Broody Hen Thread!

[chicksurreal]

I guess it was just more practice being broody for my Hamburg pullet. She was up and around this morning like nothing out of the ordinary happened yesterday. She had been sitting on three eggs all day yesterday. Lol!

 

[Morrigan]

My BO broody is back at it again. After hatching chicks 9 weeks ago, she has gone broody again and is sitting on 8 eggs. I'm a little worried that it's not much of a break for her, but she looks pretty healthy.

Last time I separated her out into a dog kennel. This time, I marked the eggs and left her in the nest box she picked out. Fingers crossed she holds her spot and the other hens don't try to squeeze in with her or push her out. She's already been off for a quick break once and found her way back to the right box, so I'm encouraged by that.

I'm hoping some of my other BOs and Sussex will see her action and get interested in the idea.

 

[jajeanpierre]

My BO broody is back at it again. After hatching chicks 9 weeks ago, she has gone broody again and is sitting on 8 eggs. I'm a little worried that it's not much of a break for her, but she looks pretty healthy.

Last time I separated her out into a dog kennel. This time, I marked the eggs and left her in the nest box she picked out. Fingers crossed she holds her spot and the other hens don't try to squeeze in with her or push her out. She's already been off for a quick break once and found her way back to the right box, so I'm encouraged by that.

I'm hoping some of my other BOs and Sussex will see her action and get interested in the idea.

The hen that just hatched the chicks a couple of days ago had been broody since February or March. When I finally gave her some eggs, she had dropped quite a bit of weight. I hand fed her once or twice a day in the nest box. She actually gained weight hatching these chicks.

 

[fisherlady]

Hens going back to brood again must be the norm this year.... I had 3 hens hatched out at the same time in March, they kept their chicks for 7 or 8 weeks and laid eggs through May and now are broody again (all 3!) I have another hen who hatched in April, gave up her chicks the second week of May and is back in 'set mode' again....

I have had 15 broodies this year already, in a coop with 23 hens... though 4 are the already mentioned repeats...

As long as their body weight and health is good I figure I'm going to let them do their thing...

 

[sab]

LIVE CAMS - Hatching now.... You can watch the last egg of the clutching hatching and see the darling chicklets by going to www.clucksnducks.com and clicking on CAMS. She has hatched 4 dark chicks and 1 light chick since yesterday AM. There are 6 all together. You can see the egg in front of her every time she lifts up a bit, which is often. We have enjoyed hatching them under a broody and likely will never buy another chick! Plan is to let her care for them in the general population. Have to see how that goes of course. I'll mother her, but she gets to mother the chicks -- the work is off me and on to her! ENJOY!

Every time I want to watch your cams but it never works! It is soooo stupid!!!!!!!!!!!

Could it possibly be that you are using Internet Explorer? Because it clearly states on the site, that the cams only work with Safari, Firefox or Chrome.

 

[sab]

I love my cams too, TiaRC! I know what those girls are up to.... ALL the time.

How did you do your set up? I would like to do the same but for security reasons/ maybe a little bit of spying on my girls

TiaRC
On the site I wrote a little blog about how I did the set up. If you click on the "The Hub" picture, you should go there. The biggest and most expensive hurdle is getting the Internet out a distance from your house. Unless you have the coop very close, your house network wouldn't reach out much beyond a few feet from the house. The next hurdle is knowing how to 'port forward' in your router. Not really hard to do, and if you don't know how to do that, then you very likely know someone who does. Your Internet is passed back and forth through port 80. All the other 'ports' (think like a port of entry), are blocked. You open a port just for that camera. Everything is password protected. The router is passworded, each camera is passworded. The public has access but does not have control of the cameras or the network. So I think it's pretty secure. I'm sure a hacker could get in if they really wanted too. But it's a chicken cam..... why bother. Not Fort Knotts. And the really great thing is these cameras have smart phone apps. I can see the girls no matter where I am.....

