Broody Hen Thread!

[gpeters3]

I currently have two broody hens laying on two different nests..... The issue I have is of course it's the two nests that everybody else uses so they wil go in and lay an egg and now I think they are laying on eggs freshly laid as well.... So should I move the hens or block them off from the others?

Mark the eggs you want to hatch with black marker (i put x's on mine) and simply remove all fresh eggs daily. That may mean disturbing the brood hen but, in my experience, she will get a drink, a bite to eat and be right back. They dont have to sit on them continuously for them to hatch and many times another hen will be ready to lay and sit a while so they generally will be kept warm. That was my experience. I think sometimes we overthink things and worry too much. How do you think they do it in the wild? This may be the reason they like to lay in nests with eggs. It could be natural instinct to preserve the species, eh?

 

[2lilchkns]

We have some chicks! My hen was sitting on 6 eggs, and today is day 21. This afternoon, we saw two little chicks poke their heads out of her feathers! She is big and fluffy and completely fills the best box, so I have no idea how many have hatched in total yet.

My question: she has been brooding in a nest box in our coop; we used some extra fencing to keep her separated from the others, so they would stop leaving new eggs in there each day. Now that the chicks are hatched (or are hatching) I would like to move them all to a small, portable coop. How long should I wait until I move them? Is there any chance she will abandon the chicks if I move them before she is ready to go?

I am concerned about leaving her in the nest box for too long; it is about 12 inches above the floor of the coop, and I am worried about the chicks falling out and getting hurt (or not being able to get back in). I have shavings down to cushion their fall but still, the nest box situation is not ideal.

Thanks!

 

[gpeters3]

I always put the mom with the chicks as soon as they were hatched but i knew my mom would care for them. The brood pen had its own food and water set low enough for the chicks to use. They will eat crumbles as soon as they hatch. I also buy the medicated crumbles til they are half grown and mom eats it too.

 

[nchls school]

We have some chicks! My hen was sitting on 6 eggs, and today is day 21. This afternoon, we saw two little chicks poke their heads out of her feathers! She is big and fluffy and completely fills the best box, so I have no idea how many have hatched in total yet.

My question: she has been brooding in a nest box in our coop; we used some extra fencing to keep her separated from the others, so they would stop leaving new eggs in there each day. Now that the chicks are hatched (or are hatching) I would like to move them all to a small, portable coop. How long should I wait until I move them? Is there any chance she will abandon the chicks if I move them before she is ready to go?

I am concerned about leaving her in the nest box for too long; it is about 12 inches above the floor of the coop, and I am worried about the chicks falling out and getting hurt (or not being able to get back in). I have shavings down to cushion their fall but still, the nest box situation is not ideal.

Thanks!

I move mine into an clear observation tub in the house as soon as they are all hatched. Sometimes I have moved the family into the tub even before all the eggs have hatched when there is a late hatcher. I like to observe for a couple days to make sure all are drinking and there is no other health problem. When I know all is well they go back to the coop. It is highly unlikely the hen would abandon the chicks.

A drop of twelve inches, even on to a hard floor, would not hurt the chicks. The problem would be that the chick would become chilled and die. If the hen leaves the nest for the chick that fell out, the ones in the nest would become chilled if they were unable to follow the mother.
Putting down shavings is still a good idea; no point in taking chances.

 

[WildHens]

Yep, my girl was in a raised nest, which sat on top of a platform that was another 3 inches high or so..I ended up removing that whole structure from her pen and just sitting a nest ground level for her with the babies.. when they are a couple weeks old and can get in the higher one, I'll put it back..but they're all bantam babies and right now a 3 inch jump looks huge for them..lol..

 

[WildHens]

At lock up time tonight I found this one in the kennel. This is the one that has been trying to go broody the longest but is not the one I tried to move last night as the other one was hogging the nest. She has 2 dummy eggs and 3 real byt not fertile eggs under her. I'll see how she is tomorrow.

I took this picture of her earlier as she was running about the place. She's quite bare underneath!

Was she still at it?? I hope so ♡♡ Imo, there is nothing better than a dedicated broody..I keep 2 breeds just for their broodiness.. I have had several people act shocked that I would deliberately want broodies.. of course if they'd compare a broody hatch to an incubator one, they'd know

 

[RachaelR32]

Was she still at it?? I hope so ♡♡ Imo, there is nothing better than a dedicated broody..I keep 2 breeds just for their broodiness.. I have had several people act shocked that I would deliberately want broodies.. of course if they'd compare a broody hatch to an incubator one, they'd know

She was still there when I checked before I went out for the afternoon. She must have got up to eat as all the food was gone and then settled back down. Nice stinky broody poop as well. I'll give her the eggs if she is still ok tomorrow.

 

[WildHens]

She was still there when I checked before I went out for the afternoon. She must have got up to eat as all the food was gone and then settled back down. Nice stinky broody poop as well. I'll give her the eggs if she is still ok tomorrow.

Bwhahaha...gotta love broody poo..always looks like my 120 lb bully has snuck in the pen and used the bathroom. ..Glad she's still at it, hope to see her with babies in a few weeks ♡♡ It's of course the longest 21 days of my life but we'll worth it ♡♡

 

[RachaelR32]

Argh. This evening she's still on the nest but seems to have broken and eaten one of the non-fertile eggs. Now I'm worried about giving her the eggs tomorrow for hatching. No other hens could get in to where she is so it must have been her. Could she just be clumsy? I'm reading that brahmas can be clumsy broodys.

The other hen that i had tried unsuccessfully to break, she has now gone back to sitting on the old nest. My cockeral is being a teenage jerk though and went into where she was sat on the nest and started trying to mate with her. That disturbed her quite a bit but she went back to her nest after she chased him away.

 

[microchick]

RachaelR32, sounds like you have your hands full. Maybe you should try what I do and tell your roosters that you love fried chicken and you would just be so happy if he joined you for dinner....literally.

I'd make sure she (the second hen) has a little area where she can brood without romeo trying to move in on her. I didn't have problems with amorous roosters, I had hens trying to donate to my broody's cause.