Broody Hen Thread!

[Puddin Fluff]

Well, looks like I'm back on the broody train. Currently have a broody mama with 8 four week olds and now another girl is groweling at me. My excuse to give her eggs is I think 5/8 from the other batch are roos so I NEED to try again! Ahhhhh - chicken math!

 

[Turkeytruff]

So I am feeding the flock a couple of nights ago and I see one of my little blonde bantams come stomping over to the feed trough growling furiously at the larger hens and even 2 hen turkeys who look at her in astonishment. She ate a bit, huffed a lot, and wandered around snapping at any chicken unfortunate enough to get in her way.

I thought OK here we go, another one turning broody. I was in another part of the field when I heard her grumbling her way into a raised bed under a huge horseradish plant. That made me interested. I sneaked over and dug into the plant. At the very bottom, wedged into a tiny corner, was the bantam. I lifted her up and lo and behold, she had 12 eggs she had been sneaking there and laying every day. She wins! I left her there, but added a base layer of straw for the warmth and insulation. I know my turkeys will brood over rocks but really....

Update 2 days later. I have put a plant pot over her plant at night and put a tarp over last night as it was raining. Stole the eggs and candled them and tossed all but 6. Who knows when/ if they will hatch but shouldn't be too much longer. I have been sticking a spoonful of food in between the leaves for her twice a day and she growls at me and then snatches it from my hand. Poor hormonal girl!

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Crazy determined girl!

 

[Gge23]

Hi everyone!
So I'm guessing somewhere on this thread someone has probably asked the exact same thing I am about to ask, but there are a lot of posts on here and it'll take me all day to read through it!
So here is my question....
I have just had one of my hens go broody yesterday, now I have never had a broody hen, she is my first....what do I do? Do I just leave her to it? Do I try to move her out of the coop, because it is rather small for a broody hen to be in? Do I try and put more eggs under her? I'm also worried that she's just not moving off the eggs...normally she is the first one out to come for breakfast but today, nothing. I tried to put some food in the coop for her but one of my other hens just came to eat it and my broody made the most horrendous noise when I went near her :S any help/advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you ^_^

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Hi everyone!
So I'm guessing somewhere on this thread someone has probably asked the exact same thing I am about to ask, but there are a lot of posts on here and it'll take me all day to read through it!
So here is my question....
I have just had one of my hens go broody yesterday, now I have never had a broody hen, she is my first....what do I do? Do I just leave her to it? Do I try to move her out of the coop, because it is rather small for a broody hen to be in? Do I try and put more eggs under her? I'm also worried that she's just not moving off the eggs...normally she is the first one out to come for breakfast but today, nothing. I tried to put some food in the coop for her but one of my other hens just came to eat it and my broody made the most horrendous noise when I went near her :S any help/advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you ^_^

Hi and welcome to broody craziness. There are different ways to approach it. I leave mine in the "general population" with the other hens. I make sure to mark the eggs I want her to hatch. Just reach under her and gently roll them out. Some times this is a bit of a frightening prospect as some broodies are super aggressive and have been known to draw blood. If you have one of those, you might want to wear gloves. After the eggs are marked, also mark your calendar starting when you think she began to sit. The closer you can be to exact, the better.

If you have other birds laying eggs in the same nest, if she doesn't run them off to another nest, be sure to remove any new eggs daily or at least every other day. You want all of mamas attention on the ones you want to hatch, not the extras.

Don't worry about her not getting off for food/water. That is normal. They usually get up once or maybe twice a day and do a "broody run". They get off the nest to poop, get a drink, get a bite, stretch their legs and wings, maybe a quick dust bath, then back to the nest. Often you will not see them do this. Proof that they have done it is the giant stinky broody poop that you will find somewhere in the coop/run. It is unmistakable!

Other than that, just watch and enjoy until about day 18. With mine in the general population, the nest is shared, often, so about day 18 I create a barricade around the nest so that other birds can not get in. I have found crushed chicks in the past due to nest box struggles so I keep the others out from about day 18 until they are fluffed out and mama is ready to take them to ground. I put food and water inside the barricade for mama and then later the chicks. I start on day 18 as with broodies, you might miss calculate the hatch date and I have had them hatching on my day 19 and that was when I had the catastrophy.

I know that isn't everything, but hope it answered some questions for you. Others may set up differently. Some people move their broodies but I have never had luck with that. They always seem to want to revert to the original nest and leave the eggs when I have moved them. Just my personal experience.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Here is my last mama with her brood.
For some reason it is posting the photo on top.

