Broody Hen Thread!

[chickenlady80]

I just went out to close the coop up for the night and found one of my white face black Spanish hens all sorts of broody. I'm scared to death. It was 20 degrees this morning and we have a foot and a half of snow on the ground. Does she maybe know that the weather is going to improve by the time the chicks hatch? My nesting boxes aren't exactly meant for hatching. :/ They're 3ft off the ground! Should I steal the eggs and put them in the incubator? Should I build her a better nesting box? What about all the other chickens that are with her?!? I'm so nervous and don't know the best thing to do for this girl and her eggs!!!

I agree with the others about moving her if you can. Some of my hens I have trouble moving because it stresses them out and it breaks their broodiness, others are soooo broody that they don't mind at all no matter what time of day it is. night in the dark is best though if your worried. I have two broody hens sitting on eggs right now and I live in Minnesota. I also have one that is sitting in a box on her eggs that is 6 feet off the ground. Not exactly ideal! Sometimes it just happens where it happens before I even notice. If thee eggs make it I will have to move her and the chicks to a safer spot for sure. In my personal experience if you can move them away from the others it is better - I had a chicken that sat on eggs on the floor in our coop for over a week and the other hens kicked her off and needless to say it didn't end well. I was very sad but it was my first broody hen ever so I was also learning.

 

[chicky lady]

Yes it was her first time and she is still on the nest clucking, I think she is looking for them. I feel bad for her, at first I was mad but I figured she is new and hopefully if she wants to do it again later she will be better. Would it be best if I broke her broodieness now or put more eggs under her? She was so determined to hatch them but I don't want to make her sick by having her set another 3 weeks. I just feel so bad. I don't think she pecked at them or anything I just think it was her inexperience.

 

[MorgansManor]

Yes it was her first time and she is still on the nest clucking, I think she is looking for them.  I feel bad for her, at first I was mad but I figured she is new and hopefully if she wants to do it again later she will be better.  Would it be best if I broke her broodieness now or put more eggs under her?  She was so determined to hatch them but I don't want to make her sick by having her set another 3 weeks. I just feel so bad.  I don't think she pecked at them or anything I just think it was her inexperience. 

So sorry for the loss - so sad and I really hate that you had to experience it. Wish I had an answer but this is a first time broody experience. I am sure you will get a reply soon lots of helpful floks here.

 

[fisherlady]

Yes it was her first time and she is still on the nest clucking, I think she is looking for them. I feel bad for her, at first I was mad but I figured she is new and hopefully if she wants to do it again later she will be better. Would it be best if I broke her broodieness now or put more eggs under her? She was so determined to hatch them but I don't want to make her sick by having her set another 3 weeks. I just feel so bad. I don't think she pecked at them or anything I just think it was her inexperience.

If she is still on the nest and wanting to have chicks she may adopt 3 or so if you have a source for day olds... if you are interested in doing this it should be done soon and you would graft them at night.... and you will need to be able to supervise them very closely for a day or so to make sure they are ok. If she rejects them though you will need to be ready to raise them yourself.

You may want to put a couple of 'dummy eggs' under her if it will be a day or so till you get the new chicks, just get a couple of infertiles and make sure they are reasonably warm and set them under her...
It's not a perfect answer, I'm sorry you lost the little ones... but it may help you a bit if it's something you want to do.
Hopefully someone with more years of broody time will chime in to help with any other alternatives.

 

[LONDON HENS]

I have a broody at the moment. I wasnt really planning on hatching any eggs but after two weeks of her being broody I decided to get some hatching eggs. She has been on them for 11 days now. But she has been broody for about 25 days So longer than the 21 days it takes. Will she leave the eggs do you think?
what are people experiences with this?

 

[jhfamily5]

Hi there! I am new to this thread. I have had Silkies and Showgirls going broody all winter and I live in Indiana so it has been bizarre to say the least. They started it up in November when I went on vacation and the kiddos were supposed to be collecting the eggs regularly...yeah, my bad to trust them but ages 8-15 jeez...I came home to two broody Silkies sitting on huge clutches. The other girls decided to help them out and within a couple of days two turned to five broody girls! It is contagious! Lesson learned. Move them immediately unless you want to deal with 35 chicks in December. I went on vacation again at the end of January and warned the kiddos to collect the eggs more often this time but of course knowing I would never throw out eggs that have started developing...yup, they let them go again knowing they would get adorable little fluffy butts. I swear it has been like a domino effect here. I separated the broodys and their clutches when I got home (was gone a week) but during the next two weeks others in separate pens all just started going broody one after another and I had NINE broody hens at once between four different pens. I didn't let them all keep eggs, but still NINE. Most are still broody but sitting on nothing. A few seem to be starting to snap out of it but others just refuse to quit. I just can't seem to break them and don't have that many broody breaker cages. Thanks to the super cold weather and stealing of each others eggs, quite a few quitters had to be discarded early on so this hatch wasn't as extreme. We have hatched 25 chicks over the last week and the last two broody showgirls are due to start hatching out babies anytime. I am wondering if anyone else has had this kind of broody behavior in winter before? I collect eggs 3-6 times a day due to the cold temps so I don't know what is going on with these crazy girls!

