Broody Hen Thread!

[el pollo rey]

I had a friend of mine who let her duck hatch out chicken eggs. It all went superb, until momma duck decided to take her "ducklings" for a swim

. Ohhh no lol

 

[lawatt]

i have three broody girls with chicks right now, a fourth hatching today, and a fifth hatching in a week -- and at least one of the broodies (the first, a basque hen, her two chicks are nearly 3 weeks old) is super-aggressive with the others' chicks, attacking them & their moms. is there anything that can be done, besides isolating her and her chicks? what if the others are equally aggressive toward each other's chicks?

 

[Beginningbreede]

help I have a cochin hen who has 6 chicks and she wont let them leave from out under her and if they do leave she pecks them until they go back under her

 

[el pollo rey]

quote name="Beginningbreede" url="/t/496101/broody-hen-thread/1290#post_11173582"]help I have a cochin hen who has 6 chicks and she wont let them leave from out under her and if they do leave she pecks them until they go back under her
[/quote]I would not worry for the first three days when they get hungry her pecking will go unnoticed

 

[kukupecpec]

Oh good!!! I'm gad to hear some others have given small eggs to their broody chickens. I will she if she can hatch any out! How exciting!!

 

[pemphredo]

Y would u want to bust broody ? u have you're other hens laying eggs so u problebly have enough.

I have 6 hens and no roosters. she would never hatch anything out. she would end up just sitting and sitting and that wouldn't be healthy for her. the food or water is nowhere near the nesting spot.... she would die. Thank you for asking.

 

[LTygress]

I have 6 hens and no roosters. she would never hatch anything out. she would end up just sitting and sitting and that wouldn't be healthy for her. the food or water is nowhere near the nesting spot.... she would die. Thank you for asking.

She won't actually die if the food and water aren't near her. She would get up for a few minutes a day to get the food, water, preen herself, scratch a few itches, and stretch. They don't actually sit on the eggs 24/7 without ever moving. They still take care of themselves.

And every time mine get up to do any of this, another hen sneaks in and tries to lay an egg in there!

 

[LTygress]

Well, my third possible broody hen turned out NOT to be broody. But the first two most definitely are! I've only seen one of them leave her eggs once, and the other only three times, but never very long at all!

And it turns out a bantam can fit 13 eggs underneath her quite well! The first one only has 6, so I'm thinking about going out and switching a few to make it even. But then with one sitting on 13, I don't want her to freak out if she realizes she is missing eggs....

 

[emilee427]

I have 4 new grand chickies

 

[fisherlady]

I have 4 new grand chickies

Congrats!!!