 

[browning6]

I had a hen go broody so I put 20 eggs under her. I thought I might get lucky and get a dozen chicks out of the deal. Instead, she hatched 16! I was thrilled, but now am realizing that that is a lot of chicks to take care of. Do I need to take a few off so they don't get neglected? Or I she capable of mothering 16? This is my first rodeo with a successful broody.

 

[sab]

UPDATE to Weekend Hatch ---
The clutch has hatched -- took ~60 hrs for the 6 eggs to ALL hatch. I have no idea what they are.... maybe just a barnyard mix. I need to check with the lady that gave me the eggs. So we have 6 very busy chicklets running around. LESSON LEARNED -- DO NOT USE CHICKEN WIRE TO SEPARATE your broody from the general population. When the chicks hatched, the chickies tried their darnedest to get through the chicken wire and they were small enough to succeed but that I just happened to come in just in time. USE HARDWARE CLOTHE!! I had to reinforce my little brooder area. I have chicken tractors. I suppose very soon I will have to move mother and chicks to the tractor.

Now that they hatched, I guess I move my questions to the general raising chicks forum. You can enjoy watching them by going to the link in my signature. I have a live peep show going on 24/7.

Thank you broody thread for all your help, suggestions and encouragement. This episode is over. Now on with the raising of 6 chickies in with the general population. Now that's my 1st question for the general thread --- won't the chicken tractor defeat the purpose of letting the hen raise her chicklets in with the general flock?

Thanks again!

 

[browning6]

a better pic

 

[fisherlady]

I had a hen go broody so I put 20 eggs under her. I thought I might get lucky and get a dozen chicks out of the deal. Instead, she hatched 16! I was thrilled, but now am realizing that that is a lot of chicks to take care of. Do I need to take a few off so they don't get neglected? Or I she capable of mothering 16? This is my first rodeo with a successful broody.

Congrats on the hatch! As far as numbers... much of what a hen can handle will depend on outside influences....
.... during warm weather they can handle more because the chicks will be able to tolerate not being totally covered after the first week or so. But if she can't cover them now you may need to intervene. Wait till late evening and go check on her (prefer with either a red light or very minimal lighting).... listen for a lot of cheeping and fussing. If you do hear a lot then watch to see if it appears that all the chicks can't be covered or are arguing. If that is the case you may need to provide an alternative heat source in the broody area or remove some to a brooder. A brinsea heat plate would work well, as would a 'lizard light' which is a ceramic heat bulb that would minimize disturbance but allow you to set up an auxiliary heat area or nest beside the broody for extra chicks to hang out or sleep.
.... make sure you are able to check on her multiple times a day while they are tiny if they are in an area with multiple levels (such as a coop run with a ramp to the coop). It may be hard for the mama hen to keep them all following her and you will probably need to help with transition from level to level. Setting up an alternative nesting area on the lower level will help the hen out, she can settle there during the day for breaks with the chicks.
..... food access must be easy and with enough space to allow them to all eat when mama shows them where it is.... same with water. So with that many chicks you may need to add an extra dispenser for both food and water.
... free ranging is a great way for mama to keep the little ones busy, but again, you may need to watch closely for the first few days she is out to help with stragglers. We always seem to have a 'wrong way Corrigan' in every clutch of chicks who is regularly getting lost or separated from the rest of the group. After a week or two the incidents reduce.
.... if your rooster is good with the chicks it makes it easier, I have 2 in particular that help with 'baby duties' and the chicks do respond well to them, same if you have another hen who the broody will tolerate.... but those assists are totally dependent on flock dynamics and personal attitudes. Flocks who are chick friendly are easier on a hen with a large clutch than flocks who are chick aggressive and the broody is constantly having to defend roaming chicks.

So my advice would be... let mama hen try to handle her little ones, but observe and be prepared to assist. I really feel that broody raised chicks just have an extra edge over their brooder counterparts when they are younger, so I do what I can to try to make it work out for them.