Broody Hen Thread!

[sharol]

HI! I have a young broody sitting on some eggs. Today is day 21, but she seems to be "locked down" on the nest. She is quite protective, haven't candled since around day 10ish, most shells are dark, so didn't see much. Any chance they are still good? Should I move her and check or just let her go?
Thanks!

Sure. Give her more time. She senses something alive in there. If you chirp or whistle through your teeth like a chick, one might answer you if it is internally pipped. I've had eggs in an incubator hatch after 25 days when the temps were too low (my fault, bad thermometer).

 

[sharol]

Day 15, she quit - how disappointing...

I checked her this morning she was off the nest, I figured she may have just wanted to get food and water.

About 2 hours later, I checked again she was off the nest. I could see her eating. I felt the egss and they were cold. She was sitting on 8 eggs.




I took her out of the hen high-rise and took the high rise down. This is what was on the hen high-rise floor - pretty nasty green runny poop. She came out of the coop and into the yard her feathers were puffed up and were still puffed up when I left the chicken yard



Anyways she now back with the flock...later today I'm going to candle the eggs and see what went on.

Any ideas what went wrong so I can learn what to do next time?

My hens hate being isolated. If she felt like she was separated from everyone else??? That green poo is indicative of starvation. You might moisten some regular flock or layer food with warm water and spike it with scratch and offer her that.

 

[10AcreChick]

Hello all! I have never had a broody before, so this is all new to me. My lone Australorp went broody last Thursday. On Saturday, I took her 18 unfertilized eggs she was laying on (3 roosters, but they are all only 11 weeks old) and replaced them with 12 (hopefully) fertile eggs I got from a friend. She is on the favorite community nest, but is no where near the top of the pecking order (all the rest of my layers are RIRs). When I took the 18 eggs out, one was broken and I know those other hens were kicking her out every once in a while to lay in the nest. The day after I put the new 12 in, last night, I took only two extra eggs out that some other hens had laid in there during the day (or maybe she stole them from a neighboring nest, I don't know). I checked on her several times yesterday, and she was always on her nest. She plucked her breast feathers, showing lots of dedication. My main concern is that she is so low on the "totem pole" I don't want the other chickens to continually try to shove her over and maybe break an egg in the process. Should I move her out to a separate area? It seems like they are bothering her less and less and using the other nests more and more. Should I wait and see if the eggs are no longer being added, i.e., they are leaving her be?

The nest she is in is 3 feet off the ground, so I am planning on moving her and her eggs very carefully the weekend before they are due to hatch anyway, just to avoid any chicks falling (no ramp).

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hello all! I have never had a broody before, so this is all new to me. My lone Australorp went broody last Thursday. On Saturday, I took her 18 unfertilized eggs she was laying on (3 roosters, but they are all only 11 weeks old) and replaced them with 12 (hopefully) fertile eggs I got from a friend. She is on the favorite community nest, but is no where near the top of the pecking order (all the rest of my layers are RIRs). When I took the 18 eggs out, one was broken and I know those other hens were kicking her out every once in a while to lay in the nest. The day after I put the new 12 in, last night, I took only two extra eggs out that some other hens had laid in there during the day (or maybe she stole them from a neighboring nest, I don't know). I checked on her several times yesterday, and she was always on her nest. She plucked her breast feathers, showing lots of dedication. My main concern is that she is so low on the "totem pole" I don't want the other chickens to continually try to shove her over and maybe break an egg in the process. Should I move her out to a separate area? It seems like they are bothering her less and less and using the other nests more and more. Should I wait and see if the eggs are no longer being added, i.e., they are leaving her be?

The nest she is in is 3 feet off the ground, so I am planning on moving her and her eggs very carefully the weekend before they are due to hatch anyway, just to avoid any chicks falling (no ramp).

Any advice would be appreciated.