 

[mossyroo]

Hi everyone!
So I'm guessing somewhere on this thread someone has probably asked the exact same thing I am about to ask, but there are a lot of posts on here and it'll take me all day to read through it!
So here is my question....
I have just had one of my hens go broody yesterday, now I have never had a broody hen, she is my first....what do I do? Do I just leave her to it? Do I try to move her out of the coop, because it is rather small for a broody hen to be in? Do I try and put more eggs under her? I'm also worried that she's just not moving off the eggs...normally she is the first one out to come for breakfast but today, nothing. I tried to put some food in the coop for her but one of my other hens just came to eat it and my broody made the most horrendous noise when I went near her :S any help/advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you ^_^

I wouldn't get too excited after only 1 day. I have broody now that gave me a couple of false starts. After she and one other had stayed glued to their nests for a week I got a dozen eggs too split between them.
The big question is what would you like to do. Do you want to experience a hatch and seeing a new Mom running around with her chicks? Do you have an active roo so you have a good chance at your own fertile eggs or would you have to go out and buy eggs for what would essentially be an experiment/learning experience for you?
If you don't want any more chickens at this time (but who doesn't) there are many good tips in this thread for breaking this round of broodiness.

 

[dgibson0604]

my bourbon red hen is broody on 8 eggs and my barred rock fiona is starting to go broody on 2 or 3 eggs but here is a whole bunch of ceramic eggs in there

 

[microchick]

JayJo, you might be pleasantly surprised. My hen did the same thing, once during a winter brood this past February, and just recently with her current clutch of eggs. The silly hen keeps 'loosing' her eggs. I candled a few random eggs after her last bout of forgetfulness and saw movement. If you can block her off from the other nests she won't have any choice but to go back to her own eggs, but these girls are mighty absent minded when they are broody.

 

[varidgerunner]

I don't candle my broody eggs. I used to. Mine can candle better than I can. The better ones will take the bad eggs up to 100 feet from their nest, they don't want anything stinky close to their nest drawing in predators.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hi everyone!
So I'm guessing somewhere on this thread someone has probably asked the exact same thing I am about to ask, but there are a lot of posts on here and it'll take me all day to read through it!
So here is my question....
I have just had one of my hens go broody yesterday, now I have never had a broody hen, she is my first....what do I do? Do I just leave her to it? Do I try to move her out of the coop, because it is rather small for a broody hen to be in? Do I try and put more eggs under her? I'm also worried that she's just not moving off the eggs...normally she is the first one out to come for breakfast but today, nothing. I tried to put some food in the coop for her but one of my other hens just came to eat it and my broody made the most horrendous noise when I went near her :S any help/advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you ^_^

The first thing is go out there Now and remove all eggs---if you know she just started staying on the nest yesterday---the eggs will be fine to eat. Always Collect ALL eggs from Every Nest Daily----even if it has a hen setting on it(starting to go broody)----doing that will not allow her to be incubating eggs----till Its time to Incubate eggs. Leaving eggs in the nest then other chickens adding mor or you adding more creates a staggered hatch-----a lot of times a staggered hatch creates a lot of stress for her and you----I never want a staggered hatch!!!! You can place a couple fake eggs in her nest if you are wanting to set her in a couple days.

OK now if you want her to set----collect every how many eggs you want to put under her use only what you feel is fertile, layed within the last few days, NONE that might have been under her for most of the day and if you are going to leave her with the rest(I move all mine) you need to clearly mark all the eggs and place them under her at the Same time---not adding any more later and mark your Calendar. EVERY DAY---any time during the day if you want to do it more than once a day, but for sure in the late afternoons you remove any new un-marked eggs and these eggs will be fine for eating. I do that till day 19 and then after that I do not touch her, I do not look under her or nothing until she comes off the nest. Any questions---just ask. Good Luck

One other thing """"""I""""" Would NEVER place food or water near her nest where she can reach them without getting off the nest. I would not offer her treats while she is in the nest---NEVER for "ME". See when the hen eats, she will have to poop, so if she eats in the nest she will have to poop, some times she will leave the nest to do that---some times she will not----ask some on here how much fun it is to clean broody poop off her and her eggs---No fun at all. You want her to get off the eggs to eat and drink and to Poop as well as move her legs. Some hens might not get off the nest for a couple days, but to let you know---I have set 150+/- in the last 3 years and I have never lost a hen that was brooding---not even one that looks sick. I have never feed them at the nest nor offered a treat.

 

[Gge23]

I wouldn't get too excited after only 1 day. I have broody now that gave me a couple of false starts. After she and one other had stayed glued to their nests for a week I got a dozen eggs too split between them.
The big question is what would you like to do. Do you want to experience a hatch and seeing a new Mom running around with her chicks? Do you have an active roo so you have a good chance at your own fertile eggs or would you have to go out and buy eggs for what would essentially be an experiment/learning experience for you?
If you don't want any more chickens at this time (but who doesn't) there are many good tips in this thread for breaking this round of broodiness.

Puddin fluff- thank you so much for your advice, it's really helped me with dealing with her! She seems very determined and won't budge so I guess I better let her sit!

Mossyroo- I have only hatched my own eggs in an incubator, so I would love to see my owns hens do it on their own...I only bought the incubator because I was told they weren't a broody breed so his happening is great! and who doesn't want more chickens?! I think this will be a learning curve for both me and my broody.

PD-Riverman - thanks for your advice, I have sorted the eggs out so they won't be staggered. I'd noticed she had managed to steal my other hens eggs as she was only sat on one yesterday and today she had 5...so I will be removing all unmarked eggs from now on. Should I be worried if she hasn't moved all day? I'm guessing she will move eventually for food and water?