Broody Hen Thread!

[Selsley]

Reading all the posts about what went wrong and what went right....I'm beginning to suspect that most of the outcomes of the hatch have been preordained with mother nature at the helm...sure we help here and there....but for the most part....if we weren't there to fuss and fix and basically, interfere we would end up with about the same results....now I'm not saying that we don't rescue a hatch....and if we hadn't it wouldn't have made it! It's just that it amazes me how some make it! Even though all of our expert or not so expert efforts....the tough little creatures manage to survive....no matter how many times I've seen it....it still boggles my mind....what a wonderful mysterious world we are part of...the care and raising of these beautiful creatures makes me ever more aware and appreciative of the world around me....it seems to be self perpetuating...around and around...my love of caring and interacting with my creatures...only seems to create more mystery and understanding of the world we live in.
.....boy that was "Deep" !!!

i think as humans we think interfering is helping, its just our instincts as animals to change what we dont understand,
as this was our first hatch with a young hen who only started laying herself less than 2 months ago, and reading advice here,
i think the help we gave only gave peace to our own minds,
the worries i had on day 3 seeing our hen sitting on an empty nest up top after moving her to the bottom of the coop, and resitting her on cold eggs, seeing her wandering round the garden and feeling again cold eggs, herding her into the coop and moving her from the top to the bottom, for over a week, until i virtually made her a prisoner with outside access once a day so i could monitor her movements, it wasnt until i left her locked up for 2 days a second time that she actually went back to her eggs on her own at the end of week 2, by this time i wasnt holding out much hope of a viable hatch, but this morning was the icing on the cake when i lifted her slightly after hearing peeping and saw 2 of our blue eggs had hatched, followed by a 3rd, then a slight green egg then a light brown, our first EE if dad has the blue gene, so today 5 in total with 3 more eggs in the nest, im hoping for at least 2 more since i dont know who or when the 8th egg was added (we suspect one of the kids slipped it in) but i suspect it was sometime in week 2, so not holding too much hope on it going full term,

i think next time it will be a bit more relaxed... and a lot more worry free knowing eggs can cool to the point of cold in the early days, and if the same hen goes broody, i think she will accept having to nest at the bottom of the coop.

 

[Kimberly09]

Looking for advise! I have a hen who hatched out 4 guinea fowl keets that are just over a week old. She has done great with them in an enclosure in our garage. Yesterday I tried to give her 5 more keets that are 6 days younger then hers. They just hatched Thursday/Friday. She seemed fine and let me put them under her. When she got up to take the babies to eat/drink on the other side of the enclosure the new keets stayed huddled in the corner. She mostly ignores them but will peck once in awhile. I kept a close eye on them through out the day and at night she went and sat on them in the corner where they were huddled. So they spent the night under her. Now today no change. They still act scared of her and I noticed her peck at one or two. I took the new keets out just now because they haven't ate or drank since yesterday.
But is this just a complete failure? Or can I try again in a few days?

 

[emilyandbj]

I have 12 chickens one of them is a buff orpingtion, she is broody she will sit on all the eggs all day and will eat or peck some of them

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions

also we where thinking of giving her away if we do will another hen take her spot and be broody? just thought I would ask

 

[fisherlady]

Looking for advise! I have a hen who hatched out 4 guinea fowl keets that are just over a week old. She has done great with them in an enclosure in our garage. Yesterday I tried to give her 5 more keets that are 6 days younger then hers. They just hatched Thursday/Friday. She seemed fine and let me put them under her. When she got up to take the babies to eat/drink on the other side of the enclosure the new keets stayed huddled in the corner. She mostly ignores them but will peck once in awhile. I kept a close eye on them through out the day and at night she went and sat on them in the corner where they were huddled. So they spent the night under her. Now today no change. They still act scared of her and I noticed her peck at one or two. I took the new keets out just now because they haven't ate or drank since yesterday.
But is this just a complete failure? Or can I try again in a few days?

To much time probably passed and she doesn't want them as hers and they obviously haven't bonded with her either. For their best interest I would remove them to a brooder with a regular heat and feed set up.

