Broody Hen Thread!

[chicken farmer]

can a broody hen die if she doesn't Hatch any babies and just keeps setting on the nest? or will she eventually break herself of the broodiness? my hen is still setting. the last egg i was holding out for wasn't fertile. So i put 8 more under her today and yesterday. which means another 21 days.....

If I was you I would NOT let her sit anymore because its unhealthy for her to keep sitting all day and not eating and drinking a lot,so for sure do not let her sit 21 more days. The best thing would be is to buy/get some chicks and slip them under her so she thinks she hatched them and she will be happy and off the nest.

 

[ronikins]

thank You. I'll have to get them this weekend....

 

[Rena]

I have a really tiny d'Uccle hen on 4 standard-sized eggs (she planned on setting 15 of her own that she had hidden in a rain gutter, but my bantam eggs aren't fertile). The eggs are at day 18 and as of 2 days ago were all growing and well. When I went to give her fresh food and water a bit ago she got up to squawk at me and I could see that she has pooped all over the eggs. It was definitely today, they were clean last night. I should just leave them poo-covered, right? It's too late to mess with them?

Advice appreciated..

 

[lilliesanchicks]

I have a really tiny d'Uccle hen on 4 standard-sized eggs (she planned on setting 15 of her own that she had hidden in a rain gutter, but my bantam eggs aren't fertile). The eggs are at day 18 and as of 2 days ago were all growing and well. When I went to give her fresh food and water a bit ago she got up to squawk at me and I could see that she has pooped all over the eggs. It was definitely today, they were clean last night. I should just leave them poo-covered, right? It's too late to mess with them?

Advice appreciated..

If you can put up with her pecking at you give it a try but try to disturb them as little as possible.take a small bucket of warm water use a damp cloth and pull out one egg at a time and wipe them off.

I have two broody hens at this time had to find eggs for them since the rooster is not doing his job. My little bantam game hen cross was on 15 eggs took me a few day to find her she is now in the pen next to my silkie/ee cross who was on 2 dud eggs ,both now have plenty of fertile eggs under them now.
I have more eggs coming since I did swaps before I found some local. So I will be incubating a bunch of eggs as well ,unless more hens go broody

then they will get those eggs.

 

[bigT88]

so first time using a broody hen. put 18 eggs under her (black australorp). She covers them all nicely. She is sitting on these eggs in a nesting box (10) nest box. It is about 4 or 5 feet off the ground. Obviously this wont work for the chicks when they hatch. Should i move her and the nest, very tricky. Or just lower the whole nesting shelf after they hatch?

 

[bobbieschicks]

If I was you I would NOT let her sit anymore because its unhealthy for her to keep sitting all day and not eating and drinking a lot,so for sure do not let her sit 21 more days. The best thing would be is to buy/get some chicks and slip them under her so she thinks she hatched them and she will be happy and off the nest.

Give her some treats like scrambled eggs and dried mealworms along the way and make sure she's eating & drinking. She will lose some weight so feed her some treats every day. My Bunny sat for 46 days and in the end after trying twice she still didn't hatch anything. I finally gave her six store bought chicks to raise. This time when she went broody I put her in my homemade broody breaker and two days in it broke her.

 

[tastybabies]

How do you move a broody hen and her chicks if she's nested up high? its not a true nest, she stole the outdoor cats house to go broody in it. Shes sitting on her eggs on an old foam mattress pad with some of her pulled out feathers. the eggs are due tomorrowish. i just dont want any chicks falling out when she gets out.

 

[Jharper]

Now I'm down to 4.

 

[heninthehouse]

So sad!!! I have 2 Brodie's. one is a 2 year old first time and the other is my BO Goldie who hatched a clutch last spring. Well I had 1 dead chick 1/2 way hatched last night (from my new mama)- and another this morning 3/4 hatched and died :-/. So I put the rest of her eggs under Goldie (accept one or two I don't think are fertile) and Goldie had a 2/3 die hatched chick tonight along with a live hatched chick. She currently has the last one (zipping now) under her an I am worried it will die too :-/. So sad!! Last year Goldie hatched 5 of 7 eggs- all complete live hatches and 2 non developed eggs!!

What could be causing this years nearly hatched chicks to die??

These were mail ordered eggs 5 of 5 were fertile and got at least to partial hatch

 

[bobbieschicks]

How do you move a broody hen and her chicks if she's nested up high? its not a true nest, she stole the outdoor cats house to go broody in it. Shes sitting on her eggs on an old foam mattress pad with some of her pulled out feathers. the eggs are due tomorrowish. i just dont want any chicks falling out when she gets out.

Since the eggs are due to hatch shortly I'd wait until they've all hatched and then do any moves if needed. How high is "up high" because she will probably keep the chicks under her for a couple of days while hatching and then move them down herself. My silky hatched her silky brood in the favorite nest box that's about 24" off the floor. On the second day she had moved them to the floor without my help.