Broody Hen Thread!

[microchick]

I'm so pumped because I'm getting some Cochin bantams from Murray McMurray hatchery in June!!!!!!

does anyone know if they are good broody mamas? Because I would love to breed them . btw sorry for the last post , i meant to quote someone else

Yep, Cochin bantams are good broodies.

 

[ChickenMomma14]

Anyone have any advice on getting a broody hen to stop being broody... I have a sliver laced Cochin who has been broody for a little over a week now and by the way is now naked underside and she need to be able to grow those feathers back for her show in end of April. I have tried separating her from the nest area and forcing her to not be in the hen house but after wards she goes back in to start the process that I work hard on all over agian. The silly thing is I don't even have a roo.

 

[Slesage]

I have a question. I have a hen that just went broody. I want to hatch with her but it is Feb. our temps can get into the single digits (in N. E. PA). Is it safe to let her hatch? She's an Aurocana. Are they good moms?

 

[microchick]

Anyone have any advice on getting a broody hen to stop being broody... I have a sliver laced Cochin who has been broody for a little over a week now and by the way is now naked underside and she need to be able to grow those feathers back for her show in end of April. I have tried separating her from the nest area and forcing her to not be in the hen house but after wards she goes back in to start the process that I work hard on all over agian. The silly thing is I don't even have a roo.

Read back a few pages. We talk about how to do this in depth. She is pulling out her breast feathers in order to have good skin to egg contact and adjust temp and humidity. Yes, you can break her but she is likely to go broody again before April and I'm really not certain she will grow those feathers back until she molts again.

Hens are truly silly little beasts when they set their mind to brooding. You might be better off just getting her a few hatching eggs and letting her have her way otherwise you are going to be facing breaking her multitude of times. Those hormones are potent.

 

[twinsmom6]

forgive the question; so broody hens.. I broke my first one with the help of advice from BYC experts- thank you so much..
how soon will she go back to laying? (orpington about 8 months old)

the other question is.. if a hen goes broody she stops laying correct? But then how do you have a like a dozen to hatch? is the broody hen hatching other hens eggs or will she continue to add to the "batch" while she is sitting on the first?





I collect the eggs daily and have a very young cockrel.. so I am wondering.. should I just let the broody hen do what she wants to or as we really don't want additional chicks now.. should I just keep collecting daily and break her from broodiness when I need her to?

again forgive the junior questions..

 

[PD-Riverman]

forgive the question; so broody hens.. I broke my first one with the help of advice from BYC experts- thank you so much..
how soon will she go back to laying? (orpington about 8 months old)

the other question is.. if a hen goes broody she stops laying correct? But then how do you have a like a dozen to hatch? is the broody hen hatching other hens eggs or will she continue to add to the "batch" while she is sitting on the first?





I collect the eggs daily and have a very young cockrel.. so I am wondering.. should I just let the broody hen do what she wants to or as we really don't want additional chicks now.. should I just keep collecting daily and break her from broodiness when I need her to?

again forgive the junior questions..

Hey, If you do not know----you have to ask questions to find out. In Nature, birds, chickens, guinea's etc, etc, etc go find them a nest and lay usually a egg a day in their nest. Hens usually have these nest somewhat hidden---after a week, or 2 she will usually go into the broody mode. She will stop laying, set for 3 weeks weeks to hatch her eggs.

Along came humans, collected these chicken birds, penned them up. Now the wanta Be broody lays and lays her eggs and these humans collect her eggs every day so she can not get her a nest full to hatch----so she goes broody on a nest that has a few eggs in it that were layed that day----till the human comes along and starts to collect or skips the nest---then the hen is still on the same eggs the next day and she will make Killer sounds warning you to leave her alone---LOL. Some people do not know what to do at this point. 1st thing you should do is ALWAYS collect the eggs from EVERY nest Every day no mater if a hen is sitting in the nest or not. Now when you realize you have a broody hen---you can break her or set her or leave her alone. If you choose to leave her alone---You still need to collect eggs from under her every day or you will end up with a staggered hatch----which rarely turns out good----this could take weeks and weeks before she gives up which can be bad on her health----not good!! If you want her to set and have a trouble free hatch she needs to be separated from the flock OR you can mark the eggs you set her with and remove un-marked eggs from her nest EVERY day again so she does not have a staggered hatch. Problem with this is when she leaves the nest for a few minutes to eat etc---if another hen gets in her nest to lay---when she comes back and her nest is taken---she might get in the next nest that has a few eggs that were layed that day and stay there-----then her eggs get cold and the chicks forming in them die.

If you are going to set her YOU should collect fresh layed eggs until you get enough(hopefully this will only take a couple or 3 days) to set under her if you want her to set/hatch chicks. You should not use any eggs for this set that you got from under her each day. When you get enough eggs-----you need to set them under her all at one time and DO NOT add any more any time later. If you chose to leave her with all the other hens----then these eggs should be clearly marked and you will have to remove any fresh layed eggs to her nest daily. I move all mine to a private hatching pen. Hope this helps!

 

[twinsmom6]

thank you so much for the reply.. I think I need a lot more experience till we have chicks of our own.. I will keep collecting daily.
I really appreciate your advice.. I do love those birds

 

[sbeth]

Hey guys! I need some help. This is the first time for me having chicks. We have a broody hen who's eggs are do to hatch at anytime. Her 21 day mark is tomorrow. I know by reading some on these threads that the days could be a little off. Is there anything I need to do as far as checking the eggs?

 

[Honora]

One of my bantam Orps is broody for the third time. This time I decided to order chicks for her instead of giving her fertile eggs to sit on. I'm pretty sure she will accept them with no problem, since she has done it once before.

I ordered 8 chicks but the breeder sometimes sends extras so I may end up with a few more. My question is, how many large fowl chicks should I give her? I have had a bantam Orp with 7 large fowl chicks before, but would she be able to cover 10 or so? I'm in California so it's pretty warm, but it usually gets down into the 40's at night.

 

[fisherlady]

One of my bantam Orps is broody for the third time. This time I decided to order chicks for her instead of giving her fertile eggs to sit on.  I'm pretty sure she will accept them with no problem, since she has done it once before.

I ordered 8 chicks but the breeder sometimes sends extras so I may end up with a few more.  My question is, how many large fowl chicks should I give her? I have had a bantam Orp with 7 large fowl chicks before, but would she be able to cover 10 or so? I'm in California so it's pretty warm, but it usually gets down into the 40's at night.

I don't know how many she can cover exactly, 10 will be pushing it after a couple of weeks probably, but with decent weather and a bit of support she should do OK. I would set up a secondary heat source close to her for the over flow chicks to use such as a heating pad or small brood light.