Broody Hen Thread!

[n3kms]

Current broody in the new broody apartment. Nest box is 14" wide and Goldie is serious in her 2nd week! She is kind enough to let me touch her and with her last clutch I could reach right under her to see the chicks. When I sold her chicks at about 4 weeks old the buyer commented on how momma didn't attack me and was so trusting. Her chicks were fully feathered so I think she was even ready for single life again

I wish Anastasia was nice like that. She would cheerfully take my fingers off. I happened to catch seeing her on her brief spell out of the nest box and she acted like if another chicken went anywhere near her it was the end of the world. She complained the whole time she was outside. Such a drama queen.

 

[ShockValue]

I have to admit, she had me freaked out this afternoon. I'm not sure if I did the right thing or not... I found her off the nest, hanging with the other birds. I know they do that from time to time to streatch and poo.. But when i went down to feel the eggs... They were still warm, but cool enough that I could tell she had been off for a while.

So I stuffed her back in there... And after a minute of protest, she settled back down on the eggs and is doing her thing again...


Did I overreact? Not sure what to think on this one....

 

[aart]

I have to admit, she had me freaked out this afternoon. I'm not sure if I did the right thing or not... I found her off the nest, hanging with the other birds. I know they do that from time to time to streatch and poo.. But when i went down to feel the eggs... They were still warm, but cool enough that I could tell she had been off for a while.

So I stuffed her back in there... And after a minute of protest, she settled back down on the eggs and is doing her thing again...


Did I overreact? Not sure what to think on this one....

I think they know how long to be off is good.....I just watched mine, she wasn't off for long.

 

[farmhand]

...
And sit that pan into this other dishpan that is screwed in.

Great idea sitting a pan into another that's screwed down. Easy to move the second.

 

[Dekachick]

I would like to thank "Chicken Juggler" for the words of advice to break my 2 BO chickens that were going broody. I marked the two chickens in question with different colored felt pen just behind their comb so I could find them in the flock. I put them in a wire cage as you suggested but gave them food and water while they were in prison so had lots of poop to clean up but that was OK. I let them out once or twice a day, which gave me an opportunity to take the cage outside and hose it down. Once they went back into a nest I scooped them out and put them back in the wire cage. Today is day five and both chicken have returned to normal and joined the rest of the flock, are sleeping on the roost at night, etc. Thanks again for your words of wisdom and we will now be prepared for any future issues.

 

[16 paws]

Ok,
Here is an update on how the chick graft went.
Yesterday, which was Thursday I picked up 7 baby chicks from the feed store, 6 Marans and 1 Brabanter. That was about noon. They had just arrived not more than a couple hours before from Texas.

I rushed them home, gave them food and water right away and put them right under the heat light.

About 8:30 that same night I took them down to the coop to slip under the broody. Keep in mind that she is a very small frizzle cochin bantam. I tried to shield her from seeing what we were doing but that did not work at all. She managed to see everything even thou we tried to keep the flashlight far enough away to keep it semi-dark. We took the 2 wooden eggs away and 1 by 1 slipped them under her. It did not go well at first. The babies were scared and she looked like "what in the heck is going on here"! The chicks were chirping up a storm and not in a good way. I heard her making a noise and gently pecking them. I could hardly breath waiting to see if they would settle down. She started to tell them with a peck or two to get under her. A couple of them were too scared to snuggle in with her and I had to keep putting them back under her. Then all was quiet. I heard that gentle happy gurgle chirp they make when they feel safe. I knew that was a good sign. All was well until a few minutes went by and a certain little rebel chick got away from her and started chirping in distress. I could hear them from the deck so I had to go down about 3 more times and put the chick under her again. I slept very light all last night, kept going out on the deck checking to hear any chirping. All was well.

Raced down first thing in the morning and saw a couple of them in the food dish looking like they had really made themselves at home. Taffy, the broody mom started to show them how to scratch and peck. I got lucky because Taffy had only been sitting for less than a week before I gave her the chicks. I would not recommend doing this but it worked out. Taffy has been a good brooder and mom before and she is very gentle so I thought I would give it a try and I am very proud of her.

Also had read another post about waiting a day or two for the chicks to recover from the long ride to the feed store before placing them under the broody. That makes a lot of sense but I decided in my situation to put them in with her right away before they got used to being by themselves. I am glad it worked out for them. they look and sound so happy.

Hope this bit of info can help someone else out there placing feed store chicks with a broody.

Here is a picture of my set-up for them.

Taffy started off broody in this wood nest box. A few hours before I put the chicks with her I moved the whole nest box into a dog crate and put chicken wire around the lower portion. When I got home from work today several had escaped and I could not figure out how they got out. After watching for a bit I saw that they are so tiny they can actually squeeze thru the chicken wire! Something to consider for next time. I have 33 other chickens in my flock and none of the others were even trying to hurt the little escapees. Wow...



Now all of my other chickens can get to know them but they can still have their privacy and get to bond with mama broody.

