Broody Hen Thread!

[aart]

We feel your pain! Broodies always seem to find a way to make us suffer, lol..... their revenge for us hovering, I guess.

Yeah, broody hens can be and easier way to hatch, but there are downsides.
Well, I dug in(gently) and pulled out empty shells and she turned back around.
Think it gave her more room to settle her feet, the chicks, and remaining eggs.
5 empty shells total since late yesterday...too many headspots(males) hoping the remaining 3 hatch... and are female!

 

[trudyg]

Does the white headspot indicate male? Of my 3, 2 had white headspots. #3 was mostly whitish gray so couldn't tell if there was a spot there. Of the 2 with spots, one's tail feathers are like a fan already and the other is just a nubby, as is the white one. White one is now more gray, with darker barred wings. Daddy is cuckoo marans, and all 2 have barring to some extent. Will be 4 weeks Thursday. I'm hoping for 2 girls and a boy but will be happy to get at least 1 girl. The boys will be going off to camp (unless I butcher daddy and keep one of the boys.....).

 

[aart]

Does the white headspot indicate male?

They do on my chicks....
Black Copper Marans(solid color) over Cream Legbar hens(barred)

Pulled all the chicks (and mama too) out of the nest.
7 chicks out of 8 eggs, don't think the last will hatch.
5 males and 2 females OhWell.

 

[trudyg]

My two's spot was a lot bigger, like a dime size as newly hatched.

 

[Feath3rDust3r]

I have a question...So i had never hatched out eggs with a hen but we had a broody hen situation where one of our friendliest chickens went broody and not the kick off the nest kind, but the growl and bite if you dare come near kind! So we bought some fertile eggs, gave them to her and she hatched 3. She rejected 6, broke 1 and 2 were dud. Anyway in the meantime my daughter (6) fell in love with some silkie chicks and i bought her 3. They are probably about a week older than the ones that hatched from the broody. Now they are about 2 weeks old and I have another broody hen, but this one isn't grouchy, she lets us pet her and steal her eggs, but she has plucked all her chest feathers...

The question is: do i try to give the new broody my silkie chicks? or do i see if the one that already has 3 chicks will take another 3? I would rather move them out of my kitchen now and let them be raised by a mother hen.

So, do mother hens know their babies or is a chick just a chick?

 

[fisherlady]

Head spots depend on the genetics of the parent birds. And if the parents aren't pure then the head spots aren't necessarily a reliable sign. I'm not sure of the combinations to give you the head spots but there have been many threads discussing the specific combinations. The barred birds are used to make 'sex links' because at hatch the boys have spots and the girls don't, so they can be safely sold as pullets and the boys separated for meat or disposed of at hatch.

 

[aart]

Just venting.....
Broody is driving me mad..
She is not showing the chicks the feeder and waterer, but just kicking bedding into both.
Can't raise stuff too high or chicks can't reach it.
Last try was to add a bin feeder with brick steps and to shove all the bedding away from feed/water....will go out soon and see how that worked.

 

[Perris]

perhaps she is cross with you for pulling her out of her nest ...
but sounds like a pain in the butt whatever the cause

 

[aart]

perhaps she is cross with you for pulling her out of her nest ...

Ha!! You mean from when I pulled her out to count the chicks?
Nah.....she's pretty good with me handling her and the chicks.
I think she just doesn't recognize the feeder and waterer, she would rather scratch on the floor...and she might be a bit dim, not the brightest of the 3 broodies I've had.

The bin feeder helped, she might not get it, but a couple of the chicks do, and they'll lead the others.
Same with the waterer, which I did get up higher off the floor with some pavers for standing room for the chicks.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I have my first broody sitting on 4 eggs and so far she's been inside our "main" coop that we call the "Blue Coop" because of its color. We also have a "Red Coop" where there are currently six, 12-week-old chicks living that are almost completely integrated. I was going to move broody and her eggs into the Red Coop once the chicks are integrated, but I just read the featured threat of the week about moving their hens and people are saying it's better to just leave the broody where she is. I was only going to move broody because I wanted to protect her chicks, since I was worried she wasn't high enough on the pecking order to protect them (Although she is on the higher side), but that thread made me realise that her being broody and grumpy and bossy has probably raised her dominance in the pecking order, since even the rooster won't go near her. If I locked the flock outside during hatching and possibly the first day (at least until it's dark), would you think that the chicks and broody could be unbothered? I don't want to have to separate them but I'm just worried of this first clutch going completely downhill.

My Blue Coop (if you click on the "My Coop" link on my profile thingy here, you can see it) is the type that's raised with 'stilts' and a ramp, and the door and nesting boxes are on opposite sides. The roosts are in the 'attic-like' part of the upper half of the coop, so I can't really separate the coop in half without tons of effort. I'll be on break during the time they will hatch (Day 21=June 14th) so I will definitely be supervising them all day during hatching (since I'll be so excited!) so if supervision and a 'guard' near the coop door is all that's needed, it can be done.

Any help on how to protect my chicks but keep the broody with the flock is really what I'm aiming for. I hope somebody sees this...Thanks in advance!