Broody Hen Thread!

[Audio51]

You could try putting her back in the carrier when she returns to the old nest. She will eventually adjust to it and give up on the elevated nest. You might even try elevating the carrier for while and lower it a bit at a time once you see that she will continue using it. Is the elevated one the only one available other than the carrier? If not you could try blocking access to it.

 

[RickaRae]

I just read on another post that this person has much better success with shipped eggs hatched under a broody than in an incubator.

What experiences have you had with shipped eggs...better under broody? 

(May be my spring project as I want some specific breeds.)

Lady of McCamley

I currently have 4 eggs under a broody & 1 of the same batch in an incubator (our hen is a bantam & the eggs are Jersey Giant, so she could only fit 4). This is only my 2nd round with the incubator & honestly, my first round was not a success, so my input can be taken with a grain of salt....however, my eggs are due to hatch in a week (Saturday), & I'll inform you of my results if you like.

 

[fisherlady]

quote name="docbeans" url="/t/496101/broody-hen-thread/2640#post_12147096"]I should add that I don't have a good space to move her too other than the carrier... we don't have a separate run area that we can use.
[/quote]


You can try a couple of things, you could take the top off of the carrier and build a small frame slightly bigger than the carrier base and drape a sheet or towel over it. It would still provide privacy but be slightly less confined feeling for the hen. May take some figuring but should be do-able with a minimum of supplies.

Another option, and one that we have done. We have wooden nest boxes, built as 2 over 2 and our one hen loves to do her brooding in one of the upper boxes. We let her do her thing but 2 or 3 days before she is due to hatch we add a 'veranda' in front of the box. It is simply a 1ft x2ft piece of scrap plywood with chicken wire stapled around 3 sides of it with the open side to the nest box. It is held up with a piece of 2x2 (like a pillar). Now our nest box has a sturdy bar built across the front of them and it supports the back edge of the veranda, but if you don't have a roost bar like we do I'm sure you could screw a couple of blocks of wood to the front of the box to act as a rest for the back edge. On it's second use we added 8" high corner posts to support the chicken wire better and strips of light 1/2" wood across the tops of the corner posts to protect the top of the wire from being bent down.

Then hen can easily hop out over the veranda fence to do her business but the chicks can't for the first couple of days. After the babies are all hatched then we just put mama and babies all onto a nest somewhere on the floor and take the veranda down. Added benefit is that you can place food and water on the veranda for the chicks so they can move around and eat, drink and scratch a bit while waiting for the slow eggs.

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http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/f/f2/900x900px-LL-f2c86e54_100_3003.jpeg

 

[fisherlady]

Sorry about pics aren't the greatest, but should give you a decent idea of what I was describing. We have actually used the set up twice for one hen and a third time for another hen who chose the upper box also. Middle pic is just showing how mama hen can stay on her nest and still show the babies who are already out and about how to eat.

Third pic was just added to show how we put in the corner supports, we just held the post in place and ran screws up into it through the bottom of the platform. It doesn't have to be elaborate.

 

[J in SoCal]

Follow up to My brooder hen sitting on the quail eggs. She got bored at day 12. I removed the eggs, dropped them in my incubator and had a 95% hatch rate.
NOTE: She had been sitting for 4 weeks before I added the quail eggs. So my test was inconclusive. I will be trying again as she may go broody again.

 

[RickaRae]

I just read on another post that this person has much better success with shipped eggs hatched under a broody than in an incubator.

What experiences have you had with shipped eggs...better under broody? 

(May be my spring project as I want some specific breeds.)

Lady of McCamley

Update: shipped eggs should hatch tomorrow! We had 1 in an incubator because our hen is a bantam & these are Jersey Giant eggs & it didn't fit under her bum. :-/ When we tried to go into lockdown, the egg was bad. :-( So, fingers crossed that we get a few of the 4 left to hatch! I'm sure none of them are bad because she's in our living room & I would smell them (& would she kick them out???). I'll let you know what happens over the weekend!

 

[RickaRae]

Our "missing" hen was found brooding far from our chicken yard on 13 eggs! After candling 1, they seem to be developing & I expect them to hatch at least by Wednesday! Pretty exciting stuff going on around here! Brumhilda is our first hen to lay her own eggs & go broody! (We have a broody on some shipped eggs that should hatch tomorrow, but we haven't hatched our own eggs yet!)

 

[chicken farmer]

Our "missing" hen was found brooding far from our chicken yard on 13 eggs! After candling 1, they seem to be developing & I expect them to hatch at least by Wednesday! Pretty exciting stuff going on around here! Brumhilda is our first hen to lay her own eggs & go broody! (We have a broody on some shipped eggs that should hatch tomorrow, but we haven't hatched our own eggs yet!)

What breed and eggs?

 

[RickaRae]

What breed and eggs?

Wouldn't you know this is the only hen in my flock of 50+ that I don't know what she is? A friend of mine gave her to me after her 2 buddies turned out to be roos (she didn't want to split them up!). I *think* they might be at least crossed with jungle fowl, but am not sure. As far as daddy goes, they could be either of her rooster buddies, or a white Plymouth Rock we butchered a few weeks ago. Surprise! Lol! Here's a pic of my hubby holding her. We're open to any breed suggestions!

 

[chicken farmer]

Wouldn't you know this is the only hen in my flock of 50+ that I don't know what she is? A friend of mine gave her to me after her 2 buddies turned out to be roos (she didn't want to split them up!). I *think* they might be at least crossed with jungle fowl, but am not sure. As far as daddy goes, they could be either of her rooster buddies, or a white Plymouth Rock we butchered a few weeks ago. Surprise! Lol! Here's a pic of my hubby holding her. We're open to any breed suggestions!

Huh she's a beautiful hen what ever she is