Broody Hen Thread!

[memz88]

So a while bac we had a hen go missing, it was sad times :-(, we looked everywhere for her and nothing, 3 days ago when we was taking a walk to our great pleasure we saw her, after getting closer saw that she was not alone and had 5 chicks with her , so happy to have her back and have 5 lovely chicks as a bonus, they are now safely tucked up in there own run.
Have put one as my profile pic as don't know how to put pics on here lol, anyone no wat they are ?

 

[20736]

I love happy endings

 

[Lady of McCamley]

My broody hen is pooping in her nest! I just put 6 shipped/fertile eggs under her. Everything I have read says disturb her as little as possible but should I periodically check/ clean up for poop?

After I was certain my broody was settled as I didn't want to disturb her too soon after putting the eggs under (I waited a couple of days), I chose to gently pull out the poopy mess and add clean bedding. It is best if you can catch a time when she is off the nest to eat and drink. Sometimes you can entice them to get up and eat by putting in a container of food in front of them.

I had the best luck with a layer of pine shavings on the bottom and then timothy hay or very soft straw on top of that. It added absorbency for poo and help contain the mess, and the layering made it easy to change things for cleaning. In time she got better at not making messes in the nest.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Chookin gooood]

She will cover them with her wings and lift up so they can get under.
As they grow, they get more and better feathers, although the down keeps them warm, too.
Is she a LF or BantY? A LF should be fine.
Congrats and Good Luck.

Thankyou!
She now has 11, we found a chick on the side of the road, abandoned. She accepted it straight away!
She's a LF.

 

[sharol]

My BO not only never pooped in her nest, now she makes sure she is outside the coop to poop in the mornings. Every day I find a huge broody poo right next to the people door out of the run. The coop part of the hoop is pretty small, and she just doesn't want to mess in it.

She is an amazing mom, too. This one is def. a keeper.


She has 3 babies. The other one is on the other side of her. In this picture, they are about 3 weeks.

 

[20736]

Lady of McC-
I just remembered something.
Years ago, I added whole oats to my feed to make the stool less runny. worked pretty good.
Then, if she does soil nest, it is easy to pick out and doesn't harm eggs.
Might want to try it.
Hope this helps.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Lady of McC-
I just remembered something.
Years ago, I added whole oats to my feed to make the stool less runny. worked pretty good.
Then, if she does soil nest, it is easy to pick out and doesn't harm eggs.
Might want to try it.
Hope this helps.

That's a really good suggestion. I'll try that with her the next time she goes broody.

Do you mean whole oats as in hard kernel, unrolled oats? Or the unprocessed rolled "old fashioned" or "steal cut"? (maybe more absorbant?)

Thanks for the suggestion...I think it could work

Lady of McCamley

 

[chickarooo]

It's day 21 for me I'll send pics when mine hatch

 

[Chookin gooood]

It's day 21 for me I'll send pics when mine hatch

Good luck!

 

[chickarooo]

Thanks I've got a feeling I'm going to need it.