Broody Hen Thread!

[RachaelR32]

I've a hen that seems to be trying to go broody but doesn't seem able to settle to it. I'm wondering if too much disruption around a hen can stop her settling?

My husband thinks to just leave her alone until she's sitting properly and then separate her. But she's being acting sort of broody for well over a week now and isn't settling down to sit properly.

She is bottom of the pecking order of my 3 adult birds so I'm wondering if the others are pushing her off the nest. She was in the nest last night but got up this morning for a while to eat before going back to the nest. She was off the nest again this afternoon but one of the others was in there laying. She's back on the nest again this evening. I removed the other girls egg and gave her a china egg which she tucked under herself.

She has been laying this week so maybe is wanting a few more eggs under her? She hasn't laid today though.

She is also being bothered by the youngsters I moved down to the enclosure last week. These are the 13 week old growers that my last broody hatched. They have a separate coop to the adults, but they keep going in and bothering her. The young cockeral tried to mate wuth her today while she was dust bathing and she was not impressed.

If I separate her now and put her somewhere quiet is she likely to start sitting properly. She's pulled out loads of her feathers underneath to line the nest with.

 

[fisherlady]

I've a hen that seems to be trying to go broody but doesn't seem able to settle to it. I'm wondering if too much disruption around a hen can stop her settling?

My husband thinks to just leave her alone until she's sitting properly and then separate her. But she's being acting sort of broody for well over a week now and isn't settling down to sit properly.

She is bottom of the pecking order of my 3 adult birds so I'm wondering if the others are pushing her off the nest. She was in the nest last night but got up this morning for a while to eat before going back to the nest. She was off the nest again this afternoon but one of the others was in there laying. She's back on the nest again this evening. I removed the other girls egg and gave her a china egg which she tucked under herself.

She has been laying this week so maybe is wanting a few more eggs under her? She hasn't laid today though.

She is also being bothered by the youngsters I moved down to the enclosure last week. These are the 13 week old growers that my last broody hatched. They have a separate coop to the adults, but they keep going in and bothering her. The young cockeral tried to mate wuth her today while she was dust bathing and she was not impressed.

If I separate her now and put her somewhere quiet is she likely to start sitting properly. She's pulled out loads of her feathers underneath to line the nest with.

It is very possible that the disruptions are bothering her. If you have a quiet area you can move her to I would give that a try this evening. Give her a handful of dummy eggs or throw away eggs to set on and keep her quiet and dark to see if she settles.
You have nothing to loose, since she isn't setting now anyway.
Good luck!

 

[RachaelR32]

I

It is very possible that the disruptions are bothering her. If you have a quiet area you can move her to I would give that a try this evening. Give her a handful of dummy eggs or throw away eggs to set on and keep her quiet and dark to see if she settles.
You have nothing to loose, since she isn't setting now anyway.
Good luck!

I do have the coop and run empty that the growers just came out of. It could do with a good clean out first though. Its not in sight of the rest of the flock though so I'm thinking not ideal maybe.

Other than that, I've got a dog kennel that I could put her in but it needs a new floor first. Its 3ft x2ft and has a door. Is that big enough? I could make her a small run attached so she could still see the others. I could have her in the kennel by Tuesday maybe if the weather stays nice.

 

[fisherlady]

I
I do have the coop and run empty that the growers just came out of. It could do with a good clean out first though. Its not in sight of the rest of the flock though so I'm thinking not ideal maybe.

Other than that, I've got a dog kennel that I could put her in but it needs a new floor first. Its 3ft x2ft and has a door. Is that big enough? I could make her a small run attached so she could still see the others. I could have her in the kennel by Tuesday maybe if the weather stays nice.

The dog kennel should be good, with a run attached it should do her great until after hatch. A few more days shouldn't bother her physical shape, hopefully the hens won't harass her off the nest before then.
I would make a wire cover for the front of her current box to prevent the others from pushing in on her. It can be removed daily after the other hens have egged....but having it in place until lunch should really reduce the problems before she moves.

 

[RachaelR32]

The dog kennel should be good, with a run attached it should do her great until after hatch. A few more days shouldn't bother her physical shape, hopefully the hens won't harass her off the nest before then.
I would make a wire cover for the front of her current box to prevent the others from pushing in on her. It can be removed daily after the other hens have egged....but having it in place until lunch should really reduce the problems before she moves.

The others are not at all predictable in when they lay. Can be morning before I let them out, or afternoon.

Hopefully it won't take long to sort the kennel floor. Its got a slatted floor and although the slats are very close together I would be concerned that little chick feet could get trapped. I've got some plywood though that I can cut out to make a solid floor.

