Broody Hen Thread!

[microchick]

One broody at a time is enough for me thank you!

I took out a little lid full of chick food mixed with chopped egg and set it in a corner of the nesting box. Aggie still has 5 eggs under her that haven't hatched yet and may be running late so I figured that if she had 'breakfast in bed' she might stick to the nest another day. Her chicks are adorable. Before I closed up the box she had called one of them out and it was sampling it's first bite of real food. Another chick was peeping out at me from under her fluffy butt feathers. i'm going to try to get a picture shortly if they are still out and about. Happily it has been in the mid 60s here today and mild.

 

[fisherlady]

Well, I'm getting nervous now, Belle is on day 18 now and at last look all seven eggs were fertile. Belle is my first broody and she's doing a great job so far so I'm not sure if I should get involved at any point or whether I should leave her and the offspring to their own devices. I'm hoping that she will take good care of the chicks as it will be a lot less hassle than having to maintain a brooder although one will be on standby. I have 10 bantam eggs in the incubator too so will be going through both processes at once so it should be interesting running between the two sets of chicks. e :cd

Good luck with the hatch, let her do her thing and the less fussing the better with it being her first time. Once you see a little one roaming around you should be able to easily see how she behaves. Hens very rarely hurt chicks, it can happen And usually seems to be a stress reaction. Sometimes early hatchers or strange chicks added will cause odd reactions.

 

[16 paws]

have you tried installing hot shot wire around your chick yard? they use it for hoses and such and a neighbor uses it on his chicken yard. might work for you.

What is hot shot wire?

 

[Honora]

best breed for this kind of stuff ?(probably asked a lot ) lol !!

Not an expert but I'll chime in on this...my broodies are bantam Orpingtons. They have only gone broody once but they did a great job. I hear Orpingtons in general are good broodies, also Cochins.

 

[microchick]

Pictures! I got pictures!

They were kinda hard to see and peeping out from Aggie who was trying really hard to look intimidating....all 5 pounds of her. My husband added arrows pointing to Yin and Yang as he has named them.


This is Yin by itself....think pullet...think pullet....think pullet.....


So cute peeping out from under Mom's wing.

Still have 5 eggs under her. One I know is probably infertile. She's starting to get antsy though so I have a feeling she wants to part with the nest so I'll check under her tomorrow and see if anything is happening with them. If she gets out of the nest I'll do a quick candle and bring them in if there are viable chicks inside. My little 'bator is heated up and on standby.

I think this little lady has done an excellent job for her first clutch of eggs....at the end of winter no less. I can hardly wait to see them all and do some feather sexing. When my husband peeked at them the first time I told him, you know it's going to be hard for me to part with these, rooster or not rooster. He just chuckled and said. I know that. We are just going to wind up with 30 acres of chickens. Yes, I told him but we will be bug free and have plenty of fresh eggs!

 

[malkered]

Pictures! I got pictures! They were kinda hard to see and peeping out from Aggie who was trying really hard to look intimidating....all 5 pounds of her. My husband added arrows pointing to Yin and Yang as he has named them. This is Yin by itself....think pullet...think pullet....think pullet..... So cute peeping out from under Mom's wing. Still have 5 eggs under her. One I know is probably infertile. She's starting to get antsy though so I have a feeling she wants to part with the nest so I'll check under her tomorrow and see if anything is happening with them. If she gets out of the nest I'll do a quick candle and bring them in if there are viable chicks inside. My little 'bator is heated up and on standby. I think this little lady has done an excellent job for her first clutch of eggs....at the end of winter no less. I can hardly wait to see them all and do some feather sexing. When my husband peeked at them the first time I told him, you know it's going to be hard for me to part with these, rooster or not rooster. He just chuckled and said. I know that. We are just going to wind up with 30 acres of chickens. Yes, I told him but we will be bug free and have plenty of fresh eggs!

Fantastic! Congratulations. Only 3 days till mine are due.

