Broody Hen Thread!

[SIMZ]

Hi everyone! My broody has 5 week old chicks and 3 of the cockerels have been fighting a lot today. (non-stop for the 30 minutes I was out when I first noticed it.) They're grabbing hold of each other and not letting go and all have bloody combs. It seemed to be centered around one in particular and he seemed to be falling asleep while in these matches. I think the problem is that his eye is injured and it's just closing on one side. I had him out this afternoon to keep an eye on him and the fighting stopped. I put him back at bedtime and they're all back in the pen fighting it out.

The broody just clucks at them and isn't doing anything to stop it. Has anyone seen this and have any ideas? This seems WAY too early for this. Could there be a problem with that one chick?

 

[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!

So you're saying without fertile eggs or chicks, she's going to to sit longer?

 

[SilkieNation]

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.

My small flock are just pets really. My concern is just for the hen. She has dropped some weight, but I'm watching her. She's got bumble foot too, which I am treating with antibiotics and antiseptic - and watching.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

So you're saying without fertile eggs or chicks, she's going to to sit longer?

Brooding behavior is controlled by hormones and instinct, not logic.

 

[SilkieNation]

Looks like doggie watches over too!

 

[SilkieNation]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my question about breaking a broody!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Two mommas and adopted chicks have discovered the large nesting box with curtians I put out in the run for them. Last night they stayed out in the open (inside the secure run of course). I gave broody #3 who rejected the chicks six fertile eggs from the grocery store (she'd only been broody a week, so maybe it was too soon). We'll see how the store eggs go. I've never candled before so I'll have to do a bit of research on that.

 

[svfarm]

Most days with my birds are either good or bad. But these broodies are driving me crazy. Normally, my ee chicks hatch with no problems and pretty quick. Well one pipped yesterday and had a good sized hole earlier today. I think this chick would have hatched fine if some of its 'siblings' weren't about two days older. As soon as this chick had a hole, the other chicks were pecking at it and trampling it. I think the chick just got exhausted. So 6 hours later (had to go to dinner with the family after), I carefully took off the top of the egg and set the chick far back under the broody. I went back 10 mins later and saw something that would have made my day a definite good day.

All my ee's I hatched before this were either yellow with black spots or black with yellowish markings.

But then of course that wasn't the only chick that was supposed to hatch today. This morning I had checked the egg from my red sex-link that was due to hatch today. I've been watching these closely since none of these have successfully hatched yet (6-8 unsuccessful). Anyway, it was moving around pretty good. Later, I couldn't hear much so I made a very small safety hole just in case and set it in a safe place under the broody. I came back from dinner to find this just outside the nest box:

Every time one of these is due to hatch, I have a dinner to go to with my family. And then I come back and the chick is dead. Looks like I won't be going to any more dinners anytime soon. I have four more of these left under my broodies but I don't have much hope for them. I'm never going to try hatching these again.

Also this morning the chicks from my broody that is up off the ground were wandering the box. I didn't want them to fall so I gave them to the other one and gave her an egg in return. The hen off the ground is getting understandably grumpy. When I get home from work later, I'm going to try moving her back to the 'broody hutch' now that she is super protective of her eggs. I felt really bad about taking her chicks but I didn't want them to die.

 

[PD-Riverman]

So you're saying without fertile eggs or chicks, she's going to to sit longer?

The hen will sit for app. 21 says to hatch her fertile eggs, if she has no fertile eggs to hatch-----some hens will sit for weeks and weeks before giving up and this can cause them to get unhealthy. ""I"" break All MY Broodies if I am not going to "set" Them. I do this as soon as I see she is acting broody. Let me add this----I usually Set most ALL my broodies 49 in the last year, but have Broke some because I did not want to hatch any more at the time.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hi everyone! My broody has 5 week old chicks and 3 of the cockerels have been fighting a lot today. (non-stop for the 30 minutes I was out when I first noticed it.) They're grabbing hold of each other and not letting go and all have bloody combs. It seemed to be centered around one in particular and he seemed to be falling asleep while in these matches. I think the problem is that his eye is injured and it's just closing on one side. I had him out this afternoon to keep an eye on him and the fighting stopped. I put him back at bedtime and they're all back in the pen fighting it out.

The broody just clucks at them and isn't doing anything to stop it. Has anyone seen this and have any ideas? This seems WAY too early for this. Could there be a problem with that one chick?

To start with if you got Any chicken thats bleeding----you should separate it ASAP or it can,be pecked to death. The mother hen is not usually going to "DO" anything. In Nature----before Man penned the chickens up-----the weaker, hurt chicken could run off and Hide---to get away from more hurt. In your pen----you will have to control this or loose a chicken or two. I would separate each one till they heal-----then "I" would get rid of the ones I was not planning to keep like the "trouble" maker..