I still need to get her some fertile eggs. My cockeral is only 13 weeks old so even though he's trying to do the deed the girls eggs are not fertile. My friend has l.sussex and she has an excess of eggs and is giving them away. I'm seeing her on Wednesday so hopefully will get some eggs then. They hatched some of their own 2 weeks ago and got 6 out of 7 hatch in the incubator so should be good eggs.

 

[WildHens]

I'm new to the site, been a stalker for over a year now..I've not read all the way through this thread but have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me.
I have a silkie hen that went broody about 2 weeks ago, and faithfully tried to hatch ping-pong balls that I leave in the nests. I have 2 incubators going non stop this time of year, and after about a week when I knew she was serious about her job, I decided to put eggs under her. However, figuring that the less time she sets(she's super devoted and will not get out of her box to eat or drink, to the point where she just turns around in the box to poo straight out the side), so I put 2 banty crosses, 2 bantam polish and 1 of her own eggs under her that were about a week from hatching. However, not thinking correctly, the banty always hatch on day 18 or 19 and they hatched Saturday, I left them with her of course because she is doing fine..yesterday her egg hatched, one polish was pipped and the other internally pipped. However, the 2 oldest are beyond ready to go explore and be chicks, so they keep getting out of the nest and the hen won't leave the nest, so I brought them inside temporarily.
So, despite my long-winded story, my main question is: did I mess up putting eggs so far along in incubation under her? She's faithfully waiting on the others to hatch, but I'm thinking that her instincts are telling her to set longer than she's going to need to. Or will maternal instincts over ride her need to set the full 3 weeks? I really want to let her raise the babies of course, but afraid that she's going to want to continue setting even after the last has hatched and is long dry..
Any advice?? Anyone else attempted something similar?
TIA ♡

 

[nchls school]

I'm new to the site, been a stalker for over a year now..I've not read all the way through this thread but have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me.
I have a silkie hen that went broody about 2 weeks ago, and faithfully tried to hatch ping-pong balls that I leave in the nests. I have 2 incubators going non stop this time of year, and after about a week when I knew she was serious about her job, I decided to put eggs under her. However, figuring that the less time she sets(she's super devoted and will not get out of her box to eat or drink, to the point where she just turns around in the box to poo straight out the side), so I put 2 banty crosses, 2 bantam polish and 1 of her own eggs under her that were about a week from hatching. However, not thinking correctly, the banty always hatch on day 18 or 19 and they hatched Saturday, I left them with her of course because she is doing fine..yesterday her egg hatched, one polish was pipped and the other internally pipped. However, the 2 oldest are beyond ready to go explore and be chicks, so they keep getting out of the nest and the hen won't leave the nest, so I brought them inside temporarily.
So, despite my long-winded story, my main question is: did I mess up putting eggs so far along in incubation under her? She's faithfully waiting on the others to hatch, but I'm thinking that her instincts are telling her to set longer than she's going to need to. Or will maternal instincts over ride her need to set the full 3 weeks? I really want to let her raise the babies of course, but afraid that she's going to want to continue setting even after the last has hatched and is long dry..
Any advice?? Anyone else attempted something similar?
TIA ♡

I have done similar things in the past. Having brooded two weeks, your hen should leave off brooding when all the eggs have hatched and the chicks are ready to leave the nest

 

[WildHens]

I just went out and checked her...the last egg was a late quitter and the pipped Polish was hatched n dry..so I took the quitter, gave her back the other 2 chicks plus an extra from the hatcher that was dry. They'd hop out of the nest and she refused to move off the nest still..the nests were on a platform roo tall for the chicks to hop back in, so I completely removed that from her pen, and set a new nest box on the ground, sat her feed and water outside of it and moved everyone there. That way babies can come and go safely. .she's still not acting like she wants to come out but chicks have all ate n drank, so not stressing for now..definitely keeping a close eye on her tho..her roo was trying so hard to help, trying to feed the babies that were escaping..lol.. I think he'd set eggs if given the chance.

 

[James Beller]

My polish hen is on a nest and has hurt one of her babies that could have survived but she jump to her death(something came out of her back area like intestines). How do i break her of broody when i collect all viable babies. I also have another polish and she is broody do you think i should let her have them i am a little worried about her too. Thanks! 2/5 polish hens went broody.

 

[RachaelR32]

I think the problem I'm having with the one chicken not settling to being broody is that there are actually 2 of them tring to set in the same place. The silver one who has been trying to set for a while was on the nest all morning but when she got up to eat the gold one shot in. A few hours later i went to see what was going on and gold was still on the nest. Id put a tray in there so that I could move the broody easier so I pulled the tray out to look at gold who was as flat as anything in the tray. Picking her up and looking at her, she has also plucked herself bare underneath. Silver got back on the nest when I picked gold up, but gold soon displaced her and is still there now. Gold is 2nd in the pecking order so above silver. Whichever of them is in the tray tonight will get moved to the kennel I think.