Broody Hen Thread!

[sonderah]

Lol Well I also brought home 9 sizzle babies and 2 day old EE's. If worse comes to worse, guess she could brood em for me.

Uhmm...she's a Silkie...she is not nervous...see egg, must hatch.   I've heard of them being moved with eggs in tow, trying to brood in transit.  

Sounds like you are going to have a good broody on your hands.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Chicken-Man]

do chickens that have finished broody, lay again?? Mine has stopped broody and hasn't layed for about 2 weeks......

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

Well DH is really turning out to be a DH!

Started the conversation with the antics of my fierce last little chick today, expanded onto plans to the new roosts we'll need soon and then snuck in the fact I bought 4 eggs for Harmony.

You were right! He shook his head and told me I better start building the add on. Lol

 

[TinaM13]

Interesting stuff here. I have a little girl I got last Sept (I think she's part silkie). She started laying in Jan, faithfully every day she'd offer me one little egg. This week she has laid one egg and is refusing to get off it! So there she is sitting on a golf ball and one egg. I don't have any others laying right now to give her more to sit on. Should I just let her have this one? I'm going to see if one of my neighbors have any fertile eggs I can bum lol She's so cute and so protective of this one egg, I hate to disturb her. Can I use eggs that came from her but are in the fridge? I've never had a broody hen before so not sure what I should be doing for her. It'd be great if I can actually have a hen hatch chicks for me!
Love this place! Great info and great people!

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

Interesting stuff here.  I have a little girl I got last Sept (I think she's part silkie).  She started laying in Jan, faithfully every day she'd offer me one little egg. This week she has laid one egg and is refusing to get off it!  So there she is sitting on a golf ball and one egg.  I don't have any others laying right now to give her more to sit on.  Should I just let her have this one?  I'm going to see if one of my neighbors have any fertile eggs I can bum  lol   She's so cute and so protective of this one egg, I hate to disturb her.  Can I use eggs that came from her but are in the fridge?  I've never had a broody hen before so not sure what I should be doing for her.  It'd be great if I can actually have a hen hatch chicks for me!
Love this place!  Great info and great people!

You can not hatch eggs that have been in the fridge. Sorry.

 

[TinaM13]

I didn't think so..but hey, doesn't hurt to ask! Thanks

 

[fisherlady]

I didn't think so..but hey, doesn't hurt to ask! Thanks

Check to see if there is a thread on here for people from BC... if there is you may find someone within driving distance with a breed you like... but if you find any neighbors with birds you are good to go!

 

[kmollyhughes]

You can not hatch eggs that have been in the fridge. Sorry.

Interesting stuff here.  I have a little girl I got last Sept (I think she's part silkie).  She started laying in Jan, faithfully every day she'd offer me one little egg. This week she has laid one egg and is refusing to get off it!  So there she is sitting on a golf ball and one egg.  I don't have any others laying right now to give her more to sit on.  Should I just let her have this one?  I'm going to see if one of my neighbors have any fertile eggs I can bum  lol   She's so cute and so protective of this one egg, I hate to disturb her.  Can I use eggs that came from her but are in the fridge?  I've never had a broody hen before so not sure what I should be doing for her.  It'd be great if I can actually have a hen hatch chicks for me!
Love this place!  Great info and great people!

You CAN hatch eggs that have been in the fridge. Up to 2-3 days. I have chicks that hatched outside that are fridge babies. Doesn't always work, but it may work like mine did. Try! And, if you think about it, eggs that are shipped early in the season without heat packs are in super low times at times. Good luck! Pull those babies out! Lol

 

[foreverlearning]

Interesting stuff here. I have a little girl I got last Sept (I think she's part silkie). She started laying in Jan, faithfully every day she'd offer me one little egg. This week she has laid one egg and is refusing to get off it! So there she is sitting on a golf ball and one egg. I don't have any others laying right now to give her more to sit on. Should I just let her have this one? I'm going to see if one of my neighbors have any fertile eggs I can bum lol She's so cute and so protective of this one egg, I hate to disturb her. Can I use eggs that came from her but are in the fridge? I've never had a broody hen before so not sure what I should be doing for her. It'd be great if I can actually have a hen hatch chicks for me!
Love this place! Great info and great people!

Yes you can hatch them as long as you did not wash them (takes the bloom off). I had to do it with a broody once. Make sure you let the eggs come to room temp before you give them to the broody for best results.

 

[TinaM13]

Last year I saved eggs for a neighbor to incubate to start her own flock..I didn't keep them in the fridge and when I told her that, she did seemed surprised that I didn't..she had a 80% hatch rate of the 18 she got so didn't think that was too bad. I took a couple of her last laid eggs out and will pop them under her in the morning.
It's interesting that as soon as she went broody, my other hen that was laying also stopped laying. Still waiting for 3 of my other girls to start laying again after the cold long winter. Is my broody (Lady) the reason my EE stopped laying?


My little Lady