Broody Hen Thread!

[Lady of McCamley]

Welcome to BYC!

Hard to plan for broilers with broody hens... first, there is no way to force an hen to go broody on your schedule, so you would have to wait for them to get in the mood for it.
Second, if you do get one to set a hatch for you it is a toss up if you will get chicks or how many so unless the eggs are cheap or free you may loose money on the cost of the meat.
Third, although heat needs are reduced with a broody you need to remember that she can only keep chicks warm as long as they fit under her. Most broilers grow very quickly and the broody will likely need help keeping them warm after only a couple of weeks if the weather is cold. To minimize this you would need to keep the hatch numbers lower than you would for standard breeds. Fourth issue... space... although you can sometimes luck in to hens willing to share space it is more often a recipe for squabbling and broken or cold eggs when the dominant hen pushes out others. So you would need to set up at least a few other areas as 'back ups'.

These issues are all dependent on the number of broilers you are wanting to hatch, how the weather is when you want to raise them, and what breed you want to raise (Cornish cross broilers will outgrow most hens by week 3 or so, freedom rangers may be 5 or 6 weeks, so not as much trouble). It would be a great solution if you only want a few at a time for family needs, but not near as viable an answer if you want to process 25 or 30 birds at a time.

I am real new at chickens but not that new. I am going to raise broilers in the spring. I am thinking about using a broody hen to hatch eggs instead of ordering chicks. I work at a farm and look after 145+ layers. I would need to use more than one hen as these are sex-link layers. Can you put several hens in the same brood box or do they need their own space? I really like that I can put the chicks out with mama and not have to keep them in a brooder with a heat lamp. Is their any good books out their that will help me or anyone on this forum? Need lots of info.
Thanks!

Fisherlady gives solid advice regarding your question.

You can use broodies for meat birds, but the drawbacks are as she stated if you want to do this large scale for commercial purpose...getting the timing down and the growth of the chicks (as commercial meat birds...ie Cornish X...grow so fast that they are ready for table by 8 weeks.)

Because of this fast growth, Cornish X meat birds take specialized care. I know there are those on BYC who believe this is exaggerated, but the Cornish X has been genetically selected (ie the hybrid has been chosen over the generations to select for those who grow very quickly). This fast growth rate can cause issues, so you have to be careful how you house, feed, and care for them...I foresee potential failure rates with broodies if you hope to be able to let the broody do the work for you so you don't have to oversee them closely.

If you are wanting to do commercial industry meat birds, for profit, it would be best to use the industry standards with heat lamps and pens and watch with care. (I have two close friends who lost a lot of their first crop of Cornish Cross simply due to the large learning curve dealing with this specialized hybrid.)

If you want to do a few for family use, then it could work as you would be processing more for your family table and could afford to wait for brooding timetables and then move them to pens, or whatever, if they outgrow the broody. If that is the case, I would recommend going to a more heritage style dual purpose bird. I would recommend Buckeyes (a breed I've researched in depth as I plan to begin to add them to my flock).

Buckeye males grow to 4 pounds by 16 weeks with good size breast meat. There is a Buckeye forum on BYC that has a lot of information (sometimes too much) but would be a good place to learn about Buckeyes. (Post on Buckeyes processed for meat) https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/803253/the-buckeye-thread/1590#post_12485509

If you are planning to use the Red Sex links you mentioned on the farm you work on, it is not likely to happen in the fequency you would hope...they rarely go broody as they have been genetically selected to be good layers and not waste time wanting to hatch eggs (brood). Buckeye hens are not noted as being high frequency brooders but as "can go broody" by the Henderson Breed chart (http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html).

For sustained and long term regular use of brooding to hatch chicks, I have found it best to purchase known broody types...ie Cochin or Silkie (being aware that a Silkie bantam can realistically only fit about 6 standard large eggs under her and then care for that number of large fowl chicks). Those breed types that are listed as "annoyingly frequent" in brooding on the Henderson chart typically go on broods regularly. (My Silkie is about every 3 months.) A number of the breeds are large fowl that could fit 10 to 12 eggs and care for them...ie Cochin, Chantecler, many use Orpingtons (although mine were never especially broody), and one gal who frequents this Broody section swears by Cornish or Indian Game (not to be confused with the Cornish Cross which is the commercialized hybrid developed from Cornish and typically Rocks). Games are also known for being very broody as well.