I always Move EVERY broody hen and I have Great hatches with Everyone of them. She needs to be moved at night to her new private pen-without using a light if possible or just a quick flash on to get your bearings then off-----Her new pen should already be set-up with food and water-----so you can place her in the nest in the dark and leave----no messing around her and upsetting her. Her food and water should be a few feet away from her nest so she Can NOT reach it while on the nest. She needs to get off the nest to eat/drink/poop/etc. Good Luck

 

[nchls school]

Hello all! I have never had a broody before, so this is all new to me. My lone Australorp went broody last Thursday. On Saturday, I took her 18 unfertilized eggs she was laying on (3 roosters, but they are all only 11 weeks old) and replaced them with 12 (hopefully) fertile eggs I got from a friend. She is on the favorite community nest, but is no where near the top of the pecking order (all the rest of my layers are RIRs). When I took the 18 eggs out, one was broken and I know those other hens were kicking her out every once in a while to lay in the nest. The day after I put the new 12 in, last night, I took only two extra eggs out that some other hens had laid in there during the day (or maybe she stole them from a neighboring nest, I don't know). I checked on her several times yesterday, and she was always on her nest. She plucked her breast feathers, showing lots of dedication. My main concern is that she is so low on the "totem pole" I don't want the other chickens to continually try to shove her over and maybe break an egg in the process. Should I move her out to a separate area? It seems like they are bothering her less and less and using the other nests more and more. Should I wait and see if the eggs are no longer being added, i.e., they are leaving her be?

The nest she is in is 3 feet off the ground, so I am planning on moving her and her eggs very carefully the weekend before they are due to hatch anyway, just to avoid any chicks falling (no ramp).

Any advice would be appreciated.

And move her soon-not at or near hatch time. Many people move their broody hens to private quarters like PD Riverman successfully. I have never moved a broody hen, but my flock has always been small and easy to manipulate. But a hen should not be overly disturbed at hatch time and being moved certainly fits into that category.

 

[10AcreChick]

Thanks for the advice! Now I am anxious to get home and get it done! I knew I shouldn't have disassembled my in-coop brooder area!

Is it safe to candle the eggs at day 8? I really would like to get a better idea of how many are fertile and viable, and get rid of the ones that will rot.

 

[carolinasculpture]

Hello all! I have never had a broody before, so this is all new to me.  My lone Australorp went broody last Thursday.  On Saturday, I took her 18 unfertilized eggs she was laying on (3 roosters, but they are all only 11 weeks old) and replaced them with 12 (hopefully) fertile eggs I got from a friend.  She is on the favorite community nest, but is no where near the top of the pecking order (all the rest of my layers are RIRs).  When I took the 18 eggs out, one was broken and I know those other hens were kicking her out every once in a while to lay in the nest.  The day after I put the new 12 in, last night, I took only two extra eggs out that some other hens had laid in there during the day (or maybe she stole them from a neighboring nest, I don't know).  I checked on her several times yesterday, and she was always on her nest.  She plucked her breast feathers, showing lots of dedication.  My main concern is that she is so low on the "totem pole" I don't want the other chickens to continually try to shove her over and maybe break an egg in the process. Should I move her out to a separate area? It seems like they are bothering her less and less and using the other nests more and more. Should I wait and see if the eggs are no longer being added, i.e., they are leaving her be?

The nest she is in is 3 feet off the ground, so I am planning on moving her and her eggs very carefully the weekend before they are due to hatch anyway, just to avoid any chicks falling (no ramp).

Any advice would be appreciated.

X3 on moving her, and sooner than later. You can candle at day 8. Should be able to see blood vessels, but if you have colored eggs, they are easy to miss. You sound like me, just as soon as I get rid of something, I need it! Best of luck to you! Oh, and the part about the food being a bit away from the nest is a very good idea. I thought I was helping my broody by putting the food and water where she could reach it from the nest...and she never left the nest...even to poo...YUCK!

 

[carolinasculpture]

Sure.  Give her more time.  She senses something alive in there.  If you chirp or whistle through your teeth like a chick, one might answer you if it is internally pipped.  I've had eggs in an incubator hatch after 25 days when the temps were too low (my fault, bad thermometer).

I will do that! Going down to check on her now. I hope at least some of them are ok. She has had quite a time of it. First, one hatched really early. She had been sitting on several that were infertile and this one. Didn't realize it was that far along.... Then, went down to check on them, there was stuff knocked over, broody was upset...blood, no baby....and snake! Yup, too fat to fit back out the way it came in. Poor little one! Was so sad! Filled in hole, tried to find any others, did numerous things that are supposed to keep snakes away. Don't really think they work, but did make me feel a little better...now, babies are late...

 

[chickenlover512]

I really want to have chick tuning around but the hen I want to hatch them isn't completely broody. Is there any way I can get her to be broody?

 

[PD-Riverman]

I really want to have chick tuning around but the hen I want to hatch them isn't completely broody. Is there any way I can get her to be broody?

Probably not, but you can put some fake eggs in a nest or leave several regular eggs in a nest and trade them completely out for more the next day so you do not have to discard your eggs. Good Luck!!