Broody Hen Thread!

[loppylou]

I have two hens that always go broody together(Sandie my polish and penny my naked neck frizzle) is this normal? Penny always has all the eggs too and Sandie sits on nothing or sits on top of penny :S Also I don't have a roo so I take the eggs out regularly so they spend most of it sat on nothing. They were broody afew months ago and are broody again now. Anyone else experienced this? Thanks

 

[JohnsonHomested]

I have two hens that always go broody together(Sandie my polish and penny my naked neck frizzle) is this normal? Penny always has all the eggs too and Sandie sits on nothing or sits on top of penny :S Also I don't have a roo so I take the eggs out regularly so they spend most of it sat on nothing. They were broody afew months ago and are broody again now. Anyone else experienced this? Thanks

We had two broodies hatch a clutch together a little over a week ago. They were both angry about the other wanting the same nest for week 1 but by the second and third week they were best buds. 4/6 of their eggs hatched (we only gave them a small amount because we weren't sure how the two of them together would do; the two duds were infertile) and they are still mothering together. Since your eggs aren't fertile, obviously you won't be able to tell if they are "good" broodies, but you could always find some fertile eggs and give it a go. We have noticed that broodyness seems to be a fad with hens...when one goes broody they ALL want to. We have one who's been broody for a month now but we refuse to let her have any eggs because we don't have room for more chicks.

 

[loppylou]

Thankyou for your reply. When we first got our 7 chickens these two never got on. Penny would chase Sandie and Sandie has always been abit of a loner. She would roost on the top of the coop by herself so every night we would have to put her in and then one day they were sat in the same nest box and now they are best of friends :S. I know what you mean about the copying eachother we had 6 hens all trying to be in the one nest box when they have a choice of others. I would love to try and hatch my own but unfortunately we can't keep cockerels and I'd get too attached to get rid of them if they were I'm saving for a place on its own with lots of land so I can have a cockerel lol

 

[jammyjammy2112]

i just left my 2 chicks that are with there mother silkie on the adult perce they settled in fine well they have been around the others since they were born.
the chicks are 9 weeks old today happy 9 weeks birthday chicks.
i put my other 4 chicks that i hatched in the icubator into a seperate chicken coop which they can see the others and get used to them

 

[CaCO3]

I have two hens that always go broody together(Sandie my polish and penny my naked neck frizzle) is this normal? Penny always has all the eggs too and Sandie sits on nothing or sits on top of penny :S Also I don't have a roo so I take the eggs out regularly so they spend most of it sat on nothing. They were broody afew months ago and are broody again now. Anyone else experienced this? Thanks

this seems to be a theme in my flock too. I get silkie + bantam cochin, silkie + silkie. Currently have Orp + bantam cochin, which is an interesting combo. Giant meets midget. They are both black, so it's hard to figure out where one chicken ends and the next one begins. Its a giant blob of black feathers. They are currently brooding 12 golf balls, as I wait for my hatching eggs.

Co-mommying has been good too. They work in tandem. Very 21st century kind of parenting.

 

[Chickawawa]

Hello from Ohio. Very happy to have found this thread! Just had a 0% hatch rate (due to my own inexperience) but jumping right back on the broody hatch wagon and set some Blue Orpington eggs under one of my Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock hen on Monday. Obviously hoping for a better hatch rate.

Very encouraging to see this pics of chicks with Mommas.

 

[The Bantam Guy]

Random qeustion are Silkies a Good breed for laying/showing

 

[JRsMom]

I just candled the eggs under my broody, she started with 1, now she has 2. Anyway one egg is clear, that is probably the new egg, the other one is completely dark, no discernible air sac, it should be at day 19. Should I be able to see an air sac now? It seemed a little heavier than the other one, but I didn't weigh it, I wanted to get it back out before she came back.

 

[fisherlady]

I just candled the eggs under my broody, she started with 1, now she has 2. Anyway one egg is clear, that is probably the new egg, the other one is completely dark, no discernible air sac, it should be at day 19. Should I be able to see an air sac now? It seemed a little heavier than the other one, but I didn't weigh it, I wanted to get it back out before she came back.

check this page out for some comparison pics....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/candling-pics-progression-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs

 

[JRsMom]

Thanks for the link I know it won't hatch for a few more days at least, how long should I wait before I give up?
The other broody (they both decided to set on the same day) has 3 eggs under her, same situation, she started with one and the non-broody hen gave her 2 more. I'm thinking if I can get to her eggs, I'll separate out the newer eggs and leave her those and give the older egg to the other broody, she's been trying to hatch chicks since May.