Broody Hen Thread!

[Crisx08]

This is a normal reaction for a non broody chicken. If you expected her to mother, or even befriend the chick I think you will be disappointed. At best you could work on getting her used to the chick through gradual exposure, but be prepared to spend a lot of time raising the chick.
You will need to do some research on broody behavior and what it means for a hen to be broody,but if your hen is laying eggs she is not broody now, and learn how to introduce new chicks to a flock, there are numerous threads on this site which discuss introduction methods.

Yes i was hoping she would at least be nice to it. Luna had another friend and was nice but im thinking they were closer in age and younger. But other than that Luna is the flock lol i only have her and she lives indoors so i thought id get her a friend.

 

[draag80]

Success. Mama hen has adopted 4 chicks and also hatched her own. 11 out of 15 hatched untill now. One more has pipped.

 

[Nksg75]

I have a question.
What could be possible causes of eggs under hen, suddenly having detached air-cells?

Broody being too rough on eggs? I truly don't think so, however this is her first time.
Other hens picking on broody, causing her to bump eggs around?
Young hormonal Rooster? Not sure what a rooster would have to do with this, but thought I would ask.

I have a first time broody maran hen. I made sure she was dedicated to brood, so I then placed 10 shipped eggs eggs under her. (I let the eggs sit about 2 days to make sure aircells were solid, they arrived solid, so I was good to go) 1 week later under broody 9 /10 eggs have detached aircells, and the 1 remaining egg is viable and developing.
I do know that my other hens have not laid in her nest. I marked those eggs with a sharpie, and all the other hens eggs are in our other nest boxes.

My usual routine with my hens who go broody, is to leave then alone in the nest box till a few days before hatch. Then I move eggs and hen under the tall coop in a Rubbermaid container. First time I had a Broody hatch, a chick fell out of the coop and hurt its leg. So now I have them hatch at ground level.

Hmm...
any thoughts?

 

[Honora]

Success. Mama hen has adopted 4 chicks and also hatched her own. 11 out of 15 hatched untill now. One more has pipped.

Wow, so many! Congrats.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Yes i was hoping she would at least be nice to it. Luna had another friend and was nice but im thinking they were closer in age and younger. But other than that Luna is the flock lol i only have her and she lives indoors so i thought id get her a friend.

Getting her a friend was a good idea. Even though she is a house chicken she will still need introduction. Thevway she sees it is this chick is an intruder to her flock. Her flock is you maybe the cat and herself lol. Keep baby in a cage where she can see it. Give the baby lots of attention and slowly she will learn its now a new flock member to be friends with and not the enemy. In time she wilk grow to love it.

 

[draag80]

Wow, so many! Congrats.

Thanks Honora. What a great mother this hen has turned out to be. She hatched 12 out of fifteen and adopted 4 chicks. No temprature and humidity anxiety. 21 days ago I put he in a secure room with ample food and water and didnt check until day 20. All the work she did by her own. She is very loving and caring for her chicks. Offcourse who wouldnt love such adorable fur balls.

 

[Crisx08]

Getting her a friend was a good idea. Even though she is a house chicken she will still need introduction. Thevway she sees it is this chick is an intruder to her flock. Her flock is you maybe the cat and herself lol. Keep baby in a cage where she can see it. Give the baby lots of attention and slowly she will learn its now a new flock member to be friends with and not the enemy. In time she wilk grow to love it.

Right now Im a stay at home artist. But i will start graduate school this fall so i know they needed more company while im going to be out of the house and my spouse works full time. And baby chicks are so dang cute! Chickens are weird. Its just a itty bitty thing and yet they are alarmed by "the intruder". We live on a lake front and my silkie charges the ducks when they come onto our patio when i feed them lol its so funny because shes like half their size or smaller but theyre afraid of her!

 

[Mylied]

Right now Im a stay at home artist. But i will start graduate school this fall so i know they needed more company while im going to be out of the house and my spouse works full time. And baby chicks are so dang cute! Chickens are weird. Its just a itty bitty thing and yet they are alarmed by "the intruder". We live on a lake front and my silkie charges the ducks when they come onto our patio when i feed them lol its so funny because shes like half their size or smaller but theyre afraid of her!

Chickens are strange creatures. That reminds me of my showgirl rooster. My showgirls and silkies are in a fenced pen. The neighbor's huge rhode island red rooster likes to come over and visit. My showgirl tries to fight this bird that is 3x his size through the fence. I'm just glad they can't get at each other, because I know who would loose that fight. Silly things don't realize they are so small.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I have an introduction coop and run for my pullers next to the run so the birds have shot me interaction without getting nipped from the older birds it seems to work to an extent they learn to tolerate the new ones

 

[feralhound]

Hi, first time chicken mom here! Turns out one of my hens is broody, so I have a lot of questions!. I toyed with the idea and think it would be neat to let her hatch some eggs. Right now the eggs she's sitting on I'll be collecting (5 days worth of production for my friend so she can hatch some), but the previous weeks eggs she was sitting on I had stuck in the incubator. Technically, she wasn't sitting on those the day I collected, but was instead on the next beside it.

So question number one- can I stick the eggs I'm incubating under her when I collect tonight's eggs for my friend? I've candled them and they've all got something growing in them.

2. Since she's occasionally switched nests, and the boxes are 2+ feet above the ground, should I put a cat litterpail cover on the ground in a corner (where my hens were originally laying before I got the boxes in) and stick both her and her eggs in it overnight? Could that maybe keep her on her nest (and the other hens out of her nest) or would she just go back up to the boxes?

3. I'm also toying with the idea of seperating a little broody area under the poop board in the coop just for her, so she'll for sure stay on her nest, and if/when the chicks hatch they'll be safe from everyone else. Plus I won't be bothering her when I go to collect from the other nest. Not sure if that's the best way to go about things?

I have heard broody hens were rare, and I sure didn't think 1 out of my 5 hens would become broody! She's an EE bantam, I have 3 EE hens total and 2 DUccle bantams, plus the roo is a DUccle. I currently only have 2 nesting boxes (was originally going to put 3, but again didn't think I'd get a broody hen >.< ). And she'll be a year old in mid July, if that means anything.

This is Hermione: