Broody Hen Thread!

[Searsmom]

Hi everyone! my name is Sophia and I am 8 weeks old!

Oh, that's cute!

 

[AliceGee]

So I've got a bit of a broody problem. One of my silkies is broody and is sitting on 6 eggs and every time she'd get off there'd be an extra egg courtesy of one of my other hens. So today I caught the other hen in the act, she either sits on top of the broody or squeezes in next to her. This was the favourite best box so today I decided to move the broody and her eggs to the one next to it so the other layers could have their favourite. Anyway two minutes after I'd moved the broody and her eggs the hen that lays on top of her moved into the broodys new box and began to lay on top of her again!! Her favourite box is now free but for some reason she insists on doing it on top of the broody. What is the reason for this? And is there anyway I can stop it? I can't really take the broody out but there's 6 boxes so maybe if I move her to a further one??
Thanks

 

[Lady of McCamley]

So I've got a bit of a broody problem. One of my silkies is broody and is sitting on 6 eggs and every time she'd get off there'd be an extra egg courtesy of one of my other hens. So today I caught the other hen in the act, she either sits on top of the broody or squeezes in next to her. This was the favourite best box so today I decided to move the broody and her eggs to the one next to it so the other layers could have their favourite. Anyway two minutes after I'd moved the broody and her eggs the hen that lays on top of her moved into the broodys new box and began to lay on top of her again!! Her favourite box is now free but for some reason she insists on doing it on top of the broody. What is the reason for this? And is there anyway I can stop it? I can't really take the broody out but there's 6 boxes so maybe if I move her to a further one??
Thanks

I have subdivided my coop to prevent this....seriously...put a board up so that the broody was isolated in a box with the eggs and no other birds could get in. My nest boxes are fairly large...large enough for food/water in a corner, space to stretch legs, and then nest.

It's not ideal as there was no access to the outdoors for the broody or chicks (until I moved them in to a better grow out area), but it sufficed for that round...I built a designated broody hutch after that batch because I kept having your problem...other hens insisting on laying on top of the broody...I was getting eggs kicked everywhere in the process, and fertile eggs at risk of being pushed out as the Silkie kept taking in new eggs until she had more than she could cover.

Anyway..sometimes it takes a creative solution as the little darlings just won't give mom space.

Good luck,
Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Ya, I was trying to give it to mom and she called them over and shared! I was like "oh NO" eat your food..... Its ok for her to eat the medicated chick starter... right???


They are too cute. My first hatch! And in 20 degree weather no less!

Very sweet...and yes it is amazing...20 degree weather an the babies have NO idea they should be in a controlled environment with heat lamps...guess they forget to read the instruction manual while they are incubating.

And, yes, it is fine if mom eats the medicated chick starter too. The higher protein is good for mom, and she doesn't need the layer calcium right now since she isn't laying...BTW...layer feed is bad for the babies as it has too much calcium, so you don't want your babies to be able to get that.

Enjoy your new clutch

Lady of McCamley

 

[lovely guy]

my hens doing the same she jxt sat on the eggs for 3 day the they started developed and now she is not sitting on them instead on the ground.................am sick n tired of her......is she going to be broody again........m dyin for chks

............

 

[AVintageLife]

I have subdivided my coop to prevent this....seriously...put a board up so that the broody was isolated in a box with the eggs and no other birds could get in. My nest boxes are fairly large...large enough for food/water in a corner, space to stretch legs, and then nest.

It's not ideal as there was no access to the outdoors for the broody or chicks (until I moved them in to a better grow out area), but it sufficed for that round...I built a designated broody hutch after that batch because I kept having your problem...other hens insisting on laying on top of the broody...I was getting eggs kicked everywhere in the process, and fertile eggs at risk of being pushed out as the Silkie kept taking in new eggs until she had more than she could cover.

Anyway..sometimes it takes a creative solution as the little darlings just won't give mom space.

Good luck,
Lady of McCamley

I had the same issue and quickly set up the broody area for my silkie. The bigger hens usually don't bother the silkies but as soon as one went broody, the bossy hen decided to lay her egg there. Once I found her practically on top of the broody silkie. This morning I found one of the eggs kicked out of the nest by the food dish and stone cold. She had six silkie eggs under her, wonder if she was having trouble covering all six and pushed one out. It was fertile, which is good to know I guess.

 

[lovely guy]

she has more space in her coop............................and i have putten some of the eggs in that coop ....but she is still not sitting on them but next to them.........whats the matter is she broody or not or is she going to be broody soon.............

 

[Lady of McCamley]

my hens doing the same she jxt sat on the eggs for 3 day the they started developed and now she is not sitting on them instead on the ground.................am sick n tired of her......is she going to be broody again........m dyin for chks

............

she has more space in her coop............................and i have putten some of the eggs in that coop ....but she is still not sitting on them but next to them.........whats the matter is she broody or not or is she going to be broody soon.............

Hmmm...First make sure she isn't being pushed out by a dominant hen...or merely intimated off the nest where you have her. You may need to give her a completely separate coop and run...I can't tell from your post if you've already done that or not.

Second, are you sure she isn't sick? That is one possibility that she is sick and not broody if she just wants to sit without eggs. (I don't think that's it...but just checking).

However, since she sat on eggs for 3 days, I'm inclined to think she is thinking about brooding. It can take them a few days to get serious.

A broody will want eggs under them, at least a good broody.

However, I have had some hens that will only play at brooding, and it is frustrating that they will sit for a couple of days, then shift to another nest, or another location. Those types never settle. I don't use those birds for brooding as they never settle well enough to hatch eggs but will abandon them. You can't create a good broody...they either are or aren't. And, honestly, if they won't lay and they won't brood well...they are of little use to me and I find another home for them.

Because I didn't have a good broody, but these shiftless types, I purposely went out and bought a proven broody Silkie so I could have a faithful brooder. I found her through BYC local meet ups. She was the best chicken purchase I have ever made. She faithfully broods for me every 3 to 4 months. She is in permanent brood mode either sitting on eggs, hatching them, growing out the chicks to begin all again. She has a separate broody hutch and run, and is treated like the queen she is.

My thoughts. Hopefully your girl will settle down and hatch some eggs for you.
Lady of McCamley

 

[fisherlady]

@fisherlady What kind of set up did you use for your webcam?

I'm envious....and have a techie husband who might take the bait.

Lady of McCamley

Sorry it took so long to reply... I work 24 hrs at a time and the last few days have not been good ones... finally home and able to check for the model on our cameras.

The set up used to get the videos of Gracie on her nest is a Uniden System... model UDW155... it is a wireless 2 camera (expandable to 4) which can transmit about 80-100 ft. I don't know if that exact model is still available, since it was bought 2+ yrs ago. But basically it is a small scale home security system or a better than average baby cam. It allows the option to plug the system into a computer to view it over the computer rather than the supplied small screen controller and it can be set to record videos based on motion activation. It is Infra red, so gets low and no light coverage up to a short distance so works really well in our coop situation. they have many wired and wireless systems now with cameras of much better quality than these ones are.... technology is improving by leaps and bounds on the resolution and night vision of the cameras.

I also recently bought my DH a wired security camera system for the house which has a DVR to record activity and the option of viewing the system remotely over the internet. We place a couple of the cameras around the coop area also, so even though I work some really long shifts I get to have a bit of a chicken fix through the day when I have computer access. DH likes setting up stuff like this, and he constantly worried when we left the chickens to go anywhere, so now he can keep track any time he wants... he is talking about expanding the system to add more cameras even... which is fine by me!

Last week I was home sleeping after a shift and he was at work, he called me and told me he saw a probable rat run under the turtle sand box we use as a dusting area in our coop run.... he just happened to have logged in for some chicken TV while he was on lunch break at work. The chickens were inside at the time, and it wasn't trying to get into the coop area, it was just helping itself to the scratch feed under the dispenser.... needless to say I got my 2 rat traps and headed for the coop run... it took all of about a minute for me to move the turtle and my old fashioned rat traps to take care of the problem. (did I happen to mention my rat traps happen to have 4 paws and TEETH!!

) DH said just that incident made the investment worth it to him! (he is a bit attached to our birds

)

 

[WindStep]

Will post soon hopfully when I get a pic and down load it.