Broody Hen Thread!

[ochochicas]

I had one that hatched and seemed like the couldn't flip over. I left him with the hen overnight and he was totally fine the next morning.

As far as my two broodies go, I seems the younger one was being "nice" to the older one so she could steal her chicks. I got home from the store and one hen had 9 chicks and the other had none. I separated them and gave three chicks to the lonely hen. I hope they will learn to stay with her so their auntie doesn't steal them again.

 

[Morrigan]

I had one that hatched and seemed like the couldn't flip over. I left him with the hen overnight and he was totally fine the next morning.

As far as my two broodies go, I seems the younger one was being "nice" to the older one so she could steal her chicks. I got home from the store and one hen had 9 chicks and the other had none. I separated them and gave three chicks to the lonely hen. I hope they will learn to stay with her so their auntie doesn't steal them again.

That's heartening to know. Hopefully tomorrow brings good news. I just poked my head in the coop and could see the little guy was still alive, at least.

 

[ochochicas]

That's heartening to know. Hopefully tomorrow brings good news. I just poked my head in the coop and could see the little guy was still alive, at least.

I had another one that was also "abnormal". Turns out he was a "sticky chick". The next morning he was still wet looking. I gave him a bath and he's fine and fluffy now.

On the other had, I found one of the normal, healthy looking chicks deceased in the coop yesterday. It looked like the hen culled him; must have had something wrong. He went quick though - didn't suffer much.

 

[sonderah]

I was checking the 7 my silkies r raising yesterday and one of the white silkies chicks, about 4-5 weeks old, has an eye swollen and yucky looking. The other 6 look great. I caught them eating & fighting over a wasp the other day. I wonder if it got stung in the eye?? :/ Poor baby!

 

[StarMeKritten]

I need some broody hen advice. I only have experience hatching eggs in an incubator and raising them myself. To make a long story short, I ended up with 2 hens (1.5-2 years old) that hadn't been cared for very well before coming to me. They had leg mites that had never been treated. The silkie mix literally had parts of toes falling off. They healed up very nicely after a few weeks of treatment and good food. I had them quarantined in a large pen in my barn and still hadn't integrated them into my flock when the silkie mix started going broody. She would hoard eggs and sit on them but would get up and leave them whenever she saw me. I kept removing their eggs since I knew they weren't fertile. I left her with 2 fertile eggs from my other chickens to "practice" with. I wasn't sure if the two eggs were developing since she wasn't staying on them all the time. I planned to candle them one night and stick them in the incubator if they were developing and swap them for some new eggs if/ when she went completely broody. She went completely broody about a week ago.. but I hadn't done the egg swap yet. I had forgotten when I gave her the eggs!

Anyway, she had a little fluffy chick yesterday morning. It is healthy and adorable. I still have not seen another chick, so I guess the other egg didn't hatch. I still have not seen her get off of her nest. The chick comes out to run around with the other hen and runs back under mom. I need advice on what to do next.

The silkie still has one egg that I gave her and possibly several others taken from the other hen and doesn't seem like she wants to get off of them. When should I take the other eggs away? Should I give her more eggs to hatch if she's not happy with just one chick? If I give her more eggs, should I leave the chick for the other hen to look after or should I try to integrate the chick into my brooder with my 2-3 week old chicks?

 

[luvmypets]

Just let mom do her thing and raise it IMO

 

[StarMeKritten]

Just let mom do her thing and raise it IMO

That's just fine with me... I'm just curious when the hen will usually get off her nest. Right now, the chick just runs around the pen without her. I haven't seen her move a muscle yet. I'm guessing the chick is 2 days old now, since it has been out and running around since early yesterday morning. At what point will she give up on the rest of the eggs? When should I take them away? At most, only one other egg was fertile. I expect that it would've hatched by now if it was going to hatch at all...

 

[fisherlady]

That's just fine with me... I'm just curious when the hen will usually get off her nest. Right now, the chick just runs around the pen without her. I haven't seen her move a muscle yet. I'm guessing the chick is 2 days old now, since it has been out and running around since early yesterday morning. At what point will she give up on the rest of the eggs? When should I take them away? At most, only one other egg was fertile. I expect that it would've hatched by now if it was going to hatch at all...

If you know for a fact only one other egg could be fertile then if you can get access to it I would candle it to see if it ever developed. If it looks viable either give it back to her and wait another day or place it in your incubator to hatch and give the chick back to her after it hatches... definitely remove any of the non-fertile ones she hoarded. Many hens are very reluctant to leave eggs in the nest but to care for her little one she needs to get up. It sounds like the little one is lucky to have some tolerant 'aunts' but it should have it's mama showing it things. You could graft day olds to the hen yet if you want her to raise more than the one she hatched, but you can't give her more eggs to hatch at this time... she needs to concentrate on the chick she has. I had a hen who was so determined to continue setting (even though she had no more eggs) I ended up physically picking her up and placing her on the floor near her nest and scattering little finch seeds in front of her (and her 3 day old chicks). After a short while she seemed to snap out of her trance and began scratching for the seeds and feeding her little ones.

Each of our broodies is given a small metal food dish with chick starter and some seeds and dried meal worms mixed in... I place this within the hens reach in the nest for the first couple of days after hatch so she can start showing her little ones how to eat without getting up from any remaining eggs. A waterer is close by also. We set our eggs all at the same time, so I remove any eggs which haven't hatched within 2 or 3 days of the first hatch.

 

[hogster160]

So i have two broody blrw's. Each in their own closed off area, separate from the flock. Well big mama hatched her chicks and proceeded to kill them today while i was out. I put the last egg under big red, but her eggs are atleast a week-10 days behind. Hopefully i can grab that last chick once it hatches as i have no incubator to finish hatching. I have a brooder ready for it.

Now how do i break big mama? She has sat for 7 weeks already. First set one hatched and lone chick was killed but I didnt know who killed it. Thats when i moved the broodys. (I didnt realize they need their own space when broody, we had no problems last year when my broody BA sat, hatched and raised 6 chicks in community coup) I have her in a 4x4 covered area on the grass inside the chicken run, no bedding, no nest box. Will this help break her. She is walking around calling for her chicks.

Ugh why do hens have to be so picky? She is 1 1/2 years old first time mama whom will never be a mama again.

Thanks in advanced for any help

Deb

 

[Back2Roots]

That's just fine with me... I'm just curious when the hen will usually get off her nest. Right now, the chick just runs around the pen without her. I haven't seen her move a muscle yet. I'm guessing the chick is 2 days old now, since it has been out and running around since early yesterday morning. At what point will she give up on the rest of the eggs? When should I take them away? At most, only one other egg was fertile. I expect that it would've hatched by now if it was going to hatch at all...

I can't speak for your broody hen's situation, but my broody had three more eggs left to hatch after her three first chicks arrived, and she did sit on them for almost another day, and at that point she decided to abandon the eggs and focus on her chicks. I did the water test two of the eggs she left behind, and they were both non-viable. The third one was a chick that died before it finished zipping.
I would give your broody a chance to reject them herself. Within reason, of course - I wouldn't let her keep sitting on them for another week. ;-)