Broody Hen Thread!

[sonz77]

I found another broody! She's hiding in the banana trees! She got off this morning for food so I went look and she's sitting on 13 eggs!! I candled them all 13 have babies in them! The broody that's in the coop is sitting on 6 eggs, not sure how many of those have babies in them though, it's not dark enough in there for me to candle them

Wow!! You're going to have a whole bunch of little ones!! I need another of mine to go broody like now!! I have one sitting on 2 week old eggs now, but I have eggs on the way and would rather give them to a broody!

 

[AmateurChickie]

I will be! Hopefully they all get to hatching stage, or at least most of them. And hopefully they hatch before I move! I'm moving at the start of October and I want to take some chicks with me, so hopefully a couple of older ones and a few of the new babies

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Whew...what a worrisome day this was.

One of the foster baby EE's somehow managed, and I STILL don't know HOW, and yes I crawled on my hands and knees, somehow managed to figure out some tiny hole to get through the fence into our neighbor's backyard fence hedge.

The broody hutch's run is along the fence line and our fence (chainlink with wood slats) is back to back to our neighbors nice solid oak fence sitting on concrete footer.

Somehow this dumb little chick managed to get in between (??) the fences and then to the other side.

I could hear the commotion from momma from the house that something was wrong, and when I went to investigate could hear the little chick peeping madly...on the OTHER side of the fence. I called my nice tall son who hopped the fence into the neighbor's yard while I walked our side....only of course the little stinker would freeze and go quiet when we got close to where it was hidden in the thick juniper hedge.

We'd given up all for loss as we couldn't hear it any more (after my son had made a valiant attempt to catch it but it had run off and hid somewhere, we thought lost in the greenspace). However as we headed out the door an hour later to go someplace, we heard faint cheeping back behind the fence again.

Our neighbor must have thought my son and daughter and I had completely gone nuts as we poked and hunted, jumped fence back and forth. But of course we couldn't pin point where it was again.

Then I got a brilliant idea....Momma hen had stopped clucking for it...so I took away the other baby and locked it in the coop where momma could see but not get to it...both clucked and cheeped like champions which got the lost one peeping away madly again too. It took some deft slight of hand to capture it, but after 45 minutes we finally got it cornered in the junipers and back home safely (and all locked in the broody hutch).
Whew....keeping chickens can be so much fun sometimes.

If I hadn't had a broody mom to call her baby home, I'd have NEVER found that chick.

Lady of McCamley (who enjoyed triple fudge chocolate ice cream for dinner tonight)

 

[fisherlady]

Whew...what a worrisome day this was.

One of the foster baby EE's somehow managed, and I STILL don't know HOW, and yes I crawled on my hands and knees, somehow managed to figure out some tiny hole to get through the fence into our neighbor's backyard fence hedge.

The broody hutch's run is along the fence line and our fence (chainlink with wood slats) is back to back to our neighbors nice solid oak fence sitting on concrete footer.

Somehow this dumb little chick managed to get in between (??) the fences and then to the other side.

I could hear the commotion from momma from the house that something was wrong, and when I went to investigate could hear the little chick peeping madly...on the OTHER side of the fence. I called my nice tall son who hopped the fence into the neighbor's yard while I walked our side....only of course the little stinker would freeze and go quiet when we got close to where it was hidden in the thick juniper hedge.

We'd given up all for loss as we couldn't hear it any more (after my son had made a valiant attempt to catch it but it had run off and hid somewhere, we thought lost in the greenspace). However as we headed out the door an hour later to go someplace, we heard faint cheeping back behind the fence again.

Our neighbor must have thought my son and daughter and I had completely gone nuts as we poked and hunted, jumped fence back and forth. But of course we couldn't pin point where it was again.

