Broody Hen Thread!

[fisherlady]

type 'how to break a broody' in the search block above, it has been discussed many times on the site with numerous ideas, read a few of those threads to give you some ideas on how to go about it.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I can tell you've done this a lot - your tone is so calm and reassuring! It helps to be reminded - and everyone on this thread has been wonderful about that - that chickens usually know exactly what to do and when to do it, and know it much better than we do. But can I ask you a quick question? I have nothing but total respect for your experience and your expertise and I deeply appreciate your advice. I just wondered how you felt when you set hen number 1 out of those 33? Were you nervous? A little worried? Did you wonder if you'd done everything right?

I ask because I don't know if it's "normal" or if it's "obsessive" of me to worry about what's going on under my very first broody. This hatch isn't as much for me as much as it is for a little 8 year old girl with mild autism, who believes that her Gramma set the sun and the moon in the sky just for her.....and I would be crushed for her and for myself if I've done something to compromise this hatch. So I wait and I worry. I don't disturb Agatha in any way when she's on the nest - mostly because she scares the piddly out of me - so I'm hoping that things go as successfully for me as they have for you. I know if I ever do this again (and as frazzled as I've been the last 21 days I don't see that happening right now!

), I will probably be calmer and more matter-of-fact about it. I hope that I can help others the way you've helped me. And mostly I hope that I can accomplish one tenth of your success rate. Thank you so much for being willing to calm me down a little bit.

I have set hens for years, just 33 this year----this being the Most I have ever set in one year. I was and still get excited some seeing all them chicks hatched---running around with Mom. We are all different---You are way more excited than I was, but Thats GOOD----you are not me, I am not you. I Love reading everyones post about how excited you are etc. I just Hate reading how some are interfearing with the hen, then reading about how the hatch has gone so wrong. Sure some have no problem with their hatch----no matter what they do----most of us are not that Lucky.

Right now I just put 60+ eggs in the hatcher, added 115 eggs to the incubator which already had over 100 eggs in it---took about 100 chicks out the hatcher a few days ago---just had 2 hens to hatch out some good numbers with another #33 setting tight---snug as a bug in a rug---LOL, I am excited to Death------up to my knees in chick poop--LOL. My Set-up is alot of work, but I do enjoy it and it still bothers me to loose just one chick---but it happens and Yes I try to figure out if I could have done something different so I would have not lost it or loose some in the future.

I wish all of you the best hatches and All the Excitement you can handle and LOTS of Luck in your future hatches!!

 

[sniffylizard507]

type 'how to break a broody' in the search block above, it has been discussed many times on the site with numerous ideas, read a few of those threads to give you some ideas on how to go about it.

i have. but why isnt it working with her too just lock her out?

 

[fisherlady]

i have. but why isnt it working with her too just lock her out?

there are other methods, they are listed in the search results. All hens don't react the same so some research is needed and sometimes it means you have to try different approaches.

 

[Blooie]

I have set hens for years, just 33 this year----this being the Most I have ever set in one year. I was and still get excited some seeing all them chicks hatched---running around with Mom. We are all different---You are way more excited than I was, but Thats GOOD----you are not me, I am not you. I Love reading everyones post about how excited you are etc. I just Hate reading how some are interfearing with the hen, then reading about how the hatch has gone so wrong. Sure some have no problem with their hatch----no matter what they do----most of us are not that Lucky.

Right now I just put 60+ eggs in the hatcher, added 115 eggs to the incubator which already had over 100 eggs in it---took about 100 chicks out the hatcher a few days ago---just had 2 hens to hatch out some good numbers with another #33 setting tight---snug as a bug in a rug---LOL, I am excited to Death------up to my knees in chick poop--LOL. My Set-up is alot of work, but I do enjoy it and it still bothers me to loose just one chick---but it happens and Yes I try to figure out if I could have done something different so I would have not lost it or loose some in the future.

I wish all of you the best hatches and All the Excitement you can handle and LOTS of Luck in your future hatches!!

Thank you so much! I guess my enthusiasm IS showing a little, isn't it? Very glad you are along with me for the ride!

 

[fisherlady]

Thank you so much! I guess my enthusiasm IS showing a little, isn't it? Very glad you are along with me for the ride!

Your enthusiasm is a wonderful thing, and certainly understandable considering the facts that this is your first broody and it is so important to a special little girl! Watching a broody do her thing can be the most wonderful and most exasperating thing all at the same time... broodies have instincts that we can't begin to understand, but even the best of them can have bad things happen. The vast majority of broody hatches have good success but being prepared for problems is not a bad thing (even if it is just so you can save your granddaughter the sorrow if something does go wrong).

Assisting a hatch or intervening if you see a problem is a very personal decision and should be done based on research and personal situations... I have had success stories and sad endings both with problem hatches, but truly the vast majority of the hatches have been uneventful (if you can ever say that about hatching). With this being your first experience with a broody your 'antsy-ness' is totally understood and honestly, I still get that way even after going through over 25 just this year!

Watch, wonder at the amazement of the process, learn and above all else, ENJOY!!

 

[PD-Riverman]

we have a white cochin and we dont want her to be broody anymore. we try taking her out of the coop and locking her out which has worked on all our other chickens but she just manages to get back in somehow. any ideas

Put her in a wire bottom cage---up off the dirt with Nothing but food and water----She will break!

 

[Rhandi74]

Jewel is still doing well with her overgrown chicks with funny feet and beaks. LOL They are 2 weeks old now and she has decided they are old enough to venture outside. I hope she does not go broody again this year because I will have to break her, she is starting to molt and needs a break for a while.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

i have. but why isnt it working with her too just lock her out?

Because that isn't how you do it - which would be explained in the numerous threads you found in the search you did.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Roflmao!!! Actually, it doesn't hurt to keep checking. I left my fbcm to take care of things on her own. When I finally did do a proper check, 3 partly-hatched chicks were dead because she covered the pipped ends with the empty shells from the already-hatched chicks suffocating them. Lesson learned!

I doubt the chicks died because of empty shells blocking their pipped hole. If they are strong enough to break out of a shell, they are strong enough to move a piece of broken shell. It is highly unlikely that a broken shell would create an air-tight seal anyway. Remember, they've been living and growing inside a completely sealed/closed shell for three weeks, why suddenly do they need so much more oxygen? I suggest something else happened to the chicks. Did you open them up and look for signs of infection? Pipping and dying in the shell are often signs of infection. The shells covering the holes they pipped through is a coincidence. They died after pipping. It happens.