Broody Hen Thread!

[Bryam]

Not a good idea to move her so much, just leave her alone now. By moving her you are actually bringing her out of the broody mode, so that is the opposit of what your intentions were. If she doesn't go back to the eggs, there is always next season!

Good luck!!

 

[Bryam]

Is it a problem to keep new chicks with the mom on shavings? Should I remove the shavings and just have them on newspaper? I did put the crumble in a stainless low bowl because it is shiny and the chicks seem to be attracted to shiny things. The chicks will be 3 days old tomorrow, so the yolk sack should be gone, I hope they will become more hungry.

If she doesn't improve should I put the chick back in my brooder? I am hoping this will be a last resort!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

 

[ChickyChickens]

Is it a problem to keep new chicks with the mom on shavings? Should I remove the shavings and just have them on newspaper? I did put the crumble in a stainless low bowl because it is shiny and the chicks seem to be attracted to shiny things. The chicks will be 3 days old tomorrow, so the yolk sack should be gone, I hope they will become more hungry.

If she doesn't improve should I put the chick back in my brooder? I am hoping this will be a last resort!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

I keep my broodies and their chicks on shavings and they do just fine! Shavings is my favorite bedding for broodies and their chicks!

 

[AVintageLife]

My banty hen has been broody since March and I couldn't break her. Finally threw eight silkie eggs under her and they started hatching yesterday. As of this a.m., looks like six have hatched and two are externally pipped.
So happy with the fertility of these eggs and the banty is very happy to finally have some chicks.

 

[luvmypets]

Aww thats priceless!

 

[ochochicas]

One of my hens went broody a few weeks ago. I tried to break her of it, but finally gave up. Tonight I will plant some fertile eggs under her. She is on some practice eggs now, but she never comes off the nest to eat. Every morning I take her off to eat and get some water. She will eat, have a quick dust bath, and then is back to the coop within 20 minutes. The problem is that she went broody in a box that is not appropriate for hatching chicks. I moved her (and some eggs) to a better location where she won't be bothered by other hens. When she goes back to the coop she immediately goes to the original nest and not the new one. I have to "help" her get back to her eggs in the other box. I really don't want to lock her in there and I realize I'm already messing with mother nature by taking her off the nest to eat everyday. Once she is is on the nest she doesn't budge until the next day when I take her off again. I guess we'll see in 3 weeks how things go!

 

[jklyles1]

Morning!

I have my first hen sitting on eggs. Its her first time to go Broody. Have had others that I had to break because I wasn't ready for chicks. Im running out of time to read this thread..only half way through. We are on day 15. I apologize if these questions have already been answered or seem silly.

I have this hen in a separate coop and run. Everytime I check on her the eggs are completely covered by her body. Only one time (yesterday) i noticed 3 eggs poking out from her breast feathers. About half the egg was exposed and she was sitting in a different position than normal. I live in SE texas. Its HOT! Ive only candled once. Took 3 clear away. Saw growth in 6. Is she smothering these eggs? Are they supposed to stick out a little?

Thanks in advance. 5-6 more days!

 

[fisherlady]

Morning!

I have my first hen sitting on eggs. Its her first time to go Broody. Have had others that I had to break because I wasn't ready for chicks. Im running out of time to read this thread..only half way through. We are on day 15. I apologize if these questions have already been answered or seem silly.

I have this hen in a separate coop and run. Everytime I check on her the eggs are completely covered by her body. Only one time (yesterday) i noticed 3 eggs poking out from her breast feathers. About half the egg was exposed and she was sitting in a different position than normal. I live in SE texas. Its HOT! Ive only candled once. Took 3 clear away. Saw growth in 6. Is she smothering these eggs? Are they supposed to stick out a little?

Thanks in advance. 5-6 more days!

With the high outdoor temps say be rotating the eggs to that position to help regulate their internal temps and maybe even humidity. I wouldn't worry about it unless you find she has pushed one totally out... some hens can sense quitters and will reject them. If she does push one out, candle it for 'sloshiness' and remove it if the air cell rolls around or the egg appears sloshy. If it looks ok then you can mark it however you want (I usually put a large ? on eggs which are iffy) and replace it under her. If she rejects it a second time you will know it is the same one and can decide if you want to remove it then. Also, if it is later than the others to hatch or doesn't hatch at all you will have confirmation of her broody instincts to help you with her next brood.

 

[kkenney]

One of my ducks was broody for a couple weeks, and we were forced to move her and her nest into the shed. Well, after moving her at night, she was fine. But this morning, my dad moved her nest AGAIN even though I told him not to. So Nyx stopped sitting and was not happy where she was. The spot he moved her to, she absolutely hates. I moved her and the nest back in the shed, but I doubt her eggs are even alive anymore. She was off the nest all day.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to keep her from quitting. She's still acting broody, so I don't think her brood was broken, but I think she's really turned off by all the moving. She's going to need to move again, but after this, I'm going to wait until her ducklings hatch or she quits.

I'm new to this whole dealing with a broody thing so I could be wrong but my hen that is currently broody was off of her eggs for an entire day and they were all cold to the touch. I took someone's advice on here and moved her in the evening and she's back to sitting on them. She only had two remaining eggs (a totally different story) but of the two, one was wiggling around in there still and had gotten larger than it was last time I had candled them! I wouldn't write the eggs off as dead just yet. I'd move her again in the dark and leave her there with her eggs, then give it a day or so if you want to check them. I snuck in and quickly checked hers, trying not to fidget with them too much, while I let her out to grab a bite to eat and drink. Good luck!

 

[fisherlady]

Been a kind of low weekend.... we had 3 broodies on a total of 14 eggs. All 3 have been good mothers already once this year. One of the broodies (Rosie) had only been setting for 10 or 12 days. The eggs had originally been split between the other 2. I gave rosie 5 of the mid way eggs thinking she would be OK with it by hatch time... well, apparently she had trouble adjusting from setting mode to hatching/mother mode and we found 3 chicks dead under her which had died shortly after hatch. All were still wet and were smothered flat under her legs.
In doing a mental review of what went wrong I realized i never heard her talking to her eggs the day before hatch which all of our hens normally do once pipping starts. Had I been thinking I would have pulled her eggs then and given them back to the other 2 hens to hatch.. Rosie just wasn't ready.

So we only ended up with 6 chicks since some others were quitters or didn't zip. A hard lesson to learn but I will know to pay closer attention to a broody's 'body language' in future similar situations. I don't blame Rosie at all.. in fact she is now happily setting on 4 other eggs which another set of broodies had started and they are only on day 6, so she will have plenty of time to be in the right mind set when these start to hatch. I will keep a close eye on her to intervene if another problem arises, but I honestly think it was human error this time. Rosie hatched a brood of 6/7 in February without a hitch so I know she is a great mama when given the right chance to do her thing.

I just wanted folks to understand that even experienced broodies and humans can make mistakes or have problem hatches.. so those of you who are new to the broody thing can understand this and not be too hard on yourself when things go wrong.... it happens and hopefully we can all learn from it to help it be better next time!