Broody Hen Thread!

[TiaRC]

Mine do all the time.. then raise the chicks together.................

Awww I hope mine do!

 

[sonz77]

congratulatons on your hatch thus far
Lady of McCamley

Thanks Lady of McCamley, lol, number 2 hatched today! So neat to see it in my own chickens!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Has anyone ever heard of a chick riding on her mamas back

Yes...mine do it all the time. It's very funny and cute to watch.
Lady of McCamley

 

[MLWoods]

Has anyone ever heard of a chick riding on her mamas back

I have caught a couple of ours trying to hitch rides, it is really cute!

 

[AmericanMom]

LOL, yep, our chicks used to fight over riding up there when they got so big only one could fit

 

[jojosthings]

Has anyone ever heard of a chick riding on her mamas back

I loved that, it was so cute!

 

[TiaRC]

My 2 broody silkies in the same nest!

 

[foreverlearning]

Sorry to skip to the end here, honest I am trying to read it all. I have a few questions for you all...
First, I never considered that I would have a broody so young, so I didn't research it. All my pullets are 9 months old with an older rooster and they just started to lay 1-2 months ago. 5 weeks ago I got meat chicks in and noticed that one of my girls was spending a lot of time with them. Well, that started the process, she went broody full on 3 days ago. I have marked her eggs because the other girls keep trying to lay in her box. Also, she leaves the nest twice a day for less that ten minutes each to scarf down whatever food she can find, relieve herself, and steal other eggs. Before she went full on broody she had 2 days of "I think I might be broody", my fault as I kept taking her eggs at night. This led to sulking and going to the roost 1/2 an hour later, then in the morning pacing the row of nest boxes waiting for others to lay and stealing their eggs to sit on. I have not had an egg from her in 5 days.

Now my questions:
1) Do I need to separate her from the others so they will lay in the other boxes? (The nest box itself can be removed.)
2) If I separate her, inside or outside?
3) Do I need to change her feed? She is still eating fermented layer feed right now.
4) How much room does she need?

Thank you so much for your help. Here she is puffed up to twice her size:

 

[chicken farmer]

Sorry to skip to the end here, honest I am trying to read it all. I have a few questions for you all...
First, I never considered that I would have a broody so young, so I didn't research it. All my pullets are 9 months old with an older rooster and they just started to lay 1-2 months ago. 5 weeks ago I got meat chicks in and noticed that one of my girls was spending a lot of time with them. Well, that started the process, she went broody full on 3 days ago. I have marked her eggs because the other girls keep trying to lay in her box. Also, she leaves the nest twice a day for less that ten minutes each to scarf down whatever food she can find, relieve herself, and steal other eggs. Before she went full on broody she had 2 days of "I think I might be broody", my fault as I kept taking her eggs at night. This led to sulking and going to the roost 1/2 an hour later, then in the morning pacing the row of nest boxes waiting for others to lay and stealing their eggs to sit on. I have not had an egg from her in 5 days.

Now my questions:
1) Do I need to separate her from the others so they will lay in the other boxes? (The nest box itself can be removed.)
2) If I separate her, inside or outside?
3) Do I need to change her feed? She is still eating fermented layer feed right now.
4) How much room does she need?

Thank you so much for your help. Here she is puffed up to twice her size:

It's great you have a broody but with the questions I know some stuff.1) If you want to can but I've had 2 hatches now and my flock doesn't bother them because they know momma hen is guarding them but you could let her walk out with them and see how it goes and see for yourself what to do. 2) As long as she is in a small coop box or some kind of building with her nestbox in it should be fine but I wouldn't leave just the nestbox outside incase of wind,rain or anything else. 3) You don't need to change her feed until the chicks hatch then you need to feed momma hen and chicks chick feed make sure there is no layer around for the chicks to get at because calcium can hurt chicks liver and can kill them so for sure when they hatch straight chick feed. 4) On room,her and the chicks of course need room to be able to flap and have room to walk around and poo,eat,drink and get some room to grow together so as long as they have room to walk around a bit and have plenty it's good,and remember the bigger the better so keep it in mind.

 

[foreverlearning]

It's great you have a broody but with the questions I know some stuff.1) If you want to can but I've had 2 hatches now and my flock doesn't bother them because they know momma hen is guarding them but you could let her walk out with them and see how it goes and see for yourself what to do. 2) As long as she is in a small coop box or some kind of building with her nestbox in it should be fine but I wouldn't leave just the nestbox outside incase of wind,rain or anything else. 3) You don't need to change her feed until the chicks hatch then you need to feed momma hen and chicks chick feed make sure there is no layer around for the chicks to get at because calcium can hurt chicks liver and can kill them so for sure when they hatch straight chick feed. 4) On room,her and the chicks of course need room to be able to flap and have room to walk around and poo,eat,drink and get some room to grow together so as long as they have room to walk around a bit and have plenty it's good,and remember the bigger the better so keep it in mind.

Thank you. I was thinking about putting her and the nest in in brooder that I used for the 50 meat chicks at least until they hatch but don't want to stress her out. I don't know if it is the same for a broody hen but my regular ones don't like to be isolated. She was the favorite of my rooster and now he seems depressed that she isn't in the yard with him all day. The first time she got off the nest she ran up under his wing for a sec, then ate more and faster than I have ever seen her do before, pooped, and hopped back on the nest. She won't leave for long, but I did see 3 hens piled on top of her today to try to lay an egg. She had to pick the most popular nest box, right??? I have another one that tried to stay in there with her for over an hour and had to remove her twice after laying an egg before she stopped. The one I removed is a not so nice RIR that I will refuse to let go broody.

One more question: The layer feed is mounted on the wall of the coop with the feed height about a foot and a half off of the ground. Will this be high enough to keep the chicks out of it until they can eat it? If not, I can always alter it and I do have a 10'X10' tractor that I can have mom and chicks in until they are old enough. I prefer not to use the tractor for long as I do free range and I usually use it as a grow out pen for ones I brooded myself.

Thank you again.