Broody Hen Thread!

[Puddin Fluff]

Being new to raising chickens as pets, I acquired 2 white silkies a couple of months ago. I recently observed on of them staying in the nest box. She was laying eggs pretty good, but there are no