Broody Hen Thread!

[alibabba]

No dead chicks! Just happy clucking mommas in a big hen pile with chicks climbing all over and under them. My non broody has carved out her own nest spot in the coop, which is sliiiiightly worrisome. Really hope the chicks aren't tipping her over into wanting her own, LOL! Roo keeps going up to check on everyone and coming back out to talk to me.

Awww,

I WAS planning on making two little pens, one for each broody momma...but i would love to have this type of experience....

Just nervous...I don't want to have to tell the kids, "well, you see, the other hens killed the chicks".

These girls "should be" good Mommas, they are bantams and have done an excellent job sitting..

Should I separate to be safe? Or watch carefully? For a day or 2 after they are out and about? When does the killing usually happen if it's going to?

 

[aart]

I hate yolkers....all warm and delightful and should be developing, but not fertile.

What is it that you are referring to as a 'yolker'?

 

[Demidog]

Hmmm, that must've been tough. I am on ebay incubator shopping so I'm ready in case anyone ever quits or I have unhatched "hatchables". There were none to manage, I gathered everyday or 36 hrs. So I chose and marked what she was setting on.

Yeah, i'v marked them now, but the first few days she was broody i never noticed and was still collecting eggs from under her. Because they all lay in the same box i often have to move a hen to get to the eggs so at first i never thought about it. But then one of the eggs i i took to eat had blood vessels when i cracked it open and i realized she's been on the nest for days. So i stopped taking the eggs to let her hatch some, and came on here for advice, which was when i was told about problems with a staggered hatch. This is still a learning curve for me. Last year i successfully incubated eggs in a homemade incubator, my hens are about a year old now. The rooster mates with them all the time, one of them has lost feathers and has red scratched skin on her back from his claws, i guess she's his favorite

. And when i crack the eggs open to eat them most of them are fertile. Hopefully my broody will do a good job and hatch these 4 eggs. And I'm collecting more eggs in the hopes that another hen will follow her lead, fingers crossed!

 

[n3kms]

What is it that you are referring to as a 'yolker'?

When you candle them and you still just see the yellow yolk even though they have been incubating long enough to see some development then they were most likely not fertile.

 

[aart]

Quote: Oh OK..never heard that term...usually see them called 'clears'.

 

[n3kms]

Oh OK..never heard that term...usually see them called 'clears'.

Well that is all I have ever heard them called as well but you can see why that could be a casual terminology, especially if you didn't know what others called them.

 

[fisherlady]

Well that is all I have ever heard them called as well but you can see why that could be a casual terminology, especially if you didn't know what others called them.

Yep, in our coop we usually just call them clears but yolkers makes sense also... but then again I call eggs 'sloshy' rather than 'quitters' but they are essentially the same also... everyone has their preferred slang for them.

 

[fisherlady]

I posted this on another related thread without an answer, so I'll post here and see if anyone can tell me...

why people go to such extreme lengths to break broodiness? Is it because they want the hen to start laying again i.e. egg production, or is there another reason, like it's dangerous somehow for the hen? I have read some crazy stuff about how people try to break the broodiness. It all sounds more like traumatizing the hen than anything else. No food or water for a few days, dunking in water, hanging from a cage, hanging from a cage with bright light, isolating in a coop with super bright lights 24/7... It's awful, IMO. I don't get it.

Many times it is due to lack of coop space and no known easy ways to sell the resulting chicks even if they did let her hatch. For others it is because they have too many broody hens at the same time and don't have a set up which allows them to handle multiple hatches at the same time. whatever the reason I would rather see a broody 'broken' than see her sit for weeks with no results. I'm sure there are many methods out there which sound horribly cruel, and some are probably much more harsh than they need to be , but there are a few decent methods which are effective and are much better than risking the hen's health.

 

[SilkieNation]

Because if you don't want chicks or don't have fertile eggs to give her, the hen can starve and exhaust herself basically to death out of sheer stubbornness and instinct. She'll sit for a LOT longer than the normal 21 days if she's really determined.

Also, broodiness can be catching. If you don't nip it in thd bud, you can have your whole coop go broody on you. Mine went down like dominoes. One per week until three of my four hens was broody, not laying, and ALL my nesting boxes were occupied!

Thank you for your response. I have been careful to be sure my broody gets food and water. And yes - I have another goin' down... Does giving her eggs help shorten the event? Only if they hatch? I never had lots of problems with broodiness - in nine years with Silkies. They never sat for long, long periods so I just don't have the experience with this. This girl has been on the nest for about 2.5 weeks now.

 

[fisherlady]

A few pictures to update our recent broody activities....
A group of youngsters who were cut loose a couple of weeks ago by the broodies... they found a new buddy to hang with



Andre seems happy to keep an eye on them.
Gracie (white) and her daughter Jo with their combined group...




3 of our silver pencil rocks had chicks and they have been raised as a group in the flock also...



The rooster helps watch over them...