My thoughts
Lady of McCamley

 

[livingwaterfarm]

Thank you so much for the advice. I was quite general in my question so now to the specifics. I do not want to raise the Cornish crosses. I think they are too genetically tampered with and my bird of choice for meat are turkens. I know turkens are slower to reach butcher size but that is what I want. I have noticed with the farm hens that even now a few are wanting to sit on eggs! That is what interested me in using them. As I am egg gathering some hens will try to take the eggs from me, pushing the eggs under themselves. I want to get a nesting spot ready in the spring and wanted to keep more than one hen in it but didn't know if the hens would have issues with each other. I would just choose the hens that are acting broody to see if they would sit on fake eggs and then replace with fertile eggs. Sound like a plan?

 

[WillowRunRanch]

Hello.

Most of my hens will tuck eggs under themselves if given the opportunity, even when they aren't really "broody" at a particular time. Right when my hen went broody for sure she started sleeping on the eggs and would fight off other hens that wanted to use that box to lay their eggs. She would growl like what you imagine a t-rex would sound like and peck at the other hens who approached her little clutch.

We are now starting the second week of her sitting on the eggs. I have moved the eggs and her to a quieter spot for her safety. You can see her and the two silky hens she is hanging out with at cams.betsinger.com if you are interested. I used the camera with a red heat lamp to verify that she was sleeping on the eggs and only getting up once or twice a day for no more than 5 minutes at a time. Now it's just fun to have.

If my experience holds true when they truly get broody you should be able to leave the eggs she is sitting on under her for the day or two it will take to have the Turken eggs expressed to you and then switch them out...or even just add them and give any birds that hatch you don't want away.

Good luck!

Brenda

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thank you so much for the advice. I was quite general in my question so now to the specifics. I do not want to raise the Cornish crosses. I think they are too genetically tampered with and my bird of choice for meat are turkens. I know turkens are slower to reach butcher size but that is what I want. I have noticed with the farm hens that even now a few are wanting to sit on eggs! That is what interested me in using them. As I am egg gathering some hens will try to take the eggs from me, pushing the eggs under themselves. I want to get a nesting spot ready in the spring and wanted to keep more than one hen in it but didn't know if the hens would have issues with each other. I would just choose the hens that are acting broody to see if they would sit on fake eggs and then replace with fertile eggs. Sound like a plan?

I personally have not had good luck with communal brooding boxes, although others on this thread have. However, my girls tend to be competitive for the eggs causing eggs to get kicked out or crushed during the tussles or the less dominant hen giving up and trying to go elsewhere abandoning her eggs.

You say a nesting area, I don't know if you simply mean an area in the coop or completely separate.

I prefer to have completely separate broody area for serious hatching. It saves on stress for the broody and egg loss and produces much better and more consistent results as there is no way fresher eggs can get mixed into the set eggs causing staggered hatch dates.

I agree with Willow Run Ranch...just because the hens are pulling eggs under them, it doesn't mean they are "broody." Most hens will do that, however to have a serious and successful brooder you need one who will stay the course for 21 straight days (usually more as not all eggs hatch on day 21), only getting up once or twice a day to briefly relieve and refuel. They go into a trance like state. The hen also has to be serious about the particular nest and eggs she is sitting on...not moving from one nest to the next, playing at brooding but never really settling in.

You need to watch your girls before you set eggs for hatching to see which, if any, of them are really serious about brooding.

I get to know my girls and know who plays and who stays. I also knows who is movable and who gets locked into a particular location. I can now time setting eggs within a day or two with my faithful brooders. My less faithful ones I either never use or wait until they show themselves to be settled....but that takes time and observation.

Good luck,

Lady of McCamley

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

In regards to moving broody hens...

I am just a hobby farmer and my first flock stands at 5 layers, two of which went broody about 6 weeks ago, and now one 2 week old chick!

