Broody Hen Thread!

[sbeth]

Ok guys I'm very new to owning chickens. I have a few questions. We were thinking about having some eggs shipped to us. Can or will she sit on the eggs? How do we know if she is broody? If not, will she get broody if we put the eggs in the nesting box? Is there a length of time after we get them that she needs to start nesting them?

 

[fisherlady]

Ok guys I'm very new to owning chickens. I have a few questions. We were thinking about having some eggs shipped to us. Can or will she sit on the eggs? How do we know if she is broody? If not, will she get broody if we put the eggs in the nesting box? Is there a length of time after we get them that she needs to start nesting them?

You can't make a hen go broody! You can encourage a hen who is already hormonally predisposed to it to maybe sit, but it is a very iffy proposition.
You have to wait until she has decided to sit before getting her eggs, and I don't usually recommend special or expensive hatching eggs for a first time broody.

Hatching eggs begin to loose viability after 7 days, many wouldn't use them past 10 days and I would only use them at 10-14 days if they were my own eggs and I knew they had been carefully handled.

Broody hens don't tolerate contact with other flockmates or people, they puff up and screech when someone gets near them... they park themselves on a nest and stay there around the clock except for a short daily break to eat, drink and relieve themselves (broody poo is huge and horrible smelling!)
They will often pluck their chest also...

 

[harrellkd]

Harrellkd tell those broody feelings to come on down the mountain. I've been waiting all spring for one of my 11 hens to decide to go broody so I can hatch  a few more.

This is the first broody I've ever had! If only you could make them broody when you wanted.

 

[sbeth]

You can't make a hen go broody! You can encourage a hen who is already hormonally predisposed to it to maybe sit, but it is a very iffy proposition.
You have to wait until she has decided to sit before getting her eggs, and I don't usually recommend special or expensive hatching eggs for a first time broody.

Hatching eggs begin to loose viability after 7 days, many wouldn't use them past 10 days and I would only use them at 10-14 days if they were my own eggs and I knew they had been carefully handled.

Broody hens don't tolerate contact with other flockmates or people, they puff up and screech when someone gets near them... they park themselves on a nest and stay there around the clock except for a short daily break to eat, drink and relieve themselves (broody poo is huge and horrible smelling!)
They will often pluck their chest also...

Thank you for the information! Our neighbor gave us a rooster and hen and we've recently got 2 more laying hens and 16 babies so we are learning as we go.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

My little Bantie hen, Ramin went broody on Sunday, had to wait till tonight just to be sure. Problem is, she was still in the main coop with the other hens, and they either wanted to lay their egg on top of her, or peck at her to get her to move. This will be Ramin's 4th year to go broody. I bought her a plastic storage container, filled it with shavings, and tonight I went out and gathered her up, then collected the eggs. As I was tucking some under her, she was tucking the ones I placed in front of her, underneath her. She is now in the house safe and sound, as soon as I put her food and water in front of her, she started eating. So my countdown date is May 1st or 2nd.
2 years ago, she had her nest under the stairs of our deck porch, and had a hard time trying to figure out when the chicks were going to hatch, lost one right away, and lost 2 to a snake. I brought her and the chicks in the house, she stayed with them for 2 1/2 weeks, and then she was ready to go back to the flock. Kept the chicks in a large plastic water trough till they were almost 3 months old. I then moved them to their own coop, and they moved into the main coop on their own at 6 months.

 

[Winter1]

Is this normal?!?!?

 

[nchls school]

Is this normal?!?!?

Two hens sharing a nest? Or the weird comb? Yes, but really not normal for a hen to be sitting on top of the other. Silkies!

 

[PD-Riverman]

Is this normal?!?!?

Its normal for silkies, just not normal at my place because if they both are broody---and I want them to set---they both go into separated broody pens so there is not problems.

 

[fisherlady]

@irishsilkie
This was just posted yesterday...

You can't make a hen go broody! You can encourage a hen who is already hormonally predisposed to it to maybe sit, but it is a very iffy proposition.
You have to wait until she has decided to sit before getting her eggs, and I don't usually recommend special or expensive hatching eggs for a first time broody.

Hatching eggs begin to loose viability after 7 days, many wouldn't use them past 10 days and I would only use them at 10-14 days if they were my own eggs and I knew they had been carefully handled.

Broody hens don't tolerate contact with other flockmates or people, they puff up and screech when someone gets near them... they park themselves on a nest and stay there around the clock except for a short daily break to eat, drink and relieve themselves (broody poo is huge and horrible smelling!)
They will often pluck their chest also...

 

[rooboo]

How effective is putting a hen in a bucket in a dark cage at making the hen go broody?

That's really a wide open question, I personally would never try to make a hen go broody. Some breeds are very susceptible to broodiness and others almost never will. If you try to force nature, there's likely nothing good going to come from it. If you could get a hen to go broody, you may think that everything is going great until day 19, and then she decides to abandon the eggs, or a multitude of other scenarios. I'm the broody here, I pretty much don't allow any unauthorized hatching. LOL More of my problems are trying to keep them from going broody. I have 2 hens that are actually sisters and I have to constantly put them in the broody breaker, a couple weeks ago I posted a picture of one of them sitting on the feed barrel trying to hatch that. She's STILL at it. I would be happy to sell either one of those to someone who wants a broody. Right now I have about 4 or 5 hens out of 50 layers that want to be broody. The 2 sisters I believe to be legbar by australorp crosses. So breed does play a big role in who wants to be broody. I have some silkies and a few other bantams I let go broody, and they have done very well. Not sure why, but it seems like most all bantams have that tendency, even when I was young I can remember having bantams that we used to hatch everything from pheasants to ducks and geese, and even a few chickens now and then.