Broody Hen Thread!

[Rhandi74]

I have my first broody hen she is sitting on 5 eggs but the other hens are laying eggs on top of her. She is a LF cochin and is about a year old. The previous owner never let her hatch out eggs when she went broody. I am going to let her try. I am going to try to section her off an area so they do not keep laying on top of her. Any tips or things I need to know or do for my sweet Jewel? I will get pics later today.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I have a cute little story to tell. Yesterday a fellow chicken goer contacted me in a panic. her silkies were hatching turkey eggs and killing the chicks. she had about a dozen broody silkies but I on the other hand only had one at the time. She asked me to take the 2 chicks she saved and take the rest of the eggs to hatch. I warned her that I did not have enough chickens to hatch these eggs. She said that's fine do what you can.
Fast forward...
my silky was sitting on 3 eggs. I had to come to terms that I may loose my 3 eggs to help her. So I moved my now mad Silkie off her nest and replaced her eggs with 18 turkey eggs! Plus her 3 eggs. She went nuts! She immediately stopped clucking wildly and hopped in the new nest and began to situate her self on them. Note the turkey eggs are about a week and a half into incubation. My poor determined little bantam covered all but 4 of those eggs. And she is still trying to find a way to get those to be covered. Lol pics coming soon!

I think you will lose every egg if you allow so many eggs that she can't cover them all. The eggs she can't cover will get chilled and die, then she'll pull those dead eggs under her and a few more viable eggs will make their way to the outside and get chilled and die. The scenario repeats until all/many eggs are dead. I don't know if it is too late, but I think you should cull enough that she can successfully brood them. Better to have a few hatch than none.

A very experienced breeder told me to only let a broody sit on an odd number of eggs. He said that an odd number makes a round/oval shape in the nest which is the shape of a hen. An even number of eggs tends to end up being square or rectangular shaped, and the corner eggs tend to slip out from under the hen or not be covered well enough, get chilled and die. The hen then pulls them under her and different eggs get chilled and die.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I have my first broody hen she is sitting on 5 eggs but the other hens are laying eggs on top of her. She is a LF cochin and is about a year old. The previous owner never let her hatch out eggs when she went broody. I am going to let her try. I am going to try to section her off an area so they do not keep laying on top of her. Any tips or things I need to know or do for my sweet Jewel? I will get pics later today.

Make sure you can easily identify the hatching eggs. You can mark them, but make sure you mark them on all sides. Check the nest box regularly and remove the newly laid eggs. I just ignored the other hens laying in the same nest box and put fake eggs in the other nest boxes to try to encourage the other hens to lay somewhere else. I couldn't believe a hen could actually fit in the nest box with the broody, let alone choose to. My hatching eggs were very easy to tell from the other eggs since they were blue and there wasn't any other blue-egg laying hen.

Now you tell me where a large fowl hen is going to fit to lay in this box with this broody. None ended up on the floor in front.

 

[Hamstery]

That's exactly what happened when my hen went broody then had her chicks, she is now top of the pecking order and they all know it

@sweetbeak thank you for responding! That's really interesting and good to know.

 

[TiaRC]

I think you will lose every egg if you allow so many eggs that she can't cover them all.  The eggs she can't cover will get chilled and die, then she'll pull those dead eggs under her and a few more viable eggs will make their way to the outside and get chilled and die.  The scenario repeats until all/many eggs are dead.  I don't know if it is too late, but I think you should cull enough that she can successfully brood them.  Better to have a few hatch than none.  

A very experienced breeder told me to only let a broody sit on an odd number of eggs.  He said that an odd number makes a round/oval shape in the nest which is the shape of a hen.  An even number of eggs tends to end up being square or rectangular shaped, and the corner eggs tend to slip out from under the hen or not be covered well enough, get chilled and die.  The hen then pulls them under her and different eggs get chilled and die.  

As I read your comment and I agreed and started out to the coop it looks like broody fever hit. My Australorp and Silkie are sharing the eggs. Looks like they got them all covered. Testd my australorps broodyness and she presented me with her usual signs. Fluffing up, a shreak, a peak, and not moving an inch. Good luck is on my side.

 

[Dumb Kluck]

And so, my Black Beauty has been absconding from the pen and seems to be eyeballing an isolated, safe, dark, shady, and cool retreat under the back stairs on the East side of the house LOL. I accidentally broke her brood last week by trying to move her nest spot from the familiar nest box row in the hot hen house. So I tucked a good, wooden broody box into a shady corner on the North side of the steps (which serves to block her out from under the stairs at the very least set the box atop a couple cinder blocks for added air flow, drilled a hole in the top for a chicken nipple on a 1 liter bottle, drops in just far enough to be functional. It has a locking wooden door and hardware cloth (1/4" or smaller) rigid wire screen on one side, ventilation holes drilled around the top of the wood walls. I added fresh nesting material and all six of the fake-eggs (she seems to be most attached to 9+ eggs in a nest BTW).
She will be a sweetie of a brood mama and I want more green eggs in our basket Crazy Chicken Lady

 

[Aunt ruth]

Any tips for getting a stubborn broody to use the other nest box?

 

[darkbluespace]

My broody is doing so beautifully so far and this is her first time. She is sitting on 8 Serama eggs and 2 Silkie eggs and I was worried she might be too big for them but she is taking good care of them and is so gentle. It is funny because she has always been my most annoying... seriously annoying... and high maintenance chicken. She even drives my duck crazy sometimes. But as a broody she is quiet and friendly, she doesn't mind me taking out some eggs to candle. I am just loving her so much and can hardly wait for Serama babies!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Any tips for getting a stubborn broody to use the other nest box?

You'll have to block the one you don't want her to use or block her in the one you want her to use (probably a better solution)...otherwise she will choose the one she wants if she has access to both.

Lady of McCamley

 

[sonderah]

I had a new broody yesterday! Found this thing curled up around my eggs in the nest box! Its in 3 pieces in this photo. Think we broke its brood???? Lol