Broody Hen Thread!

[Meadowbee75]

My Father past when I was 21, he taught me as a child/young man that I should never believe anything I hear and only 1/2 of what I see. Might be a reason he taught me that---LOL.

Yes, exactly! I didn't believe it, but I was having a moment of "that's not right" and concern that this woman was passing along false information as the truth.

I did find a very useful article on Wikipedia, with sources, describing the physiology behind broodiness. The hormones and conditions that trigger it.

 

[the poppster]

Hello!  I'm looking for a fact-check here.  

Someone on a FB group I'm in just made a statement that does not seem to mesh with anything I've heard about broody hens.   

She said "[COLOR=1D2129]hens become broody due to discomfort in their breast area. the pressure of the eggs helps relieve it."  [/COLOR]

[COLOR=1D2129]I've been googling all morning trying to find anything "official" that says she's right.  Nothing.  [/COLOR]

Broody is caused by an increase in hormones. The hormone increase causes the behavior....body temp increases...the hen may pluck feathers from her breast, this is called the broody patch...it's bared to increase the skin contact with the eggs and to help maintain the proper temp and humidity for the eggs development....not to relive discomfort.....never heard of that before...might be true to a point, but not the primary reason for broody behavior...at least none of the bird books have said anything about it.

 

[the poppster]

Broody is caused by an increase in hormones. The hormone increase causes the behavior....body temp increases...the hen may pluck feathers from her breast, this is called the broody patch...it's bared to increase the skin contact with the eggs and to help maintain the proper temp and humidity for the eggs development....not to relive discomfort.....never heard of that before...might be true to a point, but not the primary reason for broody behavior...at least none of the bird books have said anything about it.

Correction....according to the wiki page the body temp doesn't increase.

 

[microchick]

I'm depressed guys.

I bought Buff O's last year because of their reputation of being fairly high on the broody hen scale. They turned a year old in March and to date I've had 1 hen go broody. They aren't hatchery birds. I bought them from a reputable breeder but now it's spring and all the bird's hormones are raging except for mine. I was hoping for broodies to help me raise my stock number of hens and I did hopefully add 5 or 6 from my Aggie's hatching back in late Feb. But I need a few more.

What should I do? Wait them out? Show them cute baby pictures till they cave? Threaten to replace them with an incubator?

I was considering getting a few Silkies or Bantam Cochins but in all honesty I would have to build a second coop, run, blah blah blah and frankly, don'twanna.

There is the line of thought to add some standard sized broody proned pullets to the flock but the question arises then of what breed.

Enlighten me here everyone. What non bantam breed do you have that has proven to be little broody machines for you ?

 

[crealbilly]

I do not now what day you are on but My Broodies DO NOT leave the nest the last 2 or 3 days for Nothing. Do not remove her if she is due to hatch.

She is on day 9 or 10 now. She's just about 1/2 way there.

She seemed weak this morning, but with the Hen High-Rise I installed last night - if she would get off the nest, her own personalfeed and water is less than 3 foot away.

 

[nchls school]

I'm depressed guys.

I bought Buff O's last year because of their reputation of being fairly high on the broody hen scale. They turned a year old in March and to date I've had 1 hen go broody. They aren't hatchery birds. I bought them from a reputable breeder but now it's spring and all the bird's hormones are raging except for mine. I was hoping for broodies to help me raise my stock number of hens and I did hopefully add 5 or 6 from my Aggie's hatching back in late Feb. But I need a few more.

What should I do? Wait them out? Show them cute baby pictures till they cave? Threaten to replace them with an incubator?

I was considering getting a few Silkies or Bantam Cochins but in all honesty I would have to build a second coop, run, blah blah blah and frankly, don'twanna.

There is the line of thought to add some standard sized broody proned pullets to the flock but the question arises then of what breed.

Enlighten me here everyone. What non bantam breed do you have that has proven to be little broody machines for you ?

Have you tried leaving dummy eggs in the nest; just one dummy egg each day allowing the nest to fill gradually? If you have a place where a hen has a nest to herself you can leave her eggs in the nest as long as the weather isn't overly warm.

Consider silkies; some are rather large and are excellent broodies. In the last year, 100% of my hens have gone broody-silkies, serama, mixed breed, Japanese bantams. All have gone broody-many multiple times.

 

[PD-Riverman]

She is on day 9 or 10 now. She's just about 1/2 way there.

OH OK, Its your hen---I personally do not touch mine----they get off the nest----walk over, eat, drink, poop and get back on the eggs when they get ready. I never worry if they need to get off the nest or not. Never Lost one and I have hatched 150+ in the last 3 years.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I'm depressed guys.

I bought Buff O's last year because of their reputation of being fairly high on the broody hen scale. They turned a year old in March and to date I've had 1 hen go broody. They aren't hatchery birds. I bought them from a reputable breeder but now it's spring and all the bird's hormones are raging except for mine. I was hoping for broodies to help me raise my stock number of hens and I did hopefully add 5 or 6 from my Aggie's hatching back in late Feb. But I need a few more.

What should I do? Wait them out? Show them cute baby pictures till they cave? Threaten to replace them with an incubator?

I was considering getting a few Silkies or Bantam Cochins but in all honesty I would have to build a second coop, run, blah blah blah and frankly, don'twanna.

There is the line of thought to add some standard sized broody proned pullets to the flock but the question arises then of what breed.

Enlighten me here everyone. What non bantam breed do you have that has proven to be little broody machines for you ?

Have to Build a extra pen-----you say----LOL. I have built over 60 pens/coops. Try this with your YB-----get you some ceramic eggs----place a nest of about 10----leave them----see what happens. If a hen wants to set on them-----Then I would remove the ceramic and put good marked eggs under her-----of Course I Move ALL my broodies to a private hatching pen.

 

[crealbilly]

OH OK, Its your hen---I personally do not touch mine----they get off the nest----walk over, eat, drink, poop and get back on the eggs when they get ready. I never worry if they need to get off the nest or not. Never Lost one and I have hatched 150+ in the last 3 years.

Thank you for that experienced advise. I really just want to let her be... I mean it's her natural born instinct to brood so she knows better than I do for sure. I will stop being concerned now and continue to just leave her be... I did my part and provided her safety, food and water. She's gonna do what she does...

I just checked on her - she has not touched the food or water i put in for her last night. But I am totally going to leave her be.

 

[microchick]

I just caught one of my Buff O's occupying a nest. She had been in it for about an hour while I was out working in the barn. So on a whim I took an egg out of the next beside her, set it in front of her on the hope that she would roll it under her. Instead she gave me a wild stink eye look that made me pick up the egg and run for my life. You'd think I'd asked her to volunteer for dinner as the main course.

I'll give the fake egg thing a try. My husband just said that he bet before the end of the summer I had my new coop and run up and going and would be filling up the old coop with chickens also. I'm fighting rooster wars right now and keep threatening to put up a rooster pen if they don't start leaving my heels and ankles alone. I have great roosters except that since spring three of them have developed the occasional urge to beat up my muck boots when I go into the run. It would be funny except for the fact that my feet are in the muck boots at the time.