 

[chickmeme]

hot shot wire is an electric wire held in place by insulators. they can run on battery, solar, or plug in. it is high voltage/ low current and will shock anything that touches it. just enough to be felt. ranchers will use it to keep cows and bulls in a pasture. tractor supply should know about it.

 

[fisherlady]

Pictures! I got pictures!

They were kinda hard to see and peeping out from Aggie who was trying really hard to look intimidating....all 5 pounds of her. My husband added arrows pointing to Yin and Yang as he has named them.


This is Yin by itself....think pullet...think pullet....think pullet.....


So cute peeping out from under Mom's wing.

Still have 5 eggs under her. One I know is probably infertile. She's starting to get antsy though so I have a feeling she wants to part with the nest so I'll check under her tomorrow and see if anything is happening with them. If she gets out of the nest I'll do a quick candle and bring them in if there are viable chicks inside. My little 'bator is heated up and on standby.

I think this little lady has done an excellent job for her first clutch of eggs....at the end of winter no less. I can hardly wait to see them all and do some feather sexing. When my husband peeked at them the first time I told him, you know it's going to be hard for me to part with these, rooster or not rooster. He just chuckled and said. I know that. We are just going to wind up with 30 acres of chickens. Yes, I told him but we will be bug free and have plenty of fresh eggs!

Awesome!

 

[microchick]

Well at the moment we have 6 healthy little chicks. One more hatched over night but we were forced to move mom and chicks down to the 'nursery' coop. I was setting more food out for the oldest chicks when mom gave me a loud warning cluck and well, her bowels cut loose in the nest. No wonder, poor thing has been holding herself for almost 4 days. She still had three eggs she was sitting on with no signs of pips in them. They were being jostled around by her and the chicks so I figured we had nothing to loose by moving them also. The chicks are adorable. Three have Welsummer blood in them, three look pure Buff O. I feather sexed two as possible pullets. The youngest was too young and the other two didn't have enough pin feathers to tell anything by their wings. I moved the eggs with her, set one down at her breast and she tucked it under her. At this point I'm concerned about her still being glued to the nest. One of the eggs is probably infertile, the other two, who knows.

Should I leave them till tomorrow and if they haven't hatched, pull them and put them in my 'bator until we are sure they are not going to hatch? The chicks are ready to be out and about with her. They are so cute. I put chick feed in the palm of my hand and immediately three climbed on to eat. Mom needs to be eating also. Her stool is loose at this point, I'm sure from stress. There is no sign of coccidia or blood. Just stinky loose broody poo.

But given the time of year, this being her first brood, 50% fertility the Welsummer eggs and on again, off again cold weather, I'm happy with 60-70% hatch rate.

Footnote. I just went out with chopped cooked egg to add to their chick feed and momma was off the nest with chicks in attendance. I gathered up the abandoned eggs and brought them in. Two were infertile. One was dark with a clearly defined air chamber and in the other I could see a little beak in the air chamber but no real movement in the embryo. They were cool to the touch but I still brought them in and placed them in the incubator. Not holding out much hope but 24 hours is all we have to invest to see if anything happens. On the bright side, Momma and babes are doing well. Momma has them sitting in sunlight that is coming in through the nursery window. The chicks are sitting in the sun dozing. When I just peeked in on them 4 of them had taken up residency in the low food bowl I put out for them along with their chick feeder. At one point the Buff O rooster came up and looked in the door. I told him he was a new father and that I'd bet real money that most of them were his. He actually looked at me, back at the window and then went about his business. Sometimes I wonder just how much they really do understand.

 

[16 paws]

hot shot wire is an electric wire held in place by insulators. they can run on battery, solar, or plug in. it is high voltage/ low current and will shock anything that touches it. just enough to be felt. ranchers will use it to keep cows and bulls in a pasture. tractor supply should know about it.

Ok, yes I have heard of it. Sounds like a good option.
Thanks
Marie