Broody Hen Thread!

[casey197530]

I have three broodies right now two silkie and a cochin only one silkie has eggs will the others try to take her chicks when they r born next week?

 

[GitaBooks]

I have three broodies right now two silkie and a cochin only one silkie has eggs will the others try to take her chicks when they r born next week?

They probably won't try to take her chicks if she is not right next to them.

How many eggs does she have?

I hope everything goes well!

 

[cochinsarecute]

yeah, I was reading some of those methods on here and elsewhere and didn't think I wanted to try some of them!
I don't really care if she's broody or not, TBH, I just don't want her to be run down by tucking herself away and not eating as much as usual, etc.
I halfway want to find some fertile eggs for her, as she would be a great mom (she is "mama" to the seramas - and actually they are kind of stressed that she's not out and about with them) but we really don't want more chickens so that doesn't seem like a great decision! 

Should I do anything re food etc?  Mostly I just pick her up and put her out whenever I'm out there, and she did wander around and drink shortly after I watched her be a fuzz-lump, but she was back 10 min later.

if you're not going to let her sit I'd try to break her. Get a bucket of cool water and set her in it up to her chest a couple minutes every time you catch her sitting. For anyone who says this is mean the only alternative is a wire bottom cage for days sometimes weeks ( in my opinion that's worse) or her starving herself for weeks all for nothing. Plenty of show birds get bathed this is no worse. If I was a chicken and those were my options I'd choose a couple cool baths a day and back to my normal chicken day vs being locked up for days away from my flock on a wire floor or starving for weeks under false hope of chicks.

 

[casey197530]

They probably won't try to take her chicks if she is not right next to them.

How many eggs does she have?

I hope everything goes well!

She just has two a bantem and and ee but she was broodie for a while so I gave her some eggs both look good so fingers crossed I have a playpen for them when they hatch somewhere in my post there r pics of it

 

[CanaDawn]

if you're not going to let her sit I'd try to break her. Get a bucket of cool water and set her in it up to her chest a couple minutes every time you catch her sitting. For anyone who says this is mean the only alternative is a wire bottom cage for days sometimes weeks ( in my opinion that's worse) or her starving herself for weeks all for nothing. Plenty of show birds get bathed this is no worse. If I was a chicken and those were my options I'd choose a couple cool baths a day and back to my normal chicken day vs being locked up for days away from my flock on a wire floor or starving for weeks under false hope of chicks.

Well, I don't tend to make animal decisions based on what I would want, as my goals differ substantially from the average chicken....but I do see her eating several times a day especially if I lift her often. I know it's not really worse than a bath, and she goes out in the cold rain fairly happily, but I'm betting the show birds get warm water and drying off, and not several times a day!

I'll see if the next couple of days bring a change, but if she's not over herself by the weekend, she'll have to sit a while longer. I do keep an eye on her condition, but I was surprised that she went clucky again so soon. I guess she's maybe laid a half dozen eggs since last time. I think that in the past, we let clucky hens hatch out their chicks (or they went into the bush and hid and came back wtih chicks, which happened quite often.) I'm not used to hens randomly deciding to spend a couple weeks sitting on nothing.

Wonder what she would do if I put a cool pack into her nest area.

 

[Sarah4]

I have a broody hen sitting on eggs and they are due to hatch on 8/1, I candled them on day 12 and saw most were producing a chick and a few were dark shelled so I couldn't really tell. So I left all them under her. Today I went out to feed and let her out and noticed a few eggs out of the nest and a nasty smell. One of the eggs exploded under her. This is my first time hatching under a broody and I got a lot mixed answers on candleing them and smelling them when she was off the nest. So I let her be and it back fired. Out of the 14 eggs she was on I cleaned up 6 of them as best I could and candled them quickly and saw movement. I also cleaned up momma hen as best I could and put her back on the 6 remaining eggs. Are those eggs ruined now? Will the embryos die from the bacteria? Will momma hen be okay from the exploding nasty egg all over her? I'm so sadder her first time I feel bad for her and the remaining eggs.

 

[GitaBooks]

I have a broody hen sitting on eggs and they are due to hatch on 8/1, I candled them on day 12 and saw most were producing a chick and a few were dark shelled so I couldn't really tell. So I left all them under her. Today I went out to feed and let her out and noticed a few eggs out of the nest and a nasty smell. One of the eggs exploded under her. This is my first time hatching under a broody and I got a lot mixed answers on candleing them and smelling them when she was off the nest. So I let her be and it back fired. Out of the 14 eggs she was on I cleaned up 6 of them as best I could and candled them quickly and saw movement. I also cleaned up momma hen as best I could and put her back on the 6 remaining eggs. Are those eggs ruined now? Will the embryos die from the bacteria? Will momma hen be okay from the exploding nasty egg all over her? I'm so sadder her first time I feel bad for her and the remaining eggs.

I've had that happen with my eggs. It could kill them, but let her keep them. There is a chance they will hatch. I've seen it myself with my own eggs that got covered in egg.

 

[CanaDawn]

I've had that happen with my eggs. It could kill them, but let her keep them. There is a chance they will hatch. I've seen it myself with my own eggs that got covered in egg.

Yes, it happened when I was a kid to a few hens that their eggs went rotten, although they usually kicked those ones out of the nest. I have a very clear memory of the stench when my mom decided she would fling one of the rotten eggs into the bush, and her aim was off, and the egg hit a tree a few feet away and burst!

I would also say let her try to hatch the others out, and hope for the best. You've done all you can, as far as I can tell, and she'll do what needs doing better than making other changes, I think. I'm no expert, but most hens are.

 

[the poppster]

I have three broodies right now two silkie and a cochin only one silkie has eggs will the others try to take her chicks when they r born next week?

I had three hens go broody on me....one started and the others must have thought it looked like a good idea..so they joined in...I had 9 eggs under the original hen and just before they were supposed to hatch (couple days) I slipped a few under the other two hens...when they hatched...the hens went right into Mama mode...It has been a pain with three broody tractors....but I circled them like wagons and put up a temporary pen for the three little families...they will be introduced back into the flock by next week...they've already spent a few days in a temp pen on the yard with the rest of the flock. .they all survived...so it's time.

 

[the poppster]

I had five broody hens this year, and so far I've only gotten one chick. Three were broken up by a skunk (which I just caught tonight and BOY DID IT SPRAY!), only one egg hatched under my Sebright hen, and I have a Silkie who was suppose to be sitting on some shipped eggs but the eggs were too delicate (they went to the incubator), so she has a random mix of our farm eggs (we have a few roosters, so they are fertile) that I hope will hatch for her. She is around day 12 now.

Poor girl decided to go broody in the cement room but it was raining so much her nest flooded. She was all wet, but still sitting on that nest. I moved her to a dry crate with some new eggs and she settled in. However, she has been moving her eggs from one corner to the other, as the skunk was coming each night and trying to get into her pen, and I think that disturbed her.

Ya think?? If I was a hen and a skunk was trying to find a way to make me "Dinner" I would be a bit disturbed....get rid of the skunk..cause It will not go on its own...Trap it...Shoot it...what ever you prefer...but get it GONE...before it finds a way into your coop.