Broody Hen Thread!

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I've got a little broody hen in a cage in the house...she has a nice view of the yard through the picture window. Yes it is possible to have a house chicken...They just need regular paper changing to prevent the coop scent from setting in. She was really "beat up" by the overly amorous young cockrels. Now she is furiously broody. She has done this before....and after numerous attempts to break her Broodyness failed. I figured I'd better let her set some eggs or watch her starve and stress herself to death. So in the house she is with no competition for food, no one trying to push her out of her nest, and no need to burn precious nutrients to keep herself and her eggs warm. The temps here are still in the teens to twenties....and will be for a good many weeks yet. If not months. We've had snow in late May. Wish I had a chicken cam. Like those Eagle cams? Although it might be like watching cement set.
 
16 paws said:
If it were me I would not put this chick back with the mama. Do you have a heat lamp and an area to look after it?
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Unfortunately some hens attack the little intruders...I don't know why, but some just do. I wouldn't put the chick back in with the hen until I find out what she does with the next one...I know this advice is late...but it might help someone....I had a Black Jersey Giant hen that went broody last spring. She hatched out all the eggs with out a hitch....Only to all but abandon them...She kept them warm...She didn't attack them...but she didn't show any interest in them from day one...when they were fed, she would just stomp in and chow down....her babies were on their own. She didn't teach them anything. It was sad to watch. No one can tell me that proper mothering doesn't matter. Those chicks were so confused with no direction from mom...They wandered around aimlessly.
 
the poppster said:
If you ever get a chance to watch the "Normal" broody hen behavior, when she leaves the nest, during her rare breaks during a set. They run around like a crazed bird. Almost a "Zombie". They poop a big stinky poop. Grab a bit of food while on the run. A quick few beaks full of water and back to the nest. They will run through the food, through the water. Run into, under and over her flock members in her one minded mission to eat, poop and drink. Before returning to the nest to settle in and look like the most calm, placid bird in the world. It's amazing to know that they are the same birds.
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I just watched 'Dawn of the Dead' last night so I had to chuckle at the mental image of a zombie hen staggering about but what you said makes sense considering the degree of concentration they are exhibiting while they are brooding eggs. Frankly I cannot imagine sitting relatively in the same position for 24 hours staring at the side of the nesting box for hours on end without even a Snickers bar to break the grumbling in my belly. I'd be staggering around like a zombie also with my arms outstretched muttering 'Cheetos, I need Cheetos'

Everything a person reads about avian intelligence points to their limited mentality but what I am seeing is a pretty impressively determined little spirit that makes up for not being the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
 
microchick said:
I just watched 'Dawn of the Dead' last night so I had to chuckle at the mental image of a zombie hen staggering about but what you said makes sense considering the degree of concentration they are exhibiting while they are brooding eggs. Frankly I cannot imagine sitting relatively in the same position for 24 hours staring at the side of the nesting box for hours on end without even a Snickers bar to break the grumbling in my belly. I'd be staggering around like a zombie also with my arms outstretched muttering 'Cheetos, I need Cheetos'

Everything a person reads about avian intelligence points to their limited mentality but what I am seeing is a pretty impressively determined little spirit that makes up for not being the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
Click to expand...
I have one broody who (when she is hatching in the heat of summer) will leave the nest for up to an hour in the middle of the afternoon for a leisurely stroll through the yard chatting up her friends. On cooler days, she sits tight straight through. It is as if she has thermometer that tells her when the eggs will be ok to leave and when it is too cool.
 
Too funny, Sharol. I think our hen tried that once, left her nest, came back to ind that 3 or 4 hens had added to her 7 eggs that we gave her. She didn't seem to mind. She found 2 eggs in another nest that looked good to her so she claimed those while another hen occupied her nest laying an egg. Once we got her back on her own nest, she just snuggled down as nothing had changed.
 
the poppster said:
If you ever get a chance to watch the "Normal" broody hen behavior, when she leaves the nest, during her rare breaks during a set. They run around like a crazed bird. Almost a "Zombie". They poop a big stinky poop. Grab a bit of food while on the run. A quick few beaks full of water and back to the nest. They will run through the food, through the water. Run into, under and over her flock members in her one minded mission to eat, poop and drink. Before returning to the nest to settle in and look like the most calm, placid bird in the world. It's amazing to know that they are the same birds.
Click to expand...
Ha ha! That describes Belle's (my broody hen) behaviour perfectly!
 
I have 6 broody hens right now.... I'm running out of nests foe everyone ... Haha
I have a australorp that hatched out babies for me last year sitting on 6
I have Maran hen sitting on 7 , I have a white leghorn sitting on 6, a silkie cross sitting on 4 another australorp sitting on 6 and 1 Maran/EE cross sitting but not on any eggs
 

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