Broody Hen Thread!

[PD-Riverman]

Age does not seem to play a part in broodiness; I have had numerous hens go broody before they were a year old; some multiple times before one year of age.

What I was meaning is "I" never had a RIR go broody, I do not know what they do after they get 2 years old and older---I never owned one over 2 years old or not much over that. I have had several breeds to go broody in the 6 /7 month old range and older..

 

[the poppster]

I'm on my second broody and with the first one the chicks got severe pasty butt. She wasn't a very good mama and I had to eventually brood the chicks myself. Now I'm worried about this with the second one. Is it common for broody chicks to get pasty butt?

No, I have not seen pasty butt with any of the broody hatched chicks so far.

 

[nchls school]

What I was meaning is "I" never had  a RIR go broody, I do not know what they do after they get 2 years old and older---I never owned one over 2 years old or not much over that. I have had several breeds to go broody in the 6 /7 month old range and older..

When I owned RTR and leghorns, they never went broody either; no matter the age. Sorry that I misread your post.

 

[rooboo]

I'm on my second broody and with the first one the chicks got severe pasty butt. She wasn't a very good mama and I had to eventually brood the chicks myself. Now I'm worried about this with the second one. Is it common for broody chicks to get pasty butt?

Just out of curiosity, what kind of bedding were you using where the broody was raising her little ones? If any.

 

[Kiawaki]

Anybody knows how long can a broody hen wait before I put eggs under her? I've got 2 Wyandottes at the moment sitting one on top of the other (literally!), who seem to be serious about going broody. I want to get some Barnevelder eggs, but as there are no sellers anywhere close to me, a friend who plans to visit us some time soon promised he would get some. Problem is, he is not sure when he will be ready to travel. It might be in 5 days, or 10, or more. Any experience with delaying setting the eggs?

I could put the eggs into the incubator, but during those 3 weeks I would have to make at least two 2-day work-related trips. I could bring the incubator with me (actually I did that last year and it worked fine) but this is stressful and time-consuming so I would much rather give those hens some work.

 

[nchls school]

...

Anybody knows how long can a broody hen wait before I put eggs under her? I've got 2 Wyandottes at the moment sitting one on top of the other (literally!), who seem to be serious about going broody. I want to get some Barnevelder eggs, but as there are no sellers anywhere close to me, a friend who plans to visit us some time soon promised he would get some. Problem is, he is not sure when he will be ready to travel. It might be in 5 days, or 10, or more. Any experience with delaying setting the eggs?

I could put the eggs into the incubator, but during those 3 weeks I would have to make at least two 2-day work-related trips. I could bring the incubator with me (actually I did that last year and it worked fine) but this is stressful and time-consuming so I would much rather give those hens some work.[/quot

I have used broody hens to hatch Muscovey ducks that take five weeks to hatch. I have had hens refuse to quit brooding even in a bare wire cage; the last one started brooding in August outside-when the eggs did not hatch I moved her indoors to a bare cage-after several days I released her-a couple days later she had taken over a nest and kept brooding-a month later I gave her chicks to raise. But other hens have stopped brooding after 4 weeks. When I was much younger I can remember a hen that brooded three months straight (not good) before she was given eggs to hatch. I do not think that 5-10 days will matter. Good luck.

 

[Kiawaki]

Quote:
That's good, thanks! I was just wondering if I should take all the eggs away to postpone broodiness (I kept cca 8 eggs (switching them every day) in the nest for last 20 days or so to encourage it) but on the other hand I don't want them to be unprepared when our friend arrives. I guess I might leave fewer eggs and see what happens.

 

[nchls school]

Quote:
That's good, thanks! I was just wondering if I should take all the eggs away to postpone broodiness (I kept cca 8 eggs (switching them every day) in the nest for last 20 days or so to encourage it) but on the other hand I don't want them to be unprepared when our friend arrives. I guess I might leave fewer eggs and see what happens.

I'd use dummy eggs until you're ready for them to brood for real.

 

[FarmerMac]

I'd use dummy eggs until you're ready for them to brood for real.

If you don't have fake eggs, you can use some golf balls, they also work.

 

[fisherlady]

I'm on my second broody and with the first one the chicks got severe pasty butt. She wasn't a very good mama and I had to eventually brood the chicks myself. Now I'm worried about this with the second one. Is it common for broody chicks to get pasty butt?

Where did she raise the chicks and what flooring do you use in the brooder area?
I haven't had any of our broody chicks get pasty butt, however there are numerous possible causes so rather than just assuming it was bad mothering I would consider other environmental factors also.

Not all hens are wonderful mothers, some are stellar no matter what the situation is, many do well with minimal assistance (such as privacy help the first week or help rounding up the littles in the evening the first few outside trips)and some need privacy throughout to keep them on track and frequent interventions to keep everyone safe.

Thankfully the full assistance broody is rare, as are the really poor broodies or the ones who never bond with the chicks when they hatch and attack the newborns because they don't transition from sitting mode to mama mode. Sometimes poor human planning causes poor brooding and the hens get blamed and sometimes the poor or borderline hens can improve with a bit of help and experience. Some are just too scatter brained to ever really settle in to good brooding.

There are just a ton of factors at play so often it means weeding through possibles to find the probables....and there are no perfect answers...

Pasty butt with a broody would be caused by the same factors as pasty butt in an incubator chick raised in a brooder...

Rubynala...did you miss above questions on bedding? Have you figured out the cause of the pasty butt with your little ones?