Broody Hen Thread!

[n3kms]

I'm going to be playing musical chicken coops again. The day after Elsa's eggs hatched her sister goes broody. As soon as she starts taking the chicks out and about they are getting moved and my new broody will be going into the broody coop with some silkie eggs. Oh my, now next year I'll be overrun with broodys.

 

[roseyred]

That's what I love about animals and farming chick surreal. There's always something to learn, sometimng to improve, something to grow and love and something to get back from all your hard work put in. It's a beautiful circle

 

[lauranickerson]

So these questions may have been asked but I can't justify going through 8500 comments.

1. How many eggs will fit under a silkie? And how many under a standard chicken?

2. What happens if your broody hatches babies and you are selling the babies? What does momma do?

3. I set some duck eggs on 5/3 under two of my broody silkies. I did 9 under one and 10 under another. I know now that's probably too many but they covered them all so I figured all was good. Well one nest didn't do anything. She's been on them everyday but nothing. And my ducks are very busy (one male, three females. Females are missing lots of feathers from so much action). On the other nest there were 4 out of 10 growing. One disappeared after about 5 days. Then I found one kicked out of the nest yesterday that was fertile (keep in mind, I haven't removed the duds yet). I candled it and it was a watery dark mess. Same thing today. Does the silkie know they are bad, or are they only bad because they or kicked out if the nest and onto the coop floor?

4. Of these eggs I set on 5/3 there is one left that's doing anything. I just put some chicken eggs under her too (5/15). Is that going to make for an okay hatch date for both? It's within a day or two.

5. I set some duck eggs about a month ago because a third broody hatched my first dick egg from the year. Again, a clutch of eggs and there was one that did anything. It just hatched last night and I took her other dud eggs away. Is the still gonna try to hatch invisible eggs? I'm considering going to the feed store and getting a couple silkie chicks and slipping them under her. Will that work? How many could she handle if she's already got one duck? She's a standard sized chicken.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Sonya9]

2. What happens if your broody hatches babies and you are selling the babies? What does momma do?

Personally, and I am sure others will say they couldn't are less about this, but I believe it would be extremely cruel to have a broody devote several weeks hatching eggs and finally be rewarded with precious baby chicks only to have them all taken away a couple of days later.

Years ago I worked at an office that had a lake with a bonded pair of canadian geese. Every year they would lay a clutch near a fountain and then take the babies to the lake. We would watch the babies grow up from the office windows. One year there was a lot of rain and the whole bunch of very young chicks got sucked up into the overflow gutter and washed out never to be seen again. Those birds freaked out and searched, called, panicked for 2-3 days afterwards. The mama kept going back to the nest (quite a ways away) and looking through the pile of empty shells searching for her chicks. It was very sad.


Use an incubator if you don't want to let the broody raise any of the chicks.

 

[blkjak]

I agree Sonya9. I even use my mommas for weaker chicks from the incubator. Mommas give those weaker chicks a better chance of making it to adulthood.

 

[Southerlys]

My broody wheaten Maran just hatched 9 barnyard mix so far

[/IMG]

 

[Southerlys]

 

[Cebarmlds]

They are so cute! how many eggs has she been setting on?

 

[Jill2468]

It really is not healthy for her to sit like that as she only leaves the nest (on her own) once a day. I have converted a rabbit hutch by making it taller so my girl can stand comfortably, and put the hen in that just as soon as I see she is broody. She cannot get inside the hutch, just to outside cage part. I have a small board for her to sit on and with the air all around she should only have to be in there 3 days max. Most of my girls only take about 2 full days. The hutch allows her body to cool down and get her out of the broody stage. Be sure to put it in the shade and cover when a rain storm comes. I hope this helps.

 

[Southerlys]

Look at the top picture. She and the chicks are already moved to a pen