Broody Hen Thread!

[kjscortez]

First time chicken person here...
I have a broody serama and broody silky.
The serama has been on 3 serama eggs and 3 silky eggs for 18 days.
The silky has been on a growing number since 7/19. 6 were layed from 7/17-7/20. I found a new egg yesterday and again today.
Can I leave these eggs in the nest?

Also, if the serama doesn't hatch anything.. can I put these new ones under her?

 

[Selsley]

First time chicken person here...
I have a broody serama and broody silky.
The serama has been on 3 serama eggs and 3 silky eggs for 18 days.
The silky has been on a growing number since 7/19. 6 were layed from 7/17-7/20. I found a new egg yesterday and again today.
Can I leave these eggs in the nest?

Also, if the serama doesn't hatch anything.. can I put these new ones under her?

we did, we had one laid in her clutch 2 days after she started sitting the 1st 5 we gave her.
5 hatched together one hatched the next day, ive heard that fresher eggs hatch quicker, which is why when it takes a single chicken at least a week to lay enough eggs to sit on, they still hatch around the same time
the 3 blue eggs our broody sat on would have taken our chicken 3-4 days to lay then we put them under our broody, with 2 other eggs
the next day we had no blue egg and the day after, one was laid in the clutch, so she had been sitting the 1st 3blues and other 2 eggs for 2 days, the oldest egg about 5 days those 3blues and other 2 hatched the same day, the 4th blue only 1 day after, (funny thing, the 1st 3 hatched with multi markings light feet and beak, and the one that hatched the day after ((1 day quicker)) was all black with black beak and slate feet like its mum)
somewhere along the line 2 more eggs got added, into the clutch (we suspect one of the children)
and now 2 days after hatching shes started to lose interest in them, since shes more interested in teaching the chicks to feed,
today she rearranged her nest, she removed all the hay from one side, making a hole and pushed all the hay into the middle, after searching i found one buried in the middle and the other at the bottom of the hole where she was sitting. i reset the nest and she sat in a corner but when i replaced the eggs she pulled them to her, and she sat on them, an hr later i found her sitting at the side again off the eggs so i moved then underneath her there and she settled on them, this is day 4 after the 1st one hatched,

so im guessing as long as your eggs hatch within 3-4 days of each other they should be ok and be looked after. the eggs added 3-4 days after, may be close enough keep her interested in going full term on them. she should sense any movement in the late hatchers
but try to isolate the broodies so no more eggs get added, the last laid eggs will either hatch or not we got the 6 we started with so we not bothered if the late added ones didnt hatch, but i think i will give her a hand sitting them for the next day or so to see if they do hatch before remove them
we will see what tomorrow brings

just reread your post, and checked the dates, i think 10 days is too long, coz they get taught to feed on day 2 and would it be fair to your hen to expect her to be nest bound for a whole month?

ours hasnt been out in 4 days, since they hatched and i think 2 days before that.

UPDATE
8hrs after writing this post one of the mysteriously appeared eggs has a hole in the top, on inspection, there is definite movement and peeping from inside

 

[Selsley]

egg did hatch an hr after mum trod on it breaking it down one side, she may have been a bit immature.
after spending the day keeping an eye on her and rescuing her from under the hay after mum left the nest to school the other chicks, and kept her warm until she came back, and making sure she wasnt trodden on, which she had been. see seemed to be making some progress and started to fluff up and raise her head, i checked an hr ago and all was fine hoping they were all settling for the night, 10 minutes later i heard peeping coming from the coop and rechecked, to find the chicks and mum walking round the coop and the new born on the side lying on her back, she was still alive but with obvious signs of injury, she had been trod on again, since she was only just breathing i decided to put her in a cool place and let her pass, so sad, i also removed the last egg.

 

[nchls school]

egg did hatch an hr after mum trod on it breaking it down one side, she may have been a bit immature.
after spending the day keeping an eye on her and rescuing her from under the hay after mum left the nest to school the other chicks, and kept her warm until she came back, and making sure she wasnt trodden on, which she had been. see seemed to be making some progress and started to fluff up and raise her head, i checked an hr ago and all was fine hoping they were all settling for the night, 10 minutes later i heard peeping coming from the coop and rechecked,  to find the chicks and mum walking round the coop and the new born on the side lying on her back, she was still alive but with obvious signs of injury, she had been trod on again, since she was only just breathing i decided to put her in a cool place and let her pass, so sad, i also removed the last egg.

