Broody Hen Thread!

[weeshanti]

My broody hen is now caring for 11 chicks (5 hatched this weekend and 6 last). She hatched about 1/2 of these herself and the rest were incubator hatched. I have one more that just hatched about an hour ago in the incubator and will add it to the clutch tomorrow. She didn't even blink when I added the older chicks to her nest and they took right to her. I was worried they would not imprint on her but the are most definitley looking at her as Mom. There are 3 more eggs in the incubator but I don't think they are going to hatch. They were due yesterday so if they are not at least pipped by morning I think they are not going to. I will leave them in the incubator until Friday though. I have Mom ansd the chicks in a broody coop inside the bigger chicken yard so they will not be fully separated. The 3 other hens can't get to the chicks because the mesh is 1/4" but I am hoping this will ease the transition to the flock that they will at least be familiar with each other. I moved her to the coop from the bigger coop because her nest was elevated and they would have to navigate a ramp and the chick would have been vulnerable to the older hens..

Congratulations! We have a similar setup with a segregated "coop" within the coop for brooders; my first one is in there now, so I hope it will work as yours is!

 

[melina90]

Each hen is different. I have a Cochin who's been broody every morning for at least a month. In the afternoon she goes out and plays with the other chickens and then roosts for the night and then starts all over again the next day. She never gets any more broody and she never gets any less broody. It's like having a hormony teenager in the coop. She shreaks. She pecks. She does the poofed up cluck. And then in the afternoon she's like "what broodiness? I'm just trying to scratch through the compost"

It's very frustrating, especially when you actually want them to go broody.

haha, chickens display so many weirds traits of behaviour. I also have a weird chicken like that, a bantam cochin that always seems to be broody but never sticks to brooding in one place, and can step off of the eggs and end the brooding at any time, even after sitting on the same eggs in the same nest for a week - as if she goes bored with it. I've decided not to use her as a chicken-momma as I have a bantam silkie that does the job way better - always stays on the nest determined to finish the task until the babies hatch. I can see how it could be pretty frustrating, so hopefully she'll come around or maybe one of your other hens will decide to be a mom soon?

 

[kannna]

Betty, the avatar, is a wonderful mother. She's a Langshan/Sussex mix. She sticks to the nest and gets up once a day for a breather. She let's me check on the eggs and doesn't peck or scream. And when they hatch she teaches them everything they need to know. She's also the boss so integration is not difficult. No one messes with Betty.

Last year she went broody the first week in May. I can't remember the year before (I need a log). I'm crossing my fingers it will be soon.

 

[billyb]

Does anyone know howling a hen could stay off her clutch for with out them dying?

 

[Chookin gooood]

You can take eggs out for 30 minutes without the inside of the egg getting cold (that is for candling) so i guess it would be similar?

 

[Member 151789]

my white silkie hen, chrysanthemum, went broody a couple of weeks ago and we put some mixed breed eggs under her. the official hatch date for those is the 25th. i just borrowed another broody for one jar of apple butter and 15 egg cartons and she is sitting on 8 lavender and black orpingtons,one rhode island red,2 blue and black ameruacanas, and 4 show quality blue splash silkies i got in the mail. the only problem is that the silkies are 6 days older than the rest of the eggs because my other hen was sitting on them. i am afraid that when my hen hatches the 4 silkies, she will abandon the rest of her eggs instead of sit on them for another 6 days....what is your thought on that? do you think she will abandon them?

thanks!
Andrea

 

[Jharper]

[COLOR=222222]my white silkie hen, chrysanthemum, went broody a couple of weeks ago and we put some mixed breed eggs under her. the official hatch date for those is the 25th. i just borrowed another broody for one jar of apple butter and 15 egg cartons and she is sitting on 8 lavender and black orpingtons,one rhode island red,2 blue and black ameruacanas, and 4 show quality blue splash silkies i got in the mail. the only problem is that the silkies are 6 days older than the rest of the eggs because my other hen was sitting on them. i am afraid that when my hen hatches the 4 silkies, she will abandon the rest of her eggs instead of sit on them for another 6 days....what is your thought on that? do you think she will abandon them?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=222222]thanks![/COLOR]
[COLOR=222222]Andrea[/COLOR]

Get those away from her after they hatch and let her hatch out the rest and see if she will take them back end at night fall.

 

[CherieAmie]

Does anyone know howling a hen could stay off her clutch for with out them dying?

My hen got back on the wrong nest in below freezing weather and I didn't find her until the eggs were stone cold. Half of them still hatched!

 

[billyb]

My hen got back on the wrong nest in below freezing weather and I didn't find her until the eggs were stone cold. Half of them still hatched! 

Ok thanks! I have a another quick question! Today was the forth day, so I candled them to see growth and three of the four were live. Because one I thought I saw the ring of death. And also the mother hen had seemed to reject it and the egg went cold. And I didn't see any of the veins that you even see on the third day. So I did an eggtopsy to see what went wrong. So when I cracked the egg open my heart dropped! I saw red and like a little chunk! And then I thought oh noooo! I killed it! But then I remember it looked nothing like the others and it just wasn't stick like the others. So you don't think I killed it right? Please any suggestions? Thanks - Billyb

 

[Jharper]

Ok thanks! I have a another quick question! Today was the forth day, so I candled them to see growth and three of the four were live. Because one I thought I saw the ring of death. And also the mother hen had seemed to reject it and the egg went cold. And I didn't see any of the veins that you even see on the third day. So I did an eggtopsy to see what went wrong. So when I cracked the egg open my heart dropped! I saw red and like a little chunk! And then I thought oh noooo! I killed it! But then I remember it looked nothing like the others and it just wasn't stick like the others. So you don't think I killed it right? Please any suggestions? Thanks - Billyb

I've had geese eggs die and start to smell and I cracked em open and I saw the baby and some greenish bluish coloring in there. So it must have died b/c some hens reject bad eggs. Ohh and my goose eggs are due this weekend.