Broody Hen Thread!

[CanaDawn]

My Silkie is BACK on the nest....third time since June iirc

 

[katatonic123]

I think my 21 week old just started laying ee silkie cross is going broody on me. I so do not have room for chicks and we are going into winter!

 

[CanaDawn]

I think my 21 week old just started laying ee silkie cross is going broody on me. I so do not have room for chicks and we are going into winter!

I guess she doesn't get to keep any eggs then!

 

[katatonic123]

I'm afraid that with our vacation this weekend she will sit all weekend and get a batch started whether I want her to or not.

 

[CanaDawn]

I'm afraid that with our vacation this weekend she will sit all weekend and get a batch started whether I want her to or not.

I'd just pull them when I got home, or get someone to come get them over the weekend if I really didn't want chicks, but that's me. Can you block her off from the roos or the other birds so that she at least won't have fertile eggs? She probably isn't laying if she's already broody, right? I have such an insistent Silkie that I'm tempted to give her some #$%@ eggs even though I really have no room for chicks either.

 

[katatonic123]

She laid sat and sun but not today. I don't really have a separation setup without taking her completely out of the coop. I'm afraid our other temp cage would be too cool for her at night all by herself. My normal chicken helper is going with us on vacation. May just have to let her brood. Someone always wants chicks, right?

 

[tiffmw10]

This pullet did not come home to roost one evening and I thought she had been taken by a predator. About two weeks later I was weeding a flower bed and found her sitting on a nest in a clump of ferns. I decided to leave her be as she had survived this far on her on and was pretty well hidden as I had passed by that spot daily and never noticed her. About ten days later she was out and about with her brood of 10 little cutie pies teaching them to scratch for insects. I set out a feeder and water for them, but pretty much left them on their own and they are all thriving.

What a beautiful story. They're adorable!

 

[Angie16hearts]

She laid sat and sun but not today. I don't really have a separation setup without taking her completely out of the coop. I'm afraid our other temp cage would be too cool for her at night all by herself. My normal chicken helper is going with us on vacation. May just have to let her brood. Someone always wants chicks, right?

What about your brother? I would let her do her thing.. You always get cute chicks!

 

[tarahtt]

My broody's eggs were due on the 30th. 8 hatched bet

ween the 29th and 30th. She is on and off of the last 3. Is it time to give up on those last eggs?

 

[the poppster]

My broody's eggs were due on the 30th. 8 hatched bet ween the 29th and 30th. She is on and off of the last 3. Is it time to give up on those last eggs?

candle them...if there are live chicks you should be able to see some movement...listen to them...the little ones peep inside the shells before hatch...(you probably know that already)...some set the egg in a bowl of warm water and float candle them...if you watch closely if the chick is alive you should see the egg move in the water.....she may be able to hear the chicks, might be why she keeps going back to the eggs....most of my broodys just up and abandoned the remaining eggs as soon as the live ones hatched....I built a special broody cage, just big enough for the nest and an area attached big enough for water and food...and a good stretch..so the broody can't abandon the last eggs until I let her out