Broody Hen Thread!

[crazychicken5]

What do I do if my broody is not accepted back into her original flock?

they will except her back. there may be a bit of chest bumping, but they will work it out fine.

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

I was away for a week and came home to babies that exploded in size. My favorite in terms of personality and looks is a SFH x SF mix. She's so cute!

Her siblings are also really cute, particularly a SFH x SF cockerel that's developing a snow leopard coloring and a pair of backyard Favacaunas (Lavender Ameraucana x SF), which so far are looking female.

 

[alibabba]

This late in the season there isn't anything available locally. Not a single feed store still carries chicks. I suppose I could order more, but with my luck she'd stop the day the chicks get here.

I am picking up as many chicks as I want from a small sorta local "breeder/hatchery" tomorrow. I'm sure someone has something....there is a farm that sells production breeds only nearby me, if you go in a give em your sad story, they will put a couple in brown bag for you(it's a story I read on BYC someplace) Maybe someone has something on craigslist? Someone is def hatching something...

Or the broody cage.

I hope you don't lose her... I have a friend who isn't quite the chicken micro manager that "we" are, he thought nature would just take it's course... He had a hen stealing eggs (til i told him to mark them and then 2 hens in nest box... suggested moving her and eggs to another pen, giving her a separate area.

One hen died on the nest, the other almost died. The eggs were all rotten. Too much heat? Anyway, what an avoidable situation.

 

[alibabba]

BTW, looks like my other little D'Uccle is sitting

She must've has missed her bud over the past 12 days! And thought, hey, "That sitting on eggs all day and night looks like FUN!"

So now, do I give her more backyard mix? OR get something karazy awesome?


And more nest boxes....lol, lol, lol.


ETA: Backyard mix:

Frizzle Tolbunt Polish Roo over D'Uccle(These will be either really cute or really ugly), EE's, SLW ( Curious about this one!)

 

[frizzylizzy2003]

My Roo is pretty good. At
least with my last broody he was. She allowed only him next to her chicks.
I have 3 broodys , and 9 in incubator for the same date as others. Only because I wasn't sure if ine of the clutch so put together had all fertile eggs. Since my bantams can't cover much. Luckily all 5 are growing. I still have not candled my other two broodys.

I also had my Australorp hatch 9 3 days ago. It will be Chicken city next week at my place. I'm kinda worried , I'll be running from coop to coop too incubator

how did the hatch go? How many chicks? sorry i know im a little late replying i havent been on for a while haha. sounds like your roo is pretty good with the hens. My rooster greets me at the gate and flies up, lets me pet him then jumps down so i can let him and the hens and ducks out. He was born on december 21 so he is about 6 months old (ish) but i am worried for my hens safety because as i said he grabs them by their feathers at the neck and won't let go plus he is mating with hens that are his age and haven't started laying yet im hoping its just a phase but im not sure.although he does care about them as in when they are in the coop he will go up and check on them its kinda funny to see him poke his head in cluck a few times then go back out into the run.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Tried to swap my girls over from the nesting boxes to dish tubs. They didn't go for it at ALL. They dumped them over, made a giant mess, and were huffily squatting on the eggs in the middle of the coop.

 

[svfarm]

I need some advise. I have two hens sitting on eggs (at least 20 total). The nesting box is about 2 1/2 - 3 feet off the ground and nailed to the wall. It has three boxes and is the favorite of all 5 of my adult hens. The broody hens started with 9 eggs and then started stealing eggs from the other box. There are gaps between the three boxes. The first of the eggs should start hatching soon. When they do, should I move them to the brooder so they don't fall out of the nesting box? Also, will the hens lay on the eggs until they all hatch? The last of the eggs has only been under them for a few days. I do have an incubator. Both hens are about a year. I got them as chicks. This is my first time with a broody.

 

[sharol]

Quote:
Once the first egg(s) have hatched, she will abandon the nest to take care of the babies. If you keep a close eye on them, you may be able to transfer them to an incubator in time to save them. Try to keep the eggs as quiet during the move as possible. When I rescued my Araucana eggs from my BR broody who had abandoned them for the one chick that hatched a couple days early, I was able to save 8 of the 11 babies. Of course now they are in my house in the brooder (with all the accompanying dust. Lots of it depends on how far along the eggs are. I would gently candle any eggs she abandons and try to save the ones that are developing, I suppose. I hate to destroy developing life (even chicken life). That said, most broodies won't start truly sitting until they have completed the clutch, so it is possible that the eggs that were laid first didn't actually start developing until later. I move my broodies right before hatch. At that point they are usually enough into that broody zen thing that they don't refuse to move. My nest boxes are like yours, so I built a couple of free standing ones and put them on the floor for the broody. This time I used a doggy playpen around the nest box for the mama hen's security, but I don't think I needed it. With the others, I moved them to a portable coop/run that I use for babies. This time there were already 2 hens co-parenting 9, 1 week old chicks in there, so I had to figure out something else. I'd post pictures, but I can't get the editor to work right this morning. In your position I would try to find an alternate, on the floor, option for nest boxes Some people use litter pans (the ones with lids) and have had good luck with them. Use whatever nesting material is in the other boxes, and move the broodies with their eggs. Then after they hatch all they are going to hatch, pop the remaining viable (after candle) eggs into the incubator.

 

[alibabba]

Tried to swap my girls over from the nesting boxes to dish tubs. They didn't go for it at ALL. They dumped them over, made a giant mess, and were huffily squatting on the eggs in the middle of the coop.

cat litter boxes? I have to put rocks in the corners with plenty of bedding over them to weigh them down for the big fat hens. In 6 months haven't had an egg break on a rock.

Glad they stayed in broody mode for you through it!!!

 

[sharol]

Quote:
My hens prefer a nest with a top, so made them out of thin plywood, but a litter pan with a cover would also work for them. I'll try that next time I need a nest space for them.