Broody Hen Thread!

[KrazyChromatics]

noticed my broody baby clucking day before yesterday at feed time, and i started to wonder, today i saw her looking under herself, and shifting and tucking her head under her wing, i went to investigate, i picked up an egg and it popped open and out tumbled a chick lol... not bad for her not being with a rooster in 2 or 3 months, maybe even 4 im not sure lol.. but she had 10 eggs and i never candled them just let her do her thing, i didnt even think they were fertile! so much for my last hatch being july! lol

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well my hen has no intrest in her 2 day old chicks and she keeps getting off them and leaving them so I am thinking of taking them in my self should I? And if I do will she get depressed or will she just go back to her normal chicken life with all the other chickens

So when you say she keeps getting off of them and leaving them, is she ignoring them completely and not caring for them?

Hens do get up and let the little chicks exercise, and they will scratch and show the little chicks how to scratch. They will take dust baths, and the little chicks will run around wondering at first what she is doing then attempt to join her. Then the momma will cluck and the little chicks will come to eat or drink. They don't sit on the chicks like they do the eggs, especially in warmer weather. They let them out to "play" and then periodically sit down and warm them when they come to the momma for warmth.

However, if she acts as they don't exist, and the chicks are huddled in distress; if she is paying no attention to them but leaving them isolated and alone or ignores them when they crawl into her feathers to warm themselves...then I would take the chicks and care for them. She has low mothering instincts. Some hens can hatch them but fail to mother them. That being the case, she will return to the flock with little thought of them.

My experience
Lady of McCamley

 

[Gen9]

Eyelid pecking seems to be a game chicks play. A couple of years ago, I had a chick that would grab the eyelid in her beak and drag the chick around the brooder. I fostered her out to a banty broody and things calmed down.
So it happens.
Glad everybody is OK.

I was wondering about that. I thought maybe it was the straw, but curious chicks around one that is hatching there's bound to be pecking, it has a little fuzz feather in the corner I've noticed a chick tried to peck it off. I hope I don't have to do anything else!

6 out of 8 survived, 1 died during zip, one never developed about day 10 you can only see 5 chicks here, there might be one hiding in her tail feathers lol. So cute.

 

[MzPlacedHippie]

Miss Tilly spent the night on the nest! I'm so excited! She's just a sweet mutt pullet. I'm going to give her today's lay and see if I can get some game mix eggs from a friend and let her try!

 

[julie0477]

Ok, two hatched and one died after being soooo close to hatching. I need to shake that one off -- I feel guilty. I THOUGHT it was dead. It wasn't moving and the membrane had dried up all around it, so I started chipping at the shell. I should have left it alone. I don't know if it was already dead or if I inadvertantly killed it but I wish I would have waited :/ Anyway, I have two live happy chicks. That leaves one egg due to hatch today or tomorrow (my broody actually laid an egg after she started sitting on the others!) and then two more that she stole a week after the others. I need to decide if I am going to put those in a bator or let her sit. They arent due til next Monday or Tuesday. My bator is terrible so its basically a death sentence if I try to move them.

 

[jctid]

How soon after the chicks hatch will the momma hen start laying again? In general. And when should I expect her to leave her babies?

 

[jctid]