 

[fisherlady]

I have a broody at the moment. I wasnt really planning on hatching any eggs but after two weeks of her being broody I decided to get some hatching eggs. She has been on them for 11 days now. But she has been broody for about 25 days So longer than the 21 days it takes. Will she leave the eggs do you think?
what are people experiences with this?

She's very pretty!! we had our Silkie went broody in December, we hoped it would pass but when it didn't we gave her eggs in January, so she was broody for 6 wks or so total? We just made sure we gave her easy access to her food and offered her lots of healthy treats to encourage her to eat. Her body condition stayed good, that is something you should keep an eye on.
As far as her leaving the nest early... I wouldn't worry about that if she's sat this long already she isn't about to give up till she has chicks!

Hi there! I am new to this thread. I have had Silkies and Showgirls going broody all winter and I live in Indiana so it has been bizarre to say the least. They started it up in November when I went on vacation and the kiddos were supposed to be collecting the eggs regularly...yeah, my bad to trust them but ages 8-15 jeez...I came home to two broody Silkies sitting on huge clutches. The other girls decided to help them out and within a couple of days two turned to five broody girls! It is contagious! Lesson learned. Move them immediately unless you want to deal with 35 chicks in December. I went on vacation again at the end of January and warned the kiddos to collect the eggs more often this time but of course knowing I would never throw out eggs that have started developing...yup, they let them go again knowing they would get adorable little fluffy butts. I swear it has been like a domino effect here. I separated the broodys and their clutches when I got home (was gone a week) but during the next two weeks others in separate pens all just started going broody one after another and I had NINE broody hens at once between four different pens. I didn't let them all keep eggs, but still NINE. Most are still broody but sitting on nothing. A few seem to be starting to snap out of it but others just refuse to quit. I just can't seem to break them and don't have that many broody breaker cages. Thanks to the super cold weather and stealing of each others eggs, quite a few quitters had to be discarded early on so this hatch wasn't as extreme. We have hatched 25 chicks over the last week and the last two broody showgirls are due to start hatching out babies anytime. I am wondering if anyone else has had this kind of broody behavior in winter before? I collect eggs 3-6 times a day due to the cold temps so I don't know what is going on with these crazy girls!

Congrats on the broodies, sounds like a fun time! I can think of worse ways to spend the winter! LOL I think silkies get bored in the winter so broody is a good way for them to pass the time!

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I have a broody at the moment. I wasnt really planning on hatching any eggs but after two weeks of her being broody I decided to get some hatching eggs. She has been on them for 11 days now. But she has been broody for about 25 days So longer than the 21 days it takes. Will she leave the eggs do you think?
what are people experiences with this?

My experiences:
I had 1 RIR bantam sit for 3 months.
Had another RIR bantam sit for 2 months.
Had a Sex-Link that sat with mites for the whole 21 days.

So they are pretty determined little creatures!
I like your girl, very pretty hope she does well.

 

[erinchelsea]

Hi there! I am new to this thread. I have had Silkies and Showgirls going broody all winter and I live in Indiana so it has been bizarre to say the least. They started it up in November when I went on vacation and the kiddos were supposed to be collecting the eggs regularly...yeah, my bad to trust them but ages 8-15 jeez...I came home to two broody Silkies sitting on huge clutches. The other girls decided to help them out and within a couple of days two turned to five broody girls! It is contagious! Lesson learned. Move them immediately unless you want to deal with 35 chicks in December. I went on vacation again at the end of January and warned the kiddos to collect the eggs more often this time but of course knowing I would never throw out eggs that have started developing...yup, they let them go again knowing they would get adorable little fluffy butts. I swear it has been like a domino effect here. I separated the broodys and their clutches when I got home (was gone a week) but during the next two weeks others in separate pens all just started going broody one after another and I had NINE broody hens at once between four different pens. I didn't let them all keep eggs, but still NINE. Most are still broody but sitting on nothing. A few seem to be starting to snap out of it but others just refuse to quit. I just can't seem to break them and don't have that many broody breaker cages. Thanks to the super cold weather and stealing of each others eggs, quite a few quitters had to be discarded early on so this hatch wasn't as extreme. We have hatched 25 chicks over the last week and the last two broody showgirls are due to start hatching out babies anytime. I am wondering if anyone else has had this kind of broody behavior in winter before? I collect eggs 3-6 times a day due to the cold temps so I don't know what is going on with these crazy girls!

Welcome! Isn't that funny, I've had broody hens every winter too.

Silly girls!

 

[erinchelsea]

London, she is gorgeous!

I think it depends on the particular hen, but I've had one Wyandotte sit for several months till we finally moved to another coop, and the Australorp I have on eggs right now has been sitting for about 6 weeks- should be hatching in a couple days. I tried to move her at first, but she escaped so all those eggs died and I had to set her on new ones. She was bound and determined to hatch in HER nest!

I think you've got a good chance.