Broody Hen Thread!

[fisherlady]

Just checked on my broody turkey hen. She has officially hatched 3 Buff Orpington chicks, & 1 Frizzled EE. I took all of them and gave her the 2 turkey poults who I got to hatch inside. She still has 5 chicken eggs and 1 turkey egg, but its day 22, & there were some issues, so idk if anymore will hatch. Will take them tonight, candle and put anything that's a maybe into the hatcher.

Congrats on the hatch!!

 

[chickieluver26]

This is a horrible picture but my 2 silkies and one of my OEGB all went broody...in the same box...at the same time!!!

 

[KinkyMKD]

Wish me luck!
First time i have broody hen,she is siting on 11 eggs and one in her butt her nest is open,but i put a lid on top of it( the lid is actualy like wooden rail,so it's not that she will suffocate)

 

[missus]

Hi folks, day three of operation hatch my own hens and I'm having issues with Tammy Wyandotte's little friend Madonna the leghorn. I've separated them but so they can still see eachother, however Madonna has broken in and shoved Tammy off the nest and broken one of the fertile eggs and one of them has eaten it. Tammy is back on the nest now but I'm not sure which hen has become the egg eater and whether it will continue. Anyone else had this issue? Any tips?

 

[ocap]

My broody silkie is ending day 20 and is now alert instead of groggy and sleepy, I am thinking/hoping she hears noises coming from the eggs.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hi folks, day three of operation hatch my own hens and I'm having issues with Tammy Wyandotte's little friend Madonna the leghorn. I've separated them but so they can still see eachother, however Madonna has broken in and shoved Tammy off the nest and broken one of the fertile eggs and one of them has eaten it. Tammy is back on the nest now but I'm not sure which hen has become the egg eater and whether it will continue. Anyone else had this issue? Any tips?

Sorry to hear of the loss...that is frustrating.

You did the best thing to separate them. Many hens simply don't brood well together as they compete ending up in egg loss as you have personally witnessed.

Fortunately, while the hens do clean up the broken mess, I have not had one begin to cannibalize the eggs if they have good food and water nearby. Not that it couldn't happen, and if it did, I would never use that hen again for brooding, and possibly anything if she became a consistent egg eater, but the hen's instinct to clean up doesn't seem to devolve into cannibalizing, not normally anyway.

Keep them separate, high protein food (like chick starter) and water nearby, remove any broken or cracked eggs, and you should be hopefully good.

Brooding is not a perfect process, but amazingly the hens typically know what to do...you just have to be willing to accept some loss in the process (as you would if you were artificially incubating as well).

Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Wish me luck!
First time i have broody hen,she is siting on 11 eggs and one in her butt her nest is open,but i put a lid on top of it( the lid is actualy like wooden rail,so it's not that she will suffocate)

Good luck to you.

Just make sure she has some room to stretch her legs, get up turn around, with food and water close by (but not so it can tip into the nest) and she should be good.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

They've finally shipped my Buckeye eggs!!!! SHOULD be here Monday.

My Silkie is sitting tight (of course, she'd hatch golf balls if it were possible) AND I've got a new third girl broody...so I may be able to get my Rhodebars and all of my Buckeyes hatched.....

Thus far 5 of the Rhodebar eggs are developing (at 1 1/2 weeks)...one is a quitter.

With a small Banty and now two large fowl, I should be able to rotate in and out the 12 Buckeye eggs (assuming all arrive safely) so that I can figure out which are going and which are duds...I'll give the Silkie the 5 at most 6 of the best chance eggs leaving whatever is left that looks viable for the newbie 8 month old Welsummer who has just gone broody...leaving my Wyandotte/EE (Ms. Marvel) parked on the 5 Rhodebars to hatch as she looks like she is in it for the duration....

Now to figure out a 3rd brooding place...Wellie is in the main coop, which isn't ideal, and I've got my double-nest broody hutch filled!!!! (Might try making a third site in the middle of the broody hutch where the first grow/exercise veranda is...or subdivide her off in the main coop...that will work until chicks are hatched...THEN I've got to either try to integrate 3 grumpy ladies or figure out a segregated pen system....oh well that's a couple of weeks away yet. (This only happened because my original Buckeye order fell through :sigh

@fisherlady This is my first attempt/thought at tri-communal brooding (I only did two last time and had to divide the hutch down the middle)...Do you any secrets to integrating new moms and babies that haven't hatched together? These hens "know" each other as the Banty hatched both of these new moms last June, but they haven't ran together for months as Banty was in the broody hutch with the next batches...I'm not sure how they'll take to each other...Ms. Marvel has been SOOOOO hormonal and grumpy...any new tricks you've used?

One step at a time...
Lady of McCamley

 

[NCChickchick]

Two mamas. 3 babies so far. Struggling to post this. They are Serama babies and sooooo tiny!

 

[NCChickchick]

Helena and the 2 that favor her. e