Sorry selsley, I know the disappointment of losing a chick. Try to focus on the living; it does help. How many chicks????

 

[microchick]

egg did hatch an hr after mum trod on it breaking it down one side, she may have been a bit immature.
after spending the day keeping an eye on her and rescuing her from under the hay after mum left the nest to school the other chicks, and kept her warm until she came back, and making sure she wasnt trodden on, which she had been. see seemed to be making some progress and started to fluff up and raise her head, i checked an hr ago and all was fine hoping they were all settling for the night, 10 minutes later i heard peeping coming from the coop and rechecked, to find the chicks and mum walking round the coop and the new born on the side lying on her back, she was still alive but with obvious signs of injury, she had been trod on again, since she was only just breathing i decided to put her in a cool place and let her pass, so sad, i also removed the last egg.

So sorry for your loss. Sometimes no matter what you do it just isn't enough. Rest assured that you did all that you could do and rejoice in the new babies following mom around.

 

[nchls school]

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

In addition to those reasons already mentioned, clumsiness could be the reason if the hen is of a larger breed. I have had many larger hens accidently break their eggs. I now use only bantam hens for hatching eggs.

 

[nchls school]

First time chicken person here...
I have a broody serama and broody silky.
The serama has been on 3 serama eggs and 3 silky eggs for 18 days.
The silky has been on a growing number since 7/19. 6 were layed from 7/17-7/20. I found a new egg yesterday and again today.
Can I leave these eggs in the nest? I would remove new eggs that are laid in the silkie's nest by other hens. Staggered hatches usually end in disappointment. The silkie will want to leave the nest when the first hatched chicks are ready for food and water. If it were a matter of a day, first hatched chicks can be removed from the nest until the hatch is complete and then returned.

Also, if the serama doesn't hatch anything.. can I put these new ones under her? The eggs? Yes, if the hen's condition is good.

 

[Selsley]

Sorry selsley, I know the disappointment of losing a chick. Try to focus on the living; it does help. How many chicks????

we originally started with 5 eggs the hen only started laying herself about 6 weeks before going broody
we did 3 pure araucana. 1 suspected cross araucana and 1 of our biggest best egg layers a light red hen with white tail
all 5 hatched the 1st day,
3 days after she 1st sat, she left the eggs after we moved her to a more private cooler place. we found her sitting in the original empty nest and the eggs were cold
but another had been added by our pure araucana this one hatched a day later and was black, with slate feet and beak like its mother, the other 4 have the usual araucana markings.
the 5th was a yellow bundle of fluff and looks like it may well have beard and muffs, and may well be rumpless
some how 2 more blue eggs were added, we suspect the kids, but no one will admit it and we dont know when, we had barred her in to keep her sitting as everytime she went walkabout she'd return to the empty nest so she had ourside access once a day but only after the other chickens had laid, until she returned to the proper nest on her own;

one of these 2 was what hatched 4 days after the 1st 5 so i wasnt holding much hope anyway, she had already started teaching the 1st 5 chicks to feed, the one hatching the day after couldnt learn this as it was still hiding under mum, and she taught them from the sitting position in the nest, so by the time todays hatched they were already exploring the coop, as long as the chicks stayed in the nest she stayed, but as soon as 4 came out to play she left it, and this constant in and out is what killed her,



the 3 at the back and the little black are siblings from our purest hen (BLACK)
the other lighter one from our suspected cross (partridge)
and our 1st purpose bred EE
all sired by the roo in my avatar , we're in france so our araucana dont look like american ones

So sorry for your loss. Sometimes no matter what you do it just isn't enough. Rest assured that you did all that you could do and rejoice in the new babies following mom around.

oh yeah i know i did what i could and i know nature can be cruel, im just saddened that she went so far, im happy we got 6 chicks from the original 5 we started with lol
this was our 1st hatch, i will be better prepared for the next. 1st thing on the list a little incubator and brooded for when nature lets us down,

 

[staceydanny]

Hi can anyone help us please we have a barred rock and shes broody its our first time and hers. We brought her 6x fertilized eggs as hers are not and put them under her since then she hasn't laid any more is this normal for her to do? Thank you

 

[the poppster]

Hi can anyone help us please we have a barred rock and shes broody its our first time and hers. We brought her 6x fertilized eggs as hers are not and put them under her since then she hasn't laid any more is this normal for her to do? Thank you  

Broody hens do not lay eggs....Once they have hatched a brood and raised them they will return to laying. But not when they are setting a clutch. If they are laying eggs, they aren't fully broody.