I am a first time chicken lady (this spring) and gave some fertile eggs to my first broody girl. A few days later another went broody and they took turns for a while. Last Saturday, 4/6 of them hatched with NO attention from me whatsoever, and my husband even brought one in a couple times by mistake. (Put back within 10 minutes or so) I went to check for other eggs, (She was not sequestered and the other gals liked to lay right on top of her) and out popped 2 chicks! Scared me to death! (In a good way!) It was only day 19! This is so fun! But now my second broody is still sitting. (I have since sequestered the mom and babies for their protection) NOW- should I get more eggs for the other broody? She has been broody for almost 3 weeks now. Will she stay that way as long as she gets eggs? Will she grow out of it and abandon a nest? I know they wont be easy answers, but all help and suggestions/experience are welcome.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I am a first time chicken lady (this spring) and gave some fertile eggs to my first broody girl. A few days later another went broody and they took turns for a while. Last Saturday, 4/6 of them hatched with NO attention from me whatsoever, and my husband even brought one in a couple times by mistake. (Put back within 10 minutes or so) I went to check for other eggs, (She was not sequestered and the other gals liked to lay right on top of her) and out popped 2 chicks! Scared me to death! (In a good way!) It was only day 19! This is so fun! But now my second broody is still sitting. (I have since sequestered the mom and babies for their protection) NOW- should I get more eggs for the other broody? She has been broody for almost 3 weeks now. Will she stay that way as long as she gets eggs? Will she grow out of it and abandon a nest? I know they wont be easy answers, but all help and suggestions/experience are welcome.

Congratulations on your successfull hatchlings! They are so fun.

As to the hen who has sat for 3 weeks...it all depends on the hen. It takes 21 days (give or take a day) for a chick to hatch after the egg has reached incubation temperature...that's why when there is a staggard lay, you have eggs hatching at staggard days if the first eggs were at incubation temperature and then the later eggs were added.

That is why a hen will typically brood for 50% longer than is necessary for the "21" days. Some hens brood 5 weeks or more, some quit at 3 weeks on the nose (and some never make it to the 3 weeks).

There is no way of knowing if you hen will stay the nest longer. If it were me (and I've been there), and I can get fertile eggs cheaply (I don't purchase expensive breed eggs for a gamble), I'd put some fertile eggs under her and see what happens. If she is a determined brooder, she will be wanting to go the extra mile, and once the chicks start developing in the eggs, she will hear them and it will encourage her to continue the brood if she is a good broody type.

So I say go for it if you can get some eggs under her within the next day or two.
Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Ok, two hatched and one died after being soooo close to hatching. I need to shake that one off -- I feel guilty. I THOUGHT it was dead. It wasn't moving and the membrane had dried up all around it, so I started chipping at the shell. I should have left it alone. I don't know if it was already dead or if I inadvertantly killed it but I wish I would have waited :/ Anyway, I have two live happy chicks. That leaves one egg due to hatch today or tomorrow (my broody actually laid an egg after she started sitting on the others!) and then two more that she stole a week after the others. I need to decide if I am going to put those in a bator or let her sit. They arent due til next Monday or Tuesday. My bator is terrible so its basically a death sentence if I try to move them.

Let her sit until she hatches this 3rd one. You shouldn't move eggs after 18 days of development (some literature says 17) as it interferes with the chick's development and position for hatching. Just make sure she is undisturbed.

Since the other eggs are a week later, you do run the risk that she may become so infatuated with the new chicks that she abandons those eggs still developing (which is why it is better to not have a great date difference in the eggs), however hens have been staggering their hatches for centuries...that's how they did it in the wild. If your 'bator is a death sentence, I'd say let the hen try it and see if old fashioned God's nature takes its course and momma handles little ones and older ones just fine.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

How soon after the chicks hatch will the momma hen start laying again? In general. And when should I expect her to leave her babies?

Totally depends on the hen. Some hens lay almost immediately. Some hens don't lay until a couple of weeks after they are done brooding. Some don't stay and mother the chicks but abandon them right after hatching, some want to stay with them until they are almost adults (3 to 4 months!).

If you think about it, the hormones that encourage brooding prevent laying. That is because the hen is going to beging to incubate eggs that have been laid within a close proximity of age (for an equal hatch date), hatch them, then brood her chicks. She is not ready to mate but ready to mother. She should brood her chicks until they are ready to take care of themselves...typically that is about 6 to 8 weeks. Then often she molts (the hormones shift and it gets rid of all those yucky feathers that chicks have been poo-ing in), and after that she is ready to mate again to start the cycle all over, thus she lays.

However, life and hormones don't run like clock work, especially since the commercial industry has worked hard to select genes that don't want to brood, so see first paragraph.
Lady of McCamley