Broody Hen Thread!

[cocker]

 

[the poppster]

I sure wish I had a broody right now! I've just had an incubator egg pip!!! Why do you always have broodys popping out every where when you don't want them!!!

 

[CrazyHenLady386]

I wonder why...

 

[microchick]

Murphy's Law. Blame Murphy.

 

[Coop de Grass]

I've found that it's usually a bad thing, to move a broody from her isolation pen back into the main coop before the eggs have hatched...it always seems to break the broody behavior and she abandons her eggs....I usually keep the hen and her chicks separately for a few weeks before I integrate them back into the flock...and main coop. I will free range the flock around the broody tractor. Letting the birds get reacquainted and meet the chicks through the wire. Eventually I will open the tractor door and allow the new family to mingle with the flock....Eventually I will remove the broody tractor from the equation...being sure mom is bringing the chicks into the coop...occasionally I will have to give the chicks a hand in finding the door...but that doesn't take long.

I think the next time I have to isolate a chicken I will put the pen inside the run. The porch isn't predator proof - just screening, and I weighted down the pen, but then I worried that the wind whipping through there would be too much. Tarps, cardboard, all sorts of stuff was used to create wind breaks... so it might as well be in the run, which is basically the same thing, but completely predator proof!

Definitely the last time I move a broody! The eggs are in the incubator with the NYD hatchalong eggs. They will go into the Brinsea ecomini when the current 3 egg occupants hatch tomorrow... it's musical incubators around here

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Granted those aren't spring time temps but I had a hen go broody last February when the temps were running about the same as they are for you. On her week two the temps took a dive with highs in the 30s and lows in the high teens. I put a light bulb over her and she did all right but the ordeal really took a lot out of her. It took her months to regain conditioning. If she pulls that stunt this winter I will break her even if it takes two or three times till spring comes.

So how is your girl doing? Have you timed how long she has been off the nest?

She is dedicated for sure. We are on our 2nd weeks since I gave her eggs and she is still sitting even in the winter storms. Shebis the 3rd broody we have got this winter lol. Last hatch didn't go well though. This one is due next week. I'll update then.

I have 3 Barred rocks and 4 buff Orpington hens . I was so excited when I walked into the coop and found my buff Orpington hen , Jenifer , puffed up and ready to fight over them regs ! Lol she pecked me once or twice to get me the message so I left her alone . The next day same thing , then the third day she decided that she'd had enough of this broody mama business and hopped off her nest and left me with cold eggs

Our hen did the same thing a few times before she got serious lol.

Southern Tennessee and the temperatures are all over the place; 14 to 50 degrees F. Many days are in the 20s. I have six hens with chicks and one brooding eggs; another is showing signs of going broody. The coop is cold-basically unheated-hatch rates are high and the chicks are doing well. The hens seem to know how long they can stay off their nest when it's cold. Every one is hatching their eggs just like it were a warm spring/summer day. I do have heat lamps for the chicks to go under on the coldest days, but the heat lamps don't do much as far as heating the whole coop. Oddly, all the hens share the lamps and care for all the chicks; all 30 of them-team work in action!

I have 2 broodys with chicks right now and they do really well. Just worrying about the eggs since our last hatch didn't go well.

 

[leoChickens]

Do you have to do anything for broody hens? What is a broody hen and what do you have to do for it?

 

[pamperedamber]

How long does a broody stay with her hatchings? Our broody hatched the chicks Sept 22-26th and they are all still in the nest box with her. I closed off the nest box so she would take them to the roost but they just all bunched up on the top of the nest box. She seems content just to be a mommy with her chicks. Is this normal. This was her first broody incident and mine. She is currently 11 months her self. she laid 2 eggs and went broody.

 

[nchls school]

Do you have to do anything for broody hens? What is a broody hen and what do you have to do for it? A broody hen is a pullet/hen that has stopped laying eggs and is "brooding" eggs, keeping them warm by sitting on them, so they will hatch. Once a hen is broody she will do best with a nest that is not disturbed. No special care is needed other than a safe, undisturbed nest site.

 

[nchls school]

How long does a broody stay with her hatchings? Our broody hatched the chicks Sept 22-26th and they are all still in the nest box with her. I closed off the nest box so she would take them to the roost but they just all bunched up on the top of the nest box. She seems content just to be a mommy with her chicks. Is this normal. Not unusual This was her first broody incident and mine. She is currently 11 months her self. she laid 2 eggs and went broody.

Each hen/breed seems to be different. My serama bantams care for their chicks about three weeks. Other breeds care for their young over a much longer period; 6 weeks to 3/4 months.