Then I got a brilliant idea....Momma hen had stopped clucking for it...so I took away the other baby and locked it in the coop where momma could see but not get to it...both clucked and cheeped like champions which got the lost one peeping away madly again too. It took some deft slight of hand to capture it, but after 45 minutes we finally got it cornered in the junipers and back home safely (and all locked in the broody hutch).
Whew....keeping chickens can be so much fun sometimes.

If I hadn't had a broody mom to call her baby home, I'd have NEVER found that chick.

Lady of McCamley (who enjoyed triple fudge chocolate ice cream for dinner tonight)

Glad you got it back! Amazing how much worry and consternation those little pieces of fluff can cause us big, tough people!!

 

[akelley]

I have looked for an answer to this question, but haven't been able to find it, so I apologize if this has been asked before: can you buy hatching eggs to put under a broody hen? Does the delay caused by shipping affect the hen and her desire to sit for that long? Has anyone successfully hatched shipped eggs under a broody? I'd love to hear success stories.

I don't have a broody hen (in fact my first batch of chicks ever are set to arrive October 2nd) but I wanted to know if this was possible, for future reference.

Thanks!

 

[20736]

Yes, as soon as your hen goes broody, order the eggs and place them under her. In nature, she will accumulate a "clutch" of eggs for about a week. You will just substitute your eggs for hers. I have found that it is better to have the eggs you want hatched on premises (i.e. from YOUR chickens) rather than mail order eggs, but that is up to you. Hope this helps a little.

 

[akelley]

It does, thanks!

 

[Six Chickies]

I have six eggs in the bator, due to hatch Sept 17. They were under my broody for 2 weeks, but she hatched two chicks, so, it was time to dust it off! My plan for fostering is that the night after they hatch, I'll quickly get them under her. If they are a little bit cold, and she is nice and warm, they should stay under her, shouldn't they? She's a good mom, and I think she was expecting more than 2 chicks - she layed 18 eggs! My only concern is that her chicks are 10&11 days old, so she may not sit on them, although if they can follow her, she sits quite a bit in her pen. Any suggestions?

 

[MzPlacedHippie]

One pipping! Fingers crossed! I'd shout it to the world but I think you guys are the only ones who get it.

 

[fisherlady]

I have looked for an answer to this question, but haven't been able to find it, so I apologize if this has been asked before: can you buy hatching eggs to put under a broody hen? Does the delay caused by shipping affect the hen and her desire to sit for that long? Has anyone successfully hatched shipped eggs under a broody? I'd love to hear success stories.

I don't have a broody hen (in fact my first batch of chicks ever are set to arrive October 2nd) but I wanted to know if this was possible, for future reference.

Thanks!

Like 20736 said... once you are sure she is broody then order the eggs. Broodies will sit for weeks and weeks, eggs or not. The only caution is to make sure she doesn't lose body condition if she has to wait too long for eggs. This can be prevented by providing her with healthy, protein rich treats and food (I usually put a dish of chick starter in the vicinity of the broody to give her the boost from it, she will eat what she needs to) Many other good food options to help the broody keep in good shape also have been listed in previous posts in this thread.

As for stories about what broodies can do.... we have a silkie mix named Gracie who is a perpetual broody. We bought her (along with 5 others) last October from a very poor situation. I hoped she may be a broody once she was healthy again. Her and her flock mates were isolated for just over a month till all health issues were safely dealt with and they had regained good physical condition. She started laying eggs again the last week of November.... by the first week of December she was broody and wouldn't give it up. So she got 8 shipped eggs in January. We had her in a draft free and cozy area, but it was in the 20s most of January so we weren't too hopeful about hatching but were really wanting at least one or two to hatch just to reward her for being so determined. The last week of January she hatched out 8/8, awesome for shipped eggs, but even more incredible to do it in January!! She proved us all wrong and showed us just how hardy a broody can be! She is now raising her 3rd clutch of the year (they will be 3 wks old tomorrow) ..... and out of the others of her group, 3 out of the 5 hens have been broody (one had second hatch yesterday) and the Rooster is an awesome chick sitter for them all. So very happy we got that group of birds!