Broody Hen Thread!

[kukupecpec]

I was told 6 to 8 eggs is ideal. But I cheated and ordered a dozen, got 13, and my Wellsumer is happily setting on every darn one of em. EEs tend to be smaller than Wellsumers, so maybe I wouldn't push it like I did. As for moving her, I had to move my Wellsumer as she had take up residence in the prime nest box. I wanted to isolate her anyway, for when the chickies come. I understand some don't take to being moved to well, and some do. Mine started laying on three ceramic eggs and a couple golf balls, and had no complaints when I stole those to shove 13 fertile eggs under her.
So I guess like everything else chicken, it all depends on your girl.

Do you think I can move her inside my house? Some people say they need to be near their flock. I do have an old dresser I turned into a brooder that she MIGHT fit in, but I don't know that she could comfortably stand up. It would keep her and babies super safe though, and she would be right next to her flock, although when they aren't out in the yard they would only be able to talk, not really see eachother.





Theres a couple pictures of the coop and the brooder next to each other, she is curenty in that blue nest box you see right behind Hermanos the rooster. Do you think its too small?

 

[fisherlady]

Do you think I can move her inside my house? Some people say they need to be near their flock. I do have an old dresser I turned into a brooder that she MIGHT fit in, but I don't know that she could comfortably stand up. It would keep her and babies super safe though, and she would be right next to her flock, although when they aren't out in the yard they would only be able to talk, not really see eachother.





Theres a couple pictures of the coop and the brooder next to each other, she is curenty in that blue nest box you see right behind Hermanos the rooster. Do you think its too small?

The blue nest box isn't too small, in fact it may be about perfect because with it being 'stackable' you should be able to move her nest and all to another location if you decide to. The only real reason to move her would be to avoid conflicts with the rest of the birds. I wouldn't put her somewhere that she can't comfortably move around though. If you want to use the brooder you have pictured I would modify it a bit to allow a fenced area in front of it. Maybe move the blocks and stuff from next to the wall and run chicken wire from the center post of the brooder parallel to the chain link fence for a few feet. It would allow her to be safe and still within site and sound of the other birds in the enclosure. If that brooder is setting in a completely fenced area then you may be able to move her into the lower floor of it at night, block her in it for a day or so, then unblock it and let her roam the brooder side when she wants. To be chick safe though you may need to place 1/2" or 1" hardware cloth or wire around the bottom of the enclosure so little chicks don't get through the chain link.
If there is somewhere else in the coop that you could place her box and all and give her a bit of a fenced area around her then that would be a good option also. Broodies don't spend a lot of time off of the nest, but when they do they like to get a quick dust bath and 'speed scratch' and guzzle some water. So where ever you decide to place her make sure she has access to do these things comfortably.

As for your time question.... a broody hen may stay broody for months. They don't go 3 wks and call it quits. So you have time to get her the eggs you want. If they are on the nest for an extended time though you need to watch body condition and be prepared to provide her with good quality feed and tempting treats to keep her body condition up.

 

[kukupecpec]

The blue nest box isn't too small, in fact it may be about perfect because with it being 'stackable' you should be able to move her nest and all to another location if you decide to. The only real reason to move her would be to avoid conflicts with the rest of the birds. I wouldn't put her somewhere that she can't comfortably move around though. If you want to use the brooder you have pictured I would modify it a bit to allow a fenced area in front of it. Maybe move the blocks and stuff from next to the wall and run chicken wire from the center post of the brooder parallel to the chain link fence for a few feet. It would allow her to be safe and still within site and sound of the other birds in the enclosure. If that brooder is setting in a completely fenced area then you may be able to move her into the lower floor of it at night, block her in it for a day or so, then unblock it and let her roam the brooder side when she wants. To be chick safe though you may need to place 1/2" or 1" hardware cloth or wire around the bottom of the enclosure so little chicks don't get through the chain link.
If there is somewhere else in the coop that you could place her box and all and give her a bit of a fenced area around her then that would be a good option also. Broodies don't spend a lot of time off of the nest, but when they do they like to get a quick dust bath and 'speed scratch' and guzzle some water. So where ever you decide to place her make sure she has access to do these things comfortably.

As for your time question.... a broody hen may stay broody for months. They don't go 3 wks and call it quits. So you have time to get her the eggs you want. If they are on the nest for an extended time though you need to watch body condition and be prepared to provide her with good quality feed and tempting treats to keep her body condition up.

Unfortunately those stackable nests are zip tied in there super tight so they don't fall out when the girls jump in and out of them lol.
I don't really have any way to change the set up I've got over there, esp. and keep her safe and enclosed. Would it be bad to just bring her inside and give her the broody shelf/level in my serama tower? She could stand up just fine, and she would have pine shavings to poop on and scratch around in, but it wouldn't be like anything she's ever lived in before. And it would be away from her flock.

 

[James11]

This is the first time my hen started laying eggs and there is a rooster .. but whenever it gives a egg it leaves it there only and doesn't hatch it. Any ideas that will it hatch or just be there.. Will we need a incubator? Its buff orpingtons

 

[melina90]

I just have to brag a little more... My broody silkie-bantam is taking the babies out for adventures every day now, and it's better to watch than any television show I've ever seen!

Shot this yesterday, the chick hatched on april 28th.

