Broody Hen Thread!

[BullChick]

Co-brooding is totally normal. My hens do it, and their parents did it in threes.

 

[Joanmcm]

Co-brooding is totally normal. My hens do it, and their parents did it in threes.

Ah...ok. So I will entirely let them do their thing. Thank you!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hi,

My broody was meant to be on day 21 today. But one of the eggs hatched Thursday evening (day 19) and there was another hatched yesterday morning.

I was out yesterday but I thought she would sit ok yesterday as it would still be less than 24hrs from the first hatching by the time I got home. But when I got home she had left the nest with the first 2 hatched. There was a hatched cold wet chick left in the nest and all the eggs were cold.

The chick was still alive so I put it under mama hen. This morning it's not great on it's legs but I've seen in manage a few steps so I hope it will be OK. 3 of the eggs were cheaping and I think the other 3 tapping so I've stuck them under a broody bantam and I'm hoping for the best.

What could have caused this early hatching and staggered hatch? If the eggs had been sat on for a while before I collected them could they hatch early if then put back under a hen after being on the counter for a few days? The 2 hens I collected these eggs off were both going broody so not leaving the nest very quickly after laying.

I don't know if anyone answered your question on this....yes, if the eggs were sat upon and got up to 101 degrees, the embryo started developing. Then setting on the room temperature counter, it could have gone into slow growth, but still alive, to restart growth again once it became heated again. Embyros are amazingly hardy.

That may very well be why you had a staggered hatch. Eggs also can vary when they are kept at the center of the hen and those kept on the outer fringe. The cooler eggs will develop more slowly.

Sorry that your hen gave up on the later chicks. That is frustrating but the curse of staggered hatches.
LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I wanted to update and ask if I should be concerned as I haven't seen this before.

I am attaching a pic from today, and it looks like some part if this chick is already into the air sac. Could there be that much stretch or is this about to hatch? 21 days is this Saturday. There was movement.

You can also see part of the pencil line i made on saturday. The other pic or me holding it, is how long the air sac was this past Saturday. Should i be concerned or keep a close watch?


View attachment 1023954 View attachment 1023955

I'm not an expert candler, but I've seen large air cells and had healthy chicks hatch from them.
Leave the eggs under the hen, especially since you are obviously getting close to lock down. Resist looking. Momma will do the work.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

In my broody hen saga, I was going to try coop brooding and leaving my girl in with the flock. Well, I'm thinking Ms. Olive wanted MORE babies and was enticed to continue setting on fake eggs. I guess at some point, she got kicked out of the nest box with her chick in tow. When I went to check on them, I panicked and went looking for the chick when I saw her out of the nest box, sitting on the ground. The chick came out and Olive got up and decided she wanted back in the currently occupied nest box.

Long story "short," the hen in the box snatched the chick up and flung it to the ground twice like a mouse she was trying to kill to eat. I grabbed the chick from her and swatted her out of the box in frustration. Olive got in the box and I gave the chick back to her, picked up the tote (nest box) and carried it to the in-coop brooder. I shooed all the other chicks/chickens out of the brooder and locked them in.

It's been over 24 hours now and the chick is still alive. There's a large area of chick down missing on the back of her head and I did see some blood seeping around her beak after the incident. I'm surprised the chick is still alive, but now I'm cautiously hopeful...

Has anyone been through something like this? Is there a point in time where I can "rest easy" that we're "in the clear?"

From today:

I'm so sorry this happened. That is the risk with coop brooding. Other hens can be very aggressive towards the chicks.

Your little chick looks to be a Silkie, if I'm seeing it correctly (little dome head and full feathered feet). I would be extra protective of this little one as Silkies can obtain serious head trauma due to the vaulted skull until it matures.

Since this little one has already received trauma, I would not risk it again.

For my cherished or expensive chicks, I have a designated broody hutch that is enclosed with wire and netting. I don't integrate those chicks until they are older, sometimes not until teens, as I don't want to risk a "stupid chick" trick, hawk snack, or aggressive hen accident. (Although my rooster has really helped eliminate that issue).

For my barnyard sustainable gang, I coop brood, but I am prepared to accept some losses (although I obviously try to eliminate unnecessary risks).

One of the best things I can do in a busy flock is create a maternity ward for mom and baby to give them both some peace and quiet until babes are ready to keep up with the flock.

LofMc

 

[MamaC]

My Red Star who hatched these little ones and is a wonderful mother! They are two weeks old and already flying! Their dad is a Belvender!

 

[lpyrbby]

I'm so sorry this happened. That is the risk with coop brooding. Other hens can be very aggressive towards the chicks.

Your little chick looks to be a Silkie, if I'm seeing it correctly (little dome head and full feathered feet). I would be extra protective of this little one as Silkies can obtain serious head trauma due to the vaulted skull until it matures.

Since this little one has already received trauma, I would not risk it again.