Marie

 

[SingingTomato]

Our first flock (16 hens, one roo) is about 6 months old, and we just had our first one go broody. It's been a few days, but we've had a few false alarms the past month so it wasn't until today, when I noticed she'd pulled out all her belly feathers, that I knew for sure she was really broody, and not just being grumpy.

We hadn't planned to expand our flock or invest in incubators and such this year, but we are happy to let her raise chicks if she's able, especially since I'm under the impression that it's easier to just let her do her thing than to try to break the broodiness.

So, some questions:
1) We've been removing her eggs. Will she lay more at this point (a day or two after she pulled her feathers), or is it too late? And if she does, is there any chance they are actually fertilized?
2) I can slip eggs from other hens underneath her, right? What's an appropriate number?
3) I know it's hard/impossible to identify fertile eggs in the first day. Should I slip a few under her tomorrow and then check them for embryo development a few days later? And if they actually aren't fertilized, are they still fine for us to eat after a few days?
4) I know people tend to relocate their broody hens so they don't hog the nest boxes, but we don't actually need the space. Is there any other reason to move her out of the regular nest boxes?

Anything else I'm missing?

Thanks everyone!!

 

[Wishapup]

Something has always botched "my" attempts to hatch under a broody. Whether I leave them in the coop nest boxes, make them a raised cage, put them in a dog kennel in the coop, or move them to another section of the barn, it never seems to work. This year I am determined to try it and make it work. In 2014, my bantam hen was incubating 4 EE eggs in the communal nesting boxes. They were developing well and I was planning to move her to a safer area when an intruding hen broke an egg and started to eat it...I moved her and the rest of the eggs immediately, but she was disturbed, didn't stay on them consistently, and by day 21 the other three eggs were a rotten, smelly mess underneath her. Poor girl was sticky with it.

This year she is practicing for going broody again and has stayed in the nest boxes overnight a few times this week. And this time, I will start her on a nice nest of eggs in a private area from the very beginning.

 

[Wishapup]

Our first flock (16 hens, one roo) is about 6 months old, and we just had our first one go broody. It's been a few days, but we've had a few false alarms the past month so it wasn't until today, when I noticed she'd pulled out all her belly feathers, that I knew for sure she was really broody, and not just being grumpy.

We hadn't planned to expand our flock or invest in incubators and such this year, but we are happy to let her raise chicks if she's able, especially since I'm under the impression that it's easier to just let her do her thing than to try to break the broodiness.

So, some questions:
1) We've been removing her eggs. Will she lay more at this point (a day or two after she pulled her feathers), or is it too late? And if she does, is there any chance they are actually fertilized?
2) I can slip eggs from other hens underneath her, right? What's an appropriate number?
3) I know it's hard/impossible to identify fertile eggs in the first day. Should I slip a few under her tomorrow and then check them for embryo development a few days later? And if they actually aren't fertilized, are they still fine for us to eat after a few days?
4) I know people tend to relocate their broody hens so they don't hog the nest boxes, but we don't actually need the space. Is there any other reason to move her out of the regular nest boxes?

Anything else I'm missing?

Thanks everyone!!

I will attempt to answer some of your questions:
1) Once she's really gone broody, they don't lay eggs anymore. If she lays an egg, she probably isn't broody--and they should be fertilized if you have a rooster.
2) Absolutely, they don't have to be their own eggs. In fact, for most "human-managed broody incubators," they aren't. Number of eggs depends on what she can cover. They will puff their feathers and spread themselves out and make a furry pancake of themselves in order to keep them all warm. My small bantam hen can cover 4 large standard eggs. I've heard of large hens incubating well over a dozen eggs...
3) You can break open any fresh egg and examine it for fertility. That test can tell you how likely it is that the eggs you put under your hen are fertile. If you're waiting for incubating eggs, Day 7 is one of the first recommended days to candle for embryo development. I wouldn't recommend eating eggs that have been sitting under a hen at a hundred degrees for a few days, fertile or not.
4) People often move them to keep other hens from disturbing the nest or pushing her out to lay their eggs there. If this isn't a concern, you can leave her. You can also mark her eggs with a pencil so you know which eggs might be laid by interlopers.

Hope this helps. Good luck

 

[aart]

I would like to thank "Chicken Juggler" for the words of advice to break my 2 BO chickens that were going broody. I marked the two chickens in question with different colored felt pen just behind their comb so I could find them in the flock. I put them in a wire cage as you suggested but gave them food and water while they were in prison so had lots of poop to clean up but that was OK. I let them out once or twice a day, which gave me an opportunity to take the cage outside and hose it down. Once they went back into a nest I scooped them out and put them back in the wire cage. Today is day five and both chicken have returned to normal and joined the rest of the flock, are sleeping on the roost at night, etc. Thanks again for your words of wisdom and we will now be prepared for any future issues.

Glad it worked for ya!

Ok,
Here is an update on how the chick graft went.
......
Taffy has been a good brooder and mom before and she is very gentle so I thought I would give it a try and I am very proud of her.

Congrats!!