Broody Hen Thread!

[SD Bird Lady]

Some people dont but it depends on flock dynamics. By what you have told us I think it will be necessary for successful hatch.

 

[mebuff daisy]

Will eggs hatch if I have 2 roosters ?

 

[soggy]

Yes however only one rooster is required for the job.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Will eggs hatch if I have 2 roosters ?

Anytime you have one or more roosters in your flock there is the likelihood that your eggs will be fertile and could be incubated/brooded and hatched.

 

[Angie16hearts]

Moonshine, had a 100% hatch rate(10/10) but 4 got taken by hawks ! Here she is, before she went broody!! And here she is with her 6 chicks when they are 2 days old!!!

What breed is she?

 

[16 paws]

I am sure the answer to my question is somewhere in these 641 pages...but I don't have that much free time. I have a bantam hen that went broody a couple of days ago. She had a small clutch of 4 eggs (3 hers and 1 not). Only problem is that I have 14 hens that will only lay in two of the 5 nesting boxes. My bantam picked the most popular one to sit on her eggs. Needless to say the other 13 hens are regular size. So if my bantam doesn't move when they are ready to lay....they just sit on her. So today I moved her over to a nesting box that none of them use. When I left she was sitting on her eggs and looked content. I come back later this evening and the other hens went over there and busted one of her eggs and then laid their eggs in that nesting box. The bantam gave up on that clutch and went back over to the popular nesting box and was sitting on one of the White Leghorns eggs.

So my question is .... am I suppose to separate my broody hen from the rest of the flock?

I also notice tonight that I have a Buff Orp that has decided to go broody as well. So now I have two. I just didn't know if I was suppose to separate them and because I didn't is why the other hens came over and bullied my Bantam.

Thanks for your time and responses.

After having many hatch disasters I always separate them now. That being said you have to be careful if you move them because sometimes they will give up on the eggs. What I do now is leave them where they are and make it so the other hens can not get into her space. There are different ways to do that depending on your nest box situation. I added other nest boxes for the other girls and then put chicken wire over the nest box the broody was in.
Hope that helps you. If you have to move her I would do it at night only and realize you are taking a chance she will give up on them and not sit.
Marie

 

[Blooie]

Feeling good, feeling ready! Took the dog crate out of the coop and got the hardware cloth around the bottom 12" today. Agatha actually came off the nest this evening while we were working on her apartment and puttered around with the other girls in the yard, then went back in to her nest in pretty short order. First time we've seen her do that. She didn't even stir when we put the crate back in against the nest. Hatch is due to start on Tuesday. And I learned a new swear word today when Ida jumped on the crate we were working on and bit Ken on the ear. Yep, been a productive day.

 

[fisherlady]

Feeling good, feeling ready! Took the dog crate out of the coop and got the hardware cloth around the bottom 12" today. Agatha actually came off the nest this evening while we were working on her apartment and puttered around with the other girls in the yard, then went back in to her nest in pretty short order. First time we've seen her do that. She didn't even stir when we put the crate back in against the nest. Hatch is due to start on Tuesday. And I learned a new swear word today when Ida jumped on the crate we were working on and bit Ken on the ear. Yep, been a productive day.

Glad you have her settled in.... now the waiting, which seems to make days seem like they are all 48 hours long!

 

[darkbluespace]

My broody hen that hatched my Seramas about 3.5 months ago has finally snapped out of her broody state and become her old annoying self again... she must be the only hen who is an outstanding sweet broody and crazy annoying normally!!??... so she is gobbling up all their food now and making a lot of noise and the coop is really too small to have her in there but I tried taking her back to the main coop and that didn't go well. I am sure I should have put her in at night and hopefully they would readjust during the day... I don't know.

I am sure she hates to go back to the bottom of the pecking order. It is just that she is really annoying when she is not broody and most of my chickens and my Muscovy can't stand her. She is a misfit... not sure what to do with her. I would love for her to go broody again. I have some duck eggs that could really really use a mommy! Should I stick her in a dark dog crate for a bit and see what happens? I think she is fine nutritionally to go broody again. She is a Salmon Faverolle... here she is with her grown up babies. Look at that little frizzle hen looking up at her mama!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Feeling good, feeling ready! Took the dog crate out of the coop and got the hardware cloth around the bottom 12" today. Agatha actually came off the nest this evening while we were working on her apartment and puttered around with the other girls in the yard, then went back in to her nest in pretty short order. First time we've seen her do that. She didn't even stir when we put the crate back in against the nest. Hatch is due to start on Tuesday. And I learned a new swear word today when Ida jumped on the crate we were working on and bit Ken on the ear. Yep, been a productive day.

for you and Agatha - I know we are waiting anxiously here waiting to see if Diane's eggs hatch.