Broody Hen Thread!

[Keggen]

Questions for you guys. My broody has been sitting on 10 eggs. 3 of them hatched on the 4th. 2 others hatched to some degree but died, one shrink wrapped. The other I'm not sure what happened.

They have their nest box within a 4x4 pen with food and water access but the hen has not been getting up to get either, so we've been bringing it to the nesting box a few times a day. Her 3 chicks are eating and drinking when I bring it to them.

There are still 5 eggs under her and a big nasty pile of broody poop in the back corner. One of the deceased chicks was impossible to get out from under her. I wanted to let her have a chance at these last 5 eggs but I'm afraid it's just a gross mess in there.

How long will she sit on them? Should I force her out tomorrow? Change nesting boxes to a fresh one or leave that one for another day? I'm afraid the deceased chick and broody poop are going to breed germs and harm the chicks and remaining eggs.

Any advice?

 

[kannna]

IF it were me, I would push her out for a walk with the chicks and clean the area. Check the eggs for movement. If you have a problem moving her, I've found a towel can work and the chicks will follow. That doesn't sound like a sanitary environment for the babies.

 

[Chickenlover42]

I have been trying to hatch eggs under my broody hen but im not sure what happend i candled the eggs and they had movement on day 20 then she started freaking out a few days later and would not sit on the eggs. we put the eggs under another hen we thought might be broody but she would not sit eather. i have no idea what happend to make her stop sitting.

 

[CaCO3]

Questions for you guys. My broody has been sitting on 10 eggs. 3 of them hatched on the 4th. 2 others hatched to some degree but died, one shrink wrapped. The other I'm not sure what happened.

They have their nest box within a 4x4 pen with food and water access but the hen has not been getting up to get either, so we've been bringing it to the nesting box a few times a day. Her 3 chicks are eating and drinking when I bring it to them.

There are still 5 eggs under her and a big nasty pile of broody poop in the back corner. One of the deceased chicks was impossible to get out from under her. I wanted to let her have a chance at these last 5 eggs but I'm afraid it's just a gross mess in there.

How long will she sit on them? Should I force her out tomorrow? Change nesting boxes to a fresh one or leave that one for another day? I'm afraid the deceased chick and broody poop are going to breed germs and harm the chicks and remaining eggs.

Any advice?

Some of my broodies will do the poop in place thing too. I will try to reach behind her and scoop out the funky poo as best i can and then replace with clean shavings and pack it in back there and make sure the eggs aren't buried. If cleaning is not an option maybe just layering stuff over it will be enough. Maybe put down paper towels over crud and then top it with shavings.

I let them brood in a covered kitty litter box, when possible, so I can take off the hood and do clean up. I've only had silkies and bantam broodies so their pecking wrath was minimal or not-so-bad on my hand.

 

[el pollo rey]

I have been trying  to hatch eggs under my broody hen but im not sure what happend i candled the eggs and they had movement on day 20 then she started freaking out a few days later and would not sit on the eggs. we put the eggs under another hen we thought might be broody but she would not sit eather. i have no idea what happend to make her stop sitting.

. Broodys are so unpredictable I have been hatching under them for years and still can't figure them out I have some that are great incubators and bad brooders some are bad incubators and good brooders others go broody but just are not cut out for the task ,,, nature go figure

 

[Keggen]

Ooooh boy. Well I switched the hen into a new nest and she handled it fairly well. She wasn't happy about it and the chicks were a bit excited but they did ok and settled back down.

While switching I noticed one of the eggs looked pretty gross and when I lifted it the weight wasn't right. It just felt weird, kind of sloshy. So I brought it inside to candle and saw murky dark liquid inside. Definitely very dead.

Out of curiosity my 12 year old and I went way out into a field to open it. We stepped back and I kind of tossed the egg. Nothing. So I took a dried out weed stick thing and from about 3 feet back I jabbed the egg.

BOOM!

Oh My Goodness. It was unbelievably foul, no pun intended. Part of the eggshell flew out at us but thankfully nothing from inside reached us. It was so gross. Now I know what an exploding egg would be like. This was the first time I've ever experienced anything like this! It actually made an exploding sound! lol

So tonight I'm determined to candle the rest so we can be done with this one way or the other. I would just take them all but she was clearly intent on still sitting on them and I didn't have the heart to take them all until I know for sure. The new nest is a little different and she had a hard time keeping the eggs in but kept using her beak to pull them back in under her as she settled. What a sweet mama hen.

 

[Jharper]

Lol....nope! I sell most...some we replace older layers with, and some are for the table. I just love hatching and watching the chicks....I'm an addict for sure!

Haha I'm that way, too! I don't eat them though. I get too attached when they are hatching! Haha

 

[Beginningbreede]

I have a LF bared Cochin who's sitting on 3 EE eggs and an 3 Rhode Island Red eggs

 

[mnhomestead]

I just had my first broody experience! I had a black copper marans go broody on me and I gave her four of our barn mix eggs to see how she did. I had her set up in a large dog kennel with a box in there to serve as a nest area and hoped she wouldn't poop in it. I kept meaning to check fertility on the eggs and always forgot or was too busy to check. Well hatch day came and the next morning I heard peeping and looked in there and one of the chicks and part of a shell were sitting outside the box, I reached in and put him back under the broody. We were going to be gone the whole day and overnight for a wedding and knew that when we got back I would have to remove the box so they would be able to get back under mom. Well when we got back the next day I saw mom and what looked like the little one I had put back out of the box but no signs of any other chicks.... I removed the box and found 3 chicks dead

they had fallen between the box and side of kennel and must not have been able to get back out! I was so sad and mad at myself for not removing the box sooner. She did such a good job and hatched all four of those eggs! Well I ended up finding an ad on craigslist for some chicks that had hatched the same day and decided I would see if she would adopt a few, I was skeptical especially since it had been almost 3 days.... I got six babies for her and started putting them in the kennel and she started talking to them and within a couple minutes they were all getting warm underneath her and snuggling in!

 

[NYRIR]

Quote: Lol.....you better get a bigger place!