Broody Hen Thread!

[LisaLouHoo]

Edited by Lisa for space. But if you didn't read the original, don't miss it!!

Boy oh boy, I was so happy with my 9 pullets enjoying the coop, me getting 8-9 eggs a day, wife was happy, Xmas season was good for my Amazon business and then boom, there came the arctic blasts. While the coop was very nice, I had not prepared for frozen water and also not thought of any supplemental heating. Changing water 3-4 times a day in that brutal cold was not fun at all. So by late January, I had to spend another 100 bucks or so on a heated water plate, a galvanized waterer to place on the plate and a thermostat control power switch. After a lot of research, I decided not to provide any supplemental
So Koko is now sitting on 13 eggs, 7 of them are CCL and 4 of them are Blue Laced Red Barnevelders. Its day 16 for her, 11 of them are at least good for now. Still need to figure out her arrangement in the coop once chicks are hatched and here comes the icing on the cake. A fellow BYC member has decided to close her Chocolate Orpington project (in addition to some others). She has 4 hens and 6 babies that are 10 days old.  How can I not have the Chocolate Orpingtons. I have been trying to get them at a reasonable price for ever. They should be mine, I need them, hold on, I think I want them, need is just a better adjective. Doesn't matter that there is no room for them. I will make another COOP/RUN/CONTRAPTION. I WANT my Chocolate Orpingtons. Doesn't matter that my broody is about to hatch possibly 11 baby chicks. I WANT my Chocolate Orpingtons. Doesn't matter its becoming harder and harder to get cars out of my driveway. I WANT my Chocolate Orpingtons. 

This my friend in Chicken Math!

Oh' I forgot to mention, one day I NEED Blue Laced or Chocolate Laced Silver Wyandottes.

Dude, your ONLY solution is to move to the country!!! You are a country person at heart...in fact, you would make an excellent breeder of Chocolate Orpingtons. I'd buy some from you! LOVED reading your post. I laughed through the whole thing!!

 

[abserbean]

So I think my broody has "weaned" her chicks completely now. Last night they didn't sleep under her on the roost, and today she laid an egg! Thankfully it's shell was nice, b/c she has been on chick starter. I guess I'll need to add some additional calcium for her. Will the chicks avoid the oyster shell, or do I need to be concerned about that? I think I will move her flock mate back in now too, the chicks should be okay with her. I have free ranged them together, and aside from the occasional peck they are fine. Now to find homes for the chicks! They are five and a half weeks, and I'm pretty good with gender on all but one of them. I think I only have two roos out of seven that will need rehoming, so not bad odds!

 

[Junibutt]

Dude, your ONLY solution is to move to the country!!! You are a country person at heart...in fact, you would make an excellent breeder of Chocolate Orpingtons. I'd buy some from you! LOVED reading your post. I laughed through the whole thing!!

I would love to move to the country but:

A) My wife would not agree
B) I have arthritis and without proper farm help, I don't know if I can survive the Midwest winter & snow.

Actually B) is more of an issue because I know my wife loves me very much and she would eventually agree.

If I do move, I will have to move to Texas/Arizona/New Mexico or Southern California where the weather is much warmer.

 

[Woobsie]

My chicks hatched!! I peeked and saw a columbian rock chick! My first broody baby! I jumped around like a little school girl. I thought they all died last Friday when she was bullied off her nest and the eggs went cold. But at least one anyway!

 

[Joski1995]

My chooks go broody quite often, usually in annoying places! At one point, Storm went broody under the house & I had to fetch her, I had to crawl in commando-style & drag her out, she wasn't too keen though. I found about 20 eggs under her, she had quite the stash! Other places of broodiness include; In the shed (in their lil nest they made), behind the gate on the deck, between a pair of boots (no joke they sat on them & laid between the boots), in Cloe's nest (she went through a faze where she wanted to build a nest for baby rabbits), under the coop, behind some flowerpots, in the ivy & in the coop. These girls are crafty   

Wow 20 eggs?!?!?!

 

[fisherlady]

My chicks hatched!! I peeked and saw a columbian rock chick! My first broody baby! I jumped around like a little school girl. I thought they all died last Friday when she was bullied off her nest and the eggs went cold. But at least one anyway!

That is awesome!! Congrats!

 

[cayle]

HI there I know this was a while ago but I have a broody hen who wants to hatch out eggs but nesting boxes she is in is to high on the wall so I moved her down in a cage with a nesting box but I have one problem I only have 6 hens rate now that lay. do u think it would be ok if I but 5 eggs under her tomorrow and 5 eggs under her again the next day? so she would have a total of 10 in 2 days

 

[Romoshka]

Anybody got any idea how long after initial hatch I can continue to graft late hatches onto the broodies? Recall that stupid allowed the other hens to continue to lay in the broodies nests. Hence I had egss of progressive ages. Hens got off nest at 3 days so I out the rest in the bator. Been grafting 1or 2 in every night for the past 9 nights. Have grafted 8 successfully so far and so have 10 out there with the "family". Just put 2 more in tonight. Got one more about to hatch now. Still have 18 in the bator. Will there come a point where the hens will reject?

 

[fisherlady]

HI there I know this was a while ago but I have a broody hen who wants to hatch out eggs but nesting boxes she is in is to high on the wall so I moved her down in a cage with a nesting box but I have one problem I only have 6 hens rate now that lay. do u think it would be ok if I but 5 eggs under her tomorrow and 5 eggs under her again the next day?  so she would have a total of 10 in 2 days

You can just take the first five eggs and store them pointy end down in an egg carton in a cool location such as a basement. Tip the carton up on one end about an inch or so with a block of wood or a book or something else handy. Tilt it the other way every 12 hours and then add the next 5 eggs to the next day..
Then you can give them to her all at once after you have the number collected that you want. Just remember to mark them so they are easy to identify before you give them to the hen.

 

[Zombified]

Anybody got any idea how long after initial hatch I can continue to graft late hatches onto the broodies? Recall that stupid allowed the other hens to continue to lay in the broodies nests. Hence I had egss of progressive ages. Hens got off nest at 3 days so I out the rest in the bator. Been grafting 1or 2 in every night for the past 9 nights. Have grafted 8 successfully so far and so have 10 out there with the "family". Just put 2 more in tonight. Got one more about to hatch now. Still have 18 in the bator. Will there come a point where the hens will reject?

I'd think that yes, because the youngest chicks will become way behind. I would think after two weeks, the younger chicks wouldn't be able to keep up. You may have to put the youngest ones in a brooder. But I've never done it. I don't even have chickens. I'm just repeating things I've read and applying it to your situation. Hopefully others will chime in.