For my cherished or expensive chicks, I have a designated broody hutch that is enclosed with wire and netting. I don't integrate those chicks until they are older, sometimes not until teens, as I don't want to risk a "stupid chick" trick, hawk snack, or aggressive hen accident. (Although my rooster has really helped eliminate that issue).

For my barnyard sustainable gang, I coop brood, but I am prepared to accept some losses (although I obviously try to eliminate unnecessary risks).

One of the best things I can do in a busy flock is create a maternity ward for mom and baby to give them both some peace and quiet until babes are ready to keep up with the flock.

LofMc

You know, I haven't even looked at the toes to see if there are any extras! I don't recall this guy having silkies though. He does have a number of d'uccles though, so I kinda figured that's where the feathered foot thing came from. It's going to have some nice boots on it if all goes well.

So far, the chick is still alive which amazes me. Although, I'm secretly wondering if the chick can hear. I'm going to spend some time with the birds this weekend now that I don't have to work and see if the chick is responding to mom's clucks and chirps. I don't know what I'm going to do with a hearing deficient chick if that winds up being the case. I really need to see mom taking care of the baby before opening the door to the rest of the flock too. By the time I get home and get out to the birds, she's already back in the nest box with the baby. Judging by the "holes" in the brooder pen though, she's taking the chick out and doing things during the day.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You know, I haven't even looked at the toes to see if there are any extras! I don't recall this guy having silkies though. He does have a number of d'uccles though, so I kinda figured that's where the feathered foot thing came from. It's going to have some nice boots on it if all goes well.

So far, the chick is still alive which amazes me. Although, I'm secretly wondering if the chick can hear. I'm going to spend some time with the birds this weekend now that I don't have to work and see if the chick is responding to mom's clucks and chirps. I don't know what I'm going to do with a hearing deficient chick if that winds up being the case. I really need to see mom taking care of the baby before opening the door to the rest of the flock too. By the time I get home and get out to the birds, she's already back in the nest box with the baby. Judging by the "holes" in the brooder pen though, she's taking the chick out and doing things during the day.

Well, still alive is a good thing. Hopefully it will rally and do well.

Not sure about hearing. Unless you've got a lot of free range predators, loss of hearing shouldn't make that much difference. My girls see me shaking the feed bucket as much as they hear it.

Yes, count toes. It seems to have a crest (dome head)...it might also be a tolbunt or sultan if he had those. D'Uccles can have beards and boots, or no beard and boots, but don't have crests.

Cute little one. Hope all remains well.
LofMc

 

[lpyrbby]

Well, still alive is a good thing. Hopefully it will rally and do well.

Not sure about hearing. Unless you've got a lot of free range predators, loss of hearing shouldn't make that much difference. My girls see me shaking the feed bucket as much as they hear it.

Yes, count toes. It seems to have a crest (dome head)...it might also be a tolbunt or sultan if he had those. D'Uccles can have beards and boots, or no beard and boots, but don't have crests.

Cute little one. Hope all remains well.
LofMc

Thank you I still forgot to check the toes this morning since I woke up late and mom was already teetering around the pen with the baby

The egg came from his free range birds so it's likely a cross. I don't think he has any polish or sultans. I know he has a variety of d'uccle though. He had a Sumatra roo too. White rocks...um...gosh he had a LOT and I have no idea what all I saw out there He almost always has RIR for sale and he's been getting into Wyandotte but none of those seem to be a possibility.

We will see what happens as this little kid grows. After seeing it this morning, she looks no worse for the wear from her incident last week. Once I get done with errands today, im going to open the pen up and see if mama steps up to the plate to protect her baby from the rest of the flock properly this time.

 

[Hillaire]

ugh I have cochins and some silkies so you know what that means... yep broodiness everywhere... My white silkie hatched out 5 cochin chicks 3 weeks ago so I just put her in the chicken run yesterday... they are fine and will be selling most of the chicks from that hatch... my black cochin just hatched out 3 so she is in a separate pen with them. My gold laced cochin just hatched out 7 so she is in a separate pen with them... the reason I moved the silkie and chicks is to make room for my red cochin hen sitting on eggs well yesterday one was pipping so I put her in a pen with the 3 eggs. I'm glad I did because that chick hatched within the hour BUT she refused to sit back on her eggs and was scratching around in there... I put her back on the nest in that little pen and put a crate over her to force her to sit. She decided to push the newly hatched chick aside and just pout... I put the newly hatched chick under my gold laced hen and hopefully it is doing fine... it was pretty cold but still moving. I left the crate over the red cochin with food and water accessible to her I'm hoping she gets the idea that this is where she is going to sit until hatch... she's been broody so long and I tried this before when other eggs were about to hatch and she did the same so I thought she broke broody but she ended up sitting on eggs in the coop right away... so this is my final attempt to let her hatch if she refuses again I will have to put her in a wire cage and suspend it for a day or two to break her. 4 broodies at the same time is pretty stressful lol