Broody Hen Thread!

[fisherlady]

Thank you

 

[trudyg]

My Bertha is sitting again. I'm so glad. She hatched 3 that were 15 weeks yesterday, 2 of which will be off to camp as soon as they reach the pita stage, although I'm debating keeping one of them and dispatching the older roo. I had been reading how to encourage broodiness and the articles I read said to leave eggs in the nest box until she decides it's enough for a clutch. So, I left 2 ceramic eggs and several fresh laid eggs (marking by date laid) in the nest and, every day, would mark the new eggs and pull the older ones but one until she had enough for a clutch. Don't you know, she decided to lay down in the other nest after 4 eggs were laid that day, not the one with a bunch of eggs. So I tucked 2 more in with her and she's still there. Full 2 days now. But, wow, it's hot here. I'm putting water near her and will put ice in it every morning and, when I put out fermented feed in the morning I'll put some in a dish near her. I'm going to leave her be, not blocking the nest box from the others (that was a fiasco last time), so I know the others will help themselves to it. Since it's hot, she can leave for quite some time without eggs getting cold. Predicted hatch date is Sep 5. I had planned on doing a major fall cleanup Labor Day weekend, so that's off until chicks are out and about. I also need to redo a good stretch of fence to block the lower edges from escapes, so I'm on the clock now. Fingers crossed.

 

[Perris]

good luck!

 

[Dharmachick]

Good luck. My hen hatched one out of 8. Sad. She was so dedicated! I there were 6 Whiting True Blues, and Olive Egger and an Easter Egger and of course only the Easter Egger Hatched. I have another hen sitting on 4 Gold Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben eggs, and I have 2 in the incubator.

 

[fisherlady]

Time for another Friday evening photo bombing..... we got Americauna day olds for 3 broody hens on Wednesday. The hens already have them out with the flock. They are busy bodies, that's for sure!

And not to be outdone, our senior rooster, Andre, shows just how good a rooster can be at chick tending. He is a

favorite of the pre-teen crowd and is often found with a few hanging around, or sometimes under, him.

And yes, the old guy lifts his wing to let them tuck up against him. It is common to find him with one or two youngsters tucked under him on the roost at night.

 

[trudyg]

Ok, new question here. My broody is in the coop on the eggs for a lot of the day. She comes out a good bit and spends quite a few hours off the nest--because of this oppressive heat!. The eggs are fine, I'm sure, but my question is How do I keep her cool when it's so freaking hot outside? And the humidity is unreal, like walking into a wall of air. Northern Alabama, so won't change for another month. I fill clean milk jugs with water and freeze them, put into the 5 gallon water buckets. I have 3 of those around the yard (12 chickens) in various spots so they'll always have some in the shade. I open the gate to the pen so they can roam the yard to find a cool spot. I even leave the hose dripping into a pan (and the joint of the hose connection also drips), so they have wet cool ground to sit on. But the broody. I can't exactly put ice blocks in the nest, can I? Any ideas to keep her cool?

 

[Morrigan]

I've struggled with the same issue, having hens go broody in mid-summer when temps are over 100. I always feel bad for them panting away on the nest.

The best I could come up with was to set a frozen jug of water as close to (but not inside) her nest as I could get while still leaving free access to get on/off the nest. I then trained a fan to gently blow air towards her nest and ice jug.

I've never had a broody perish in this conditions, although I did have an egg go rotten and explode in the nest.

 

[trudyg]

ugghh. How long was it in there before exploding? I'll bet that stunk really bad. I marked the date on her eggs when she spent the first night on them, but I expect someone else has added to the clutch. This is day 5 today. I'll make it a point to date today's eggs and pull any newer ones. I gave her 6 and last night there were 9 total, so 3 new ones. Should have pulled the extras, I know. I was just thinking that it wouldn't be much of a staggered hatch if they were only 3 days different.

 

[Morrigan]

It was day 17 and it was a huge mess. I still had 3 chicks hatch, but 2 eggs were lost in the explosion and another 4 didn't hatch (eggtopsy showed almost fully formed chicks, so I think it was bacteria, as they were liberally coated with rotten egg goo and there was only so much I could do to clean things up).

If you are worried, go out at night and candle at day 10 and pull any clears or blood rings. I'm almost positive that the exploding egg was infertile or an early quitter.

 

[trudyg]

I'll have to look up how to candle, never done that. Thanks.