 

[Selsley]

saw the broody teaching her chicks to feed today, so got out the water and feeders ready for when they need it.
she was taking grain from her own bowl and "chewing" it and dropping it in front of her, then she proceeded to peck at it.
this made the chicks appear and start pecking at it themselves, but in hay i imagined it was hard for them to find anything,

i previously managed to get this hen to take lettuce from me once before, but only once, the lettuce leaves i put in front of her while sitting, she didnt touch. until i broke it into small peckable pieces.
so as a test, i offered her some chick starter food in my hand, after inspecting it long and hard, she took some. after this taste test she again "chewed" at it making it even smaller and dropped it in front of her, and started pecking, again all yesterdays hatch appeared and started joining in the fun,
and then it happened, she took it from my hand while they were watching. 5 second later i had 5 chicks in my hand all pecking at the food, mum seemed to be enjoying it too, id say she ate more today than she has these past 3 weeks. i guess she got used to me checking on her twice a day stretching in and changing her water and topping up her food, that it got to the point that she didnt even bother fluffing up like she used to, and quite happily let me raise her to check the chicks and eggs were doing ok yesterday she didnt even seem phased about me handling them today either

the little black one is a sibling to the 3 at the back, and share the same father with the other 2 who have different mums



im so stoked

 

[fisherlady]

saw the broody teaching her chicks to feed today, so got out the water and feeders ready for when they need it. she was taking grain from her own bowl and "chewing" it and dropping it in front of her, then she proceeded to peck at it. this made the chicks appear and start pecking at it themselves, but in hay i imagined it was hard for them to find anything, i previously managed to get this hen to take lettuce from me once before, but only once, the lettuce leaves i put in front of her while sitting, she didnt touch. until i broke it into small peckable pieces. so as a test, i offered her some chick starter food in my hand, after inspecting it long and hard, she took some. after this taste test she again "chewed" at it making it even smaller and dropped it in front of her, and started pecking, again all yesterdays hatch appeared and started joining in the fun, and then it happened, she took it from my hand while they were watching. 5 second later i had 5 chicks in my hand all pecking at the food, mum seemed to be enjoying it too, id say she ate more today than she has these past 3 weeks. i guess she got used to me checking on her twice a day stretching in and changing her water and topping up her food, that it got to the point that she didnt even bother fluffing up like she used to, and quite happily let me raise her to check the chicks and eggs were doing ok yesterday she didnt even seem phased about me handling them today either the little black one is a sibling to the 3 at the back, and share the same father with the other 2 who have different mums Very cute picture! And love the '5 IN THE HAND' story! It is a great way to start socializing the chicks and glad the broody is cooperating with you. im so stoked

 

[Myababy6203]

My broody hen has been crushing turken eggs... idk why but would like some answers

 

[fisherlady]

My broody hen has been crushing turken eggs... idk why but would like some answers

Many possible reasons...
1... shells are fragile due to calcium deficiency
2...broody is inexperienced and hasn't figured out how to shuffle in and out of nest delicately
3...nest area is too cramped and again causes issues getting in and out of the nest.
4...broody is clumsy, some just seem to be worse than others though weakness from prolonged sitting can definitely make it worse
5...broody is breaking them deliberately if she feels there is something wrong with them, our hens frequently break and eat eggs which didn't develop. We know this because there is no blood, just runny yolk in what is left of them
6...if broody isn't in a private area it can be caused from scuffles with other hens getting in and out of nest.

 

[16 paws]

Many possible reasons...
1... shells are fragile due to calcium deficiency
2...broody is inexperienced and hasn't figured out how to shuffle in and out of nest delicately
3...nest area is too cramped and again causes issues getting in and out of the nest.
4...broody is clumsy, some just seem to be worse than others though weakness from prolonged sitting can definitely make it worse
5...broody is breaking them deliberately if she feels there is something wrong with them, our hens frequently break and eat eggs which didn't develop. We know this because there is no blood, just runny yolk in what is left of them
6...if broody isn't in a private area it can be caused from scuffles with other hens getting in and out of nest.

Exactly right,

 

[microchick]

I think I read somewhere that older hens will produce thinner shelled eggs,also.