In my coop I have placed wicker baskets the ideal size for my hens. Turns out everyone wanted the same basket in the corner and this became a problem once Harmonia and then Lil Bo claimed it as theirs. My solution was to move the basket, eggs and the hen to the broody pen while covered in a towel. Once the hen was settled in for a few days I build her a nest in the hay and shaving in the same spot. I carefully moved the eggs to the new nest and waited about 30 seconds for her to realize they weren't under her but over there and she went and sat upon them. I must say I have a very easy going to Broodies!

Lil Bo is currently sitting on a dud waiting for her eggs to arrive.

Giselle thought that she might like to brood also, but decided against it when I open the gate to the garden for bug time!

Now I have a question! What do you use to candle your eggs? I used a LED flashlight, a scrap of towel and a toilet paper roll. I wonder about wattage for better views?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

In regards to moving broody hens...

I am just a hobby farmer and my first flock stands at 5 layers, two of which went broody about 6 weeks ago, and now one 2 week old chick!

In my coop I have placed wicker baskets the ideal size for my hens. Turns out everyone wanted the same basket in the corner and this became a problem once Harmonia and then Lil Bo claimed it as theirs. My solution was to move the basket, eggs and the hen to the broody pen while covered in a towel. Once the hen was settled in for a few days I build her a nest in the hay and shaving in the same spot. I carefully moved the eggs to the new nest and waited about 30 seconds for her to realize they weren't under her but over there and she went and sat upon them. I must say I have a very easy going to Broodies!

Lil Bo is currently sitting on a dud waiting for her eggs to arrive.

Giselle thought that she might like to brood also, but decided against it when I open the gate to the garden for bug time!

Now I have a question! What do you use to candle your eggs? I used a LED flashlight, a scrap of towel and a toilet paper roll. I wonder about wattage for better views?

I'm really low tech...I just use a very bright, small, LED flashlight and my cupped hand in the dark of night outside the nest box. I don't want to move the eggs into the house and risk dropping them as I set up something more complicated, and I guess I get good enough results to not bother with some portable candler.

I can usually see developing veins on days 5 to 10...then its just dark blob with light air cell. All I really want to see is progression from veins to dark blob with light air cell on one end...the rest I just don't worry about.

On the dark Marans eggs I'm hatching now....I'm not seeing much of anything other than the initial veins (I think)...but the lighter eggs what I do works well enough to determine if they are "going" or not.

Lady of McCamley

 

[glebreton]

2 more duds popped in the coop today. You can smell them as soon as you open the door. Down to 5 eggs under my girl on day 18....Friday is 21.

 

[glebreton]

Well the big girls are still pushing lil bantam off her clutch to lay. And today, on day 20, the biggest hen broke an egg from the clutch. And of course it was one with a viable chick.....down to 4 now. I pulled my bantam and her clutch from the coop and put her inside in a dog crate in rhe house. Hopefully a couple will hatch tomorrow and she will be able to care for them without being bullied by the big girls.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well the big girls are still pushing lil bantam off her clutch to lay. And today, on day 20, the biggest hen broke an egg from the clutch. And of course it was one with a viable chick.....down to 4 now. I pulled my bantam and her clutch from the coop and put her inside in a dog crate in rhe house. Hopefully a couple will hatch tomorrow and she will be able to care for them without being bullied by the big girls.

Bummer. That's always so frustrating. My experience with communal laying too especially with a smaller Banty amongst larger hens. I hoped you'd be one of the luckier ones with happy commune hens.

Good news is that was a viable chick...wishing you good luck that the final 4 are viable and hatching tomorrow.

Also heads up that with less dominant Banties, the other hens can stress her a lot trying to protect her chicks as they just push where they want to go...I keep mom and chicks separate until the chicks are at least feathered in and are not so vulnerable...I prefer 8 to 12 weeks so they are better sized and have stronger immune systems.

Happy hatching for tomorrow.
(1 more week to go for my Marans eggs under my Silkie...so far all whole and looking good.)

Lady of McCamley

 

[WillowRunRanch]

Glburton today is the big day!! Hope all goes well and of course we want pics of those beautiful babies!!