 

[fisherlady]

Unfortunately those stackable nests are zip tied in there super tight so they don't fall out when the girls jump in and out of them lol.
I don't really have any way to change the set up I've got over there, esp. and keep her safe and enclosed. Would it be bad to just bring her inside and give her the broody shelf/level in my serama tower? She could stand up just fine, and she would have pine shavings to poop on and scratch around in, but it wouldn't be like anything she's ever lived in before. And it would be away from her flock.

I have never taken a hen out of the flock completely for her brooding. I don't believe it would be dangerous or a health problem in any way, but will be harder for her to integrate back into the flock and the chicks will be total strangers to the flock also and will be subject to introduction 'hazing' just like any other strange chicken would be. I would try to keep her in sight of the flock if it were me, but you need to do what works for you. If the other hens aren't bothering her where she is now you can leave her there till she hatches the eggs, then move her to a nest you fix up on the floor in the coop, chicks and all, the first night.

This is the first time my hen started laying eggs and there is a rooster .. but whenever it gives a egg it leaves it there only and doesn't hatch it. Any ideas that will it hatch or just be there.. Will we need a incubator? Its buff orpingtons

Your hen won't hatch out every egg she lays.... hens may sometimes go 'broody', which means they are in the mood to hatch out some babies. They may not go this way for years, if ever, or you may have a hen that gets in the mood every 6 months, there is no way to predict it.
When they go broody, they will park themselves in a nest with eggs or fake eggs and not leave it, day or night! They won't roost with the flock and won't get out except for 1 or 2 short periods a day to scratch, dust bathe, eat and drink... then right back to the eggs.
It is normal behavior for a hen to lay eggs and then desert them when not broody, adding a rooster won't cause them to become broody. Hens could care less about a rooster being around when it comes to broodiness.
You can gather your hen's eggs for a couple of days, store them in a cool area with pointy side down and when you have a dozen or so you could incubate them yourself if you want chicks, but if you do that you will have to raise them yourself, a hen won't just take chicks either, unless she was brooding to begin with.

 

[fisherlady]

I just have to brag a little more... My broody silkie-bantam is taking the babies out for adventures every day now, and it's better to watch than any television show I've ever seen!

Shot this yesterday, the chick hatched on april 28th.

Adorable!! Love seeing them out with the babies!

 

[LTygress]

Just got my own first broody, and it's looking more like two at the same time than just one! Too bad they are both bantams, and I've got a good 24-36 standard-size eggs waiting for the incubator or a broody! But one has covered a good 6, and the other is pushing 7 or 8 (although she can barely keep them all under her).

Switched out the one with six eggs today, since she was actually hatching three GOLF BALLS! Lol! She's spent two nights on the eggs so far, so I'm content that she's going to stay on them.

The other one I'm giving one more night to see if she stays on her nest as opposed to roosting with the others, before I switch her golfballs and eggs out.

Just took pics of both hens on their nests, and the little set-up I made to convince them to stay there. I'll post the pics later today.

 

[Ginger Assassin]

Cool!

 

[LTygress]

Here we go! For starters...



This was the first girl to go broody. Her eggs were warm yesterday morning when I first went out to feed them and collect eggs, indicating she had been on them all night. I have only seen her out of the nest box ONCE, and she quickly ran back as soon as I was spotted! I have already switched out what she WAS sitting on for 6 white silkie eggs. She was sitting on three golf balls, two ameraucana eggs, and one of her own, but I don't plan to hatch the eggs she WAS sitting on. Silkie Due Date: June 1st.




This was the second one to go broody. She sits to the left of the first one. If you look at the one "egg" that is peeking out from under her wing, it's actually a golfball. She managed to fit a total of NINE things underneath her including 7 golf balls, one barred rock egg, and one of her own! But she needs to spend one more night on the eggs instead of roosting, to prove to me that she is broody enough for hatching.




This is how the two girls set themselves up. The one on the right is #1, the one on the left is #2. The two colored bowls are wet-down feed pellets for layers with some starter feed mixed in, along with vitamins and electrolytes. The white oval bowl is just water. You can see another nest to the far left with more eggs in it to entice the other hens to lay there now. And to the right is a fourth nest box, that some of the golf balls were moved to, after I took them from Hen #1.

Also hen #2 is in the nest box that ALL of the other hens prefer to use. So she got pushed out yesterday for an ameraucana hen to lay, and came right back after the Am hen was done.


And just a few minutes ago, a surprise!

A THIRD banty was in the nest box to the right of these two, laying an egg. I went into the pen just as she stood up and the egg plopped down from her rear end. But she stood there and looked at it for several minutes, then moved the golf balls around to be with the egg she had just laid. Then she laid down on those, closed her eyes, and went to sleep! (I woke her up when I returned with the camera.) So I may very well have a THIRD bantam going broody now! Thank you to my friend Patsy who recommended those darn golf balls!

(All three of these bantams are cross-bred with 50% ameraucana bantam and 50% Mille Fleur bantam. The father of their eggs is a bantam game roo. They are in a pen with standard ameraucanas, bantam easter eggers, standard barred rock, and another "mutt" bantam. This is our "edible egg" group, because we raise them only for eggs - not breeding or showing. So it is very common to find white, cream, blue, green, and brown eggs in the same nest on any given day. This is also why I had to use golf balls to get broody hens, because I don't want any of the other eggs developing, and I collect them every day for that reason.)