Broody Hen Thread!

[calichicken]

Shes only a couple days into it. What happens if I just let her be? She will range for about 20 mins in the morning and again in the afternoon when the other girls go out but the rest of the time she is in the box..even at night.i think its more stressful for me then her

Her personality is a pretty determined one

Wondering if I should just let her be and hope she breaks after some time.

Hi! I have a Bantam Cochin that is VERY determined to sit when she goes broody...even when there are no eggs under her. If I try to discourage her broodiness, she will stop for a week or 2...then right back to broody mode

Now I just let her sit and go through her broody stage. She has never sit more than 3 weeks and will sometimes stop at 2 weeks. I just make sure I get her off the nest in the morning and afternoon for about an hour to eat, drink, dust and poop! I make sure she runs around to get some exercise. I have not had any health issues with my girl in doing this and she will not go broody again for months so it works for my determined little girl! I say do what works for you and your bird. I am not concerned with egg production(she is a pet) so not laying during the broody stage is not an issue for us! Letting her go through her broody phase is less stressful for me and her I have found. Good luck with your girl!!!

 

[treasurewood]

If she is a first time broody, she probably is freaked out by the chicks moving under her thinking its a mouse or something. She may actually kill the babies as well or may calm down. You will have to watch her carefully. I would also prepare a hatching box, just in case she does not sit on the nest. She may take the babies after they have hatched.

Meanwhile, since the eggs are being exposed over and over. I would dip some sponges and paper towels in hot water and place around the nest so the chicks don't get shrink wrapped.

Thanks! She actually totally settled down as soon as the first one hatched out... she has 3 out now and is being a wonderful mother. They are totally adorable (gold laced wyandottes).

 

[Junibutt]

Thanks! She actually totally settled down as soon as the first one hatched out... she has 3 out now and is being a wonderful mother. They are totally adorable (gold laced wyandottes).

I am glad it worked out

 

[treasurewood]

Here she is... such a good mother already!!!

3 Gold Laced Wyndotte babies out so far:

 

[vpatt]

I guess if Jessica is stubborn I could buy some fertile eggs at Martin's for her. It would give her something to sit on even if they didn't hatch....tho it is possible some could. I will watch her for a couple of days. Just need a better place for it to happen.
How do you tame chicks if the mother is not tame? Will she let me handle them?

 

[PD-Riverman]

I guess if Jessica is stubborn I could buy some fertile eggs at Martin's for her. It would give her something to sit on even if they didn't hatch....tho it is possible some could. I will watch her for a couple of days. Just need a better place for it to happen.
How do you tame chicks if the mother is not tame? Will she let me handle them?

To tame, just take them or most away from her a night or two after they hatch. If you leave her a couple she will be happy.

 

[vpatt]

Thanks!

 

[jajeanpierre]

Shes only a couple days into it. What happens if I just let her be? She will range for about 20 mins in the morning and again in the afternoon when the other girls go out but the rest of the time she is in the box..even at night.i think its more stressful for me then her

I have some Silkies that always seem to be in some state of broodiness. I check nest boxes several times a day, and I pick up any I think might be thinking of being broody and put them outside near the food and water. I don't really try to break them since they never seem to lose condition, but in the heat I am particularly careful that they get out for water several times a day. Sometimes they continue to lay eggs, sometimes not. I don't really care about their egg production--they are just my cute little backyard chickens. I tried taking a committed Ameraucana hen off the nest many times a day for months and finally gave up, giving her seven eggs to hatch. I worried about her condition since she had been broody for a couple of months before I gave her eggs, so I offered water and hand fed her in the nest.

If you want her to lay eggs for you, just take her off the nest several times a day. Try putting her far away from the nest so she gets distracted.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I haven't seen many studies/discussion on the topic but I have a curious question: the hen's body takes cues from the day length on whether or not to "cycle"... So then, does supplemental lighting also have an impact as far as more "off season" broodiness?

***not trying to start a supplemental lighting discussion. Was just wondering if anyone has observed a difference.

I don't know the answer to that question, but I think it is important to realize that egg-laying chickens are very far what nature designed.

In nature, a bird will lay in a given season and will not lay outside that season regardless of the natural lighting. Wild birds usually lay one or two clutches in the spring when food is abundant; they don't lay at any other time.

For hundreds of years, chicken breeders have selected for abnormal egg-production cycles, with the hens that lay only a few eggs in the spring being removed from the gene pool in two ways--by active culling or by not producing many offspring to continue her lineage. The hens that produce many eggs throughout the year will not be culled, and they will produce many eggs giving them more opportunities to produce offspring and continue their genetic lineage.

The same holds true with broodiness with broodiness being selected against by culling. A chicken that broods in the fall and winter is going very much against Mother nature since fall or winter chicks will have a really hard time surviving.

I don't know that broodiness--the hormonal condition that triggers a hen to become a mother--is affected by light. In the wild it isn't as far as I know. When a hen sits on her eggs is determined by the species. Parrots sit from the day an egg is laid, so a clutch of eggs will have chicks that hatch over a week or more. The late hatching chicks will die unless something happens to the early chicks. Other species lay a full clutch before they become broody and sit on their eggs. Chickens, as far as I can tell, are a real mess as far as reproduction is concerned. There are many breeds that have absolutely no mothering instincts left.

I know from my experience with breeding Thoroughbred horses, we put a mare "under lights" in the winter to jump start her cycling. The added light will start ovulation in the dead of winter, which is very much against nature since a January or February foal would not survive in North America without human intervention. While it is normal to put a mare under lights to manipulate her ovulation cycles (basically egg laying), I have never heard of lights being used to increase maternal instincts, which I feel must be related to a brooding hen. It would be interesting to know if the production of the hormone oxytocin, one of the hormones involved in bonding, is affected by day length.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I got 2 silkie hens and one rooster in 1 pen with one nest. I take the nest away from her for a few days---this works for them.