Broody Hen Thread!

[danegal2]

Hello,
After having chickens for a little over a year I have not had one broody chicken. I bought 2 olive hens this spring Polly and Molly and they started to lay for 2 months until they went broody. Why did they go broody so soon?
I tried taking the eggs out but they persisted so I let Polly sit on some eggs. Every night I would find both of them sharing a nesting box. Last night I noticed that 2 eggs feel out of the nesting box. When I put them back, both eggs started chirping. This morning I found 2 chicks under Polly.
I set up a cage on the ground with a cardboard box and put the eggs/ chicks in them. I put Polly with them but Molly went crazy so I put her in with them too. Now both girls are sharing the eggs/ chicks.
Are they safe to raise them or I should I put them under a heat lamp. At night it is reaching 40 - 50F? I will post some picks when I have a chance.

 

[fisherlady]

Quick question for you all.....

My Broody Hen (currently on Day 14) got off her nest today and ran off across the paddock to be with her friends! This is the first time I've even seen her off the nest, let alone leave the coop and run area.

I checked her eggs and they were still warm, so hubby and I corralled her with the others back into the run with the promise of treats. From there we were able to corner her and when she realised she was trapped, she ran for the coop and got back on her nest - not before eating a mouthful of pellets, mind you!

Do you think this is a sign that she is thinking of abandoning her eggs? Or is it normal for them to run off across the paddocks for their rest break? My last broody never strayed far from her eggs at all....

Also, worst case scenario - I have no incubator here, and have no way to get one either. If she does abandon her eggs, is there anything I can do to hatch them myself? ie - Can I keep them somewhere warm and hope for the best? Could I give them to a Momma Hen who already has one chick? Would she hatch them?

Thanks in advance!

- Krista

Her eggs should be fine.... many hens leave the nest daily for half an hour to even an hour. Some are quicker to get back to their eggs, but they are fine either way.
If for some reason the hen does change her mind about setting you can finish off the eggs by placing them in a box with a heat lamp or other similar heat source (I have heard of folks using heating pads or regular light bulbs also) You can do a search in the block near the top of page for 'homemade incubator' or 'emergency incubator' and you should get plenty of information and suggestions on how to do that.
I would not give them to the other hen who already has a chick, she will be busy caring for her chick and will not be able to dedicate herself to setting on more eggs.

my pekin hen and her chicks

They are adorable! Love seeing mamas and babies!

Hello,
After having chickens for a little over a year I have not had one broody chicken. I bought 2 olive hens this spring Polly and Molly and they started to lay for 2 months until they went broody. Why did they go broody so soon?
I tried taking the eggs out but they persisted so I let Polly sit on some eggs. Every night I would find both of them sharing a nesting box. Last night I noticed that 2 eggs feel out of the nesting box. When I put them back, both eggs started chirping. This morning I found 2 chicks under Polly.
I set up a cage on the ground with a cardboard box and put the eggs/ chicks in them. I put Polly with them but Molly went crazy so I put her in with them too. Now both girls are sharing the eggs/ chicks.
Are they safe to raise them or I should I put them under a heat lamp. At night it is reaching 40 - 50F? I will post some picks when I have a chance.

They won't need any supplemental heat, mama will take care of them. The only time I would provide any supplemental heat would be in rare circumstances where the mama had too many chicks to cover herself or if it was a situation of attempting to graft new chicks to a broody where you aren't sure she will accept them and you want to have a heat source available in case she rejects the chicks.
The biggest risk when dealing with 2 broodies on one nest is a chick being hurt if the broodies compete for the chicks.... if they are cooperative then that isn't a problem.

 

[ChickyChickens]

Quick question for you all.....

My Broody Hen (currently on Day 14) got off her nest today and ran off across the paddock to be with her friends! This is the first time I've even seen her off the nest, let alone leave the coop and run area.

I checked her eggs and they were still warm, so hubby and I corralled her with the others back into the run with the promise of treats. From there we were able to corner her and when she realised she was trapped, she ran for the coop and got back on her nest - not before eating a mouthful of pellets, mind you!

Do you think this is a sign that she is thinking of abandoning her eggs? Or is it normal for them to run off across the paddocks for their rest break? My last broody never strayed far from her eggs at all....

Also, worst case scenario - I have no incubator here, and have no way to get one either. If she does abandon her eggs, is there anything I can do to hatch them myself? ie - Can I keep them somewhere warm and hope for the best? Could I give them to a Momma Hen who already has one chick? Would she hatch them?

Thanks in advance!

- Krista

No, your hen will most probably be fine! My broodies sometimes leave their nests for very long, or they wander away very far! It doesn't bother the eggs much!

 

[ChickyChickens]

My broody, Mrs Frizzle, has finally reached day 20 and some chicks are hatching! I have put her in my hatching box! (a box inside our garage, where the broodies go when their eggs are hatching)

She is not a frizzle (as many people thought?) She is in fact a bantam EE!


Her eggs and the 6/11 chicks so far!!!


These two are my favourite so far!

 

[ochochicas]

Hello,
After having chickens for a little over a year I have not had one broody chicken. I bought 2 olive hens this spring Polly and Molly and they started to lay for 2 months until they went broody. Why did they go broody so soon?
I tried taking the eggs out but they persisted so I let Polly sit on some eggs. Every night I would find both of them sharing a nesting box. Last night I noticed that 2 eggs feel out of the nesting box. When I put them back, both eggs started chirping. This morning I found 2 chicks under Polly.
I set up a cage on the ground with a cardboard box and put the eggs/ chicks in them. I put Polly with them but Molly went crazy so I put her in with them too. Now both girls are sharing the eggs/ chicks.
Are they safe to raise them or I should I put them under a heat lamp. At night it is reaching 40 - 50F? I will post some picks when I have a chance.

They will be fine with no heat. The hens do a great job making sure the chicks are cared for.

The olive eggers are probably Marans crosses. In my experience, the Marans tend to be very broody. That would explain why Polly and Molly went broody so quickly. I got two Marans in May and they were both broody when I got them. They both broke when we moved them and they were laying really well. One is still laying, but the other one went broody in June. Now she's molting, so I have no idea when I'll get another eggs from her. Good news is that she is a good layer and an even better mom to her chicks.

 

[sniffylemur507]

we are in the second 'broody' episode from one of our buff orpingtons....sigh....we don't have a rooster, so there is no chance for the eggs to hatch, but she doesn't know that! We collect the eggs during the day so she is just sitting on litter. I remove her from the nest as many time as I can, but who knows how long it will take to break her. the first time she went broody, it took 6 weeks!

my favorite part is when I open the nest box door and she puffs up and makes the horrible shrieking sound at me.

I'll try to get a pic of her all puffed up tomorrow!

it will work eventually it took us 3 days! now our OTHER one is doing it!

 

[sniffylemur507]

Hello,
After having chickens for a little over a year I have not had one broody chicken. I bought 2 olive hens this spring Polly and Molly and they started to lay for 2 months until they went broody. Why did they go broody so soon?
I tried taking the eggs out but they persisted so I let Polly sit on some eggs. Every night I would find both of them sharing a nesting box. Last night I noticed that 2 eggs feel out of the nesting box. When I put them back, both eggs started chirping. This morning I found 2 chicks under Polly.
I set up a cage on the ground with a cardboard box and put the eggs/ chicks in them. I put Polly with them but Molly went crazy so I put her in with them too. Now both girls are sharing the eggs/ chicks.
Are they safe to raise them or I should I put them under a heat lamp. At night it is reaching 40 - 50F? I will post some picks when I have a chance.

i wish I had a rooster!

 

[sniffylemur507]

how do you think i should convince my family to let me hatch chicks? IT WOULD BE SOFUN!

 

[Localheronow]

I have a question one of my bcm just started to set two days ago this is it I have some eggs in the incubator one more week to hatch. can I put this eggs under the hen to finish the hatch?? she is seating on no eggs just a golf ball will she finish hatching the eggs one week left.

 

[danegal2]

Yes you are right, Polly and Molly are Maran/ Easter Egger crosses. I put a cage into the coop this am and moved, the chicks, eggs, and Polly. Molly started to freak out being left out in the coop so I put her with her sister. Now they are both happy and the chicks go back and forth between them. Being sisters they get along great. Hopefully the other 4 eggs will hatch soon. I am very curious how they will al feather out since dad is a Jubilee Orpington.