do you let them go?
Any replies greatly appreciated.
Marie

Never interfere with a good broody!!

"All" them chicks get sold here----I start selling as soon as they dry if someone wants some-----yes with the broody hen, I let her keep a couple to raise for a few weeks---then sell them.

NOT all hens will get broody!! Some breeds Rarely. Some breeds every few weeks(Silkies/etc).

 

[PD-Riverman]

Thanks. What do your pens look like? How big are they?

I just figure if a hen is broody and we have fertile eggs, let Mother Nature work instead of fight it- but I don't have the best set-up to support privacy

Any pen that the broody has privacy, no other chickens getting into will work. I will post a pic of a 4 compartment hatching pen I mainly use.

Mother Nature----when it comes to chickens, that have been confined to pens by Us Human's----Mother Nature does not stand a chance. Mother Nature works when the chickens live in Nature---not in a pen. You ever hear/see postings of people that thought their free range hen must have died----but in 3 weeks she shows up with a bunch of chicks----that's Mother Nature. A free range hen will go hide her nest(can't do that in a pen)---then when she is ready she will set on them eggs---most of the time another hen never knows where that nest is. That's the natural way where Mother Nature can take over. She does not have other hens bothering her and for sure None of Us Interfering Humans---LOL.

This pen is movable, its 4ft x 8ft divided into 4 compartments which make then 2ft x 4ft. The nesting boxes are hanging on the outside. There is little slide doors where I can allow a broody to have 1, 2, 3, or all 4 of the compartments if I want. It has 2x4" wire on the bottom to stop the heavy scratching--which could cause chicks to get into other parts which might have other broodies---which means death to the chick a lot of the times.



I have about 10 of these and they are easy to build and give the broody plenty of room and are easy to move.

 

[fisherlady]

That brings up a question I have for anyone who wants to chime in.

Do you always let your broodys hatch eggs or do you sometimes break them? If you do let them all hatch what in the world do you do with all the chickens? Just wondered because I have a lot of chickens and a lot of broodys. I would love to let them all set because I feel guilty when I dont let them have a chance at motherhood at least one time. But I really dont need anymore chickens. If you sell them at what age do you let them go? 
Any replies greatly appreciated.
Marie

We have 25 to 30 broody hatches a year, we let the hen raise them as long as they want and then advertise them locally for sale. We raise out the cockerels who don' t sell until they are 16-18 weeks old and butcher them and pressure can the meat.

 

[PD-Riverman]

We have 25 to 30 broody hatches a year, we let the hen raise them as long as they want and then advertise them locally for sale. We raise out the cockerels who don' t sell until they are 16-18 weeks old and butcher them and pressure can the meat.

I know you edited out the last sentence in your original post, People do get bothered talking about eating their yard birds, but those same ones will go to the grocery store and buy those chickens and eat them or a chicken sandwich at a fast food or fried chicken from Bojan,Kentucky, etc. A lot of those places have had so much Meat recalls----I never seen on the news that a back yard chicken farmer had bad meat out of his own processed chickens---LOL. We back yard farmers Know How our meat was raised, taken care of etc.

 

[nchls school]

That brings up a question I have for anyone who wants to chime in.

Do you always let your broodys hatch eggs or do you sometimes break them? No. If I do not want more chicks I let the hen brood dummy eggs for a week or so and then break them of being broody. If you do let them all hatch what in the world do you do with all the chickens? Just wondered because I have a lot of chickens and a lot of broodys. I would love to let them all set because I feel guilty when I dont let them have a chance at motherhood at least one time. But I really dont need anymore chickens. If you sell them at what age do you let them go? 
Any replies greatly appreciated.
Marie

 

[Klay]

I think I just screwed up. My little silkie was sitting on golf balls until my hatchery chicks arrived so she could adopt them. So when I went to check on her my other much larger standard breed chicken was pecking her. So I picked her up and put her in a dog kennel with some stray and the golf balls but now she won't sit on them. It seems like she snapped out of being broody. Any suggestions on what I should do. Or how I could get her to go broody again.

 

[luvmypets]

Many hens don't like being moved, have you tryed putting her back in the nest? Then you could transfer the chicks under her and then after she realizes "Oh I have babies now" you can move her. I have done that and it worked quite well. Is there any way you can close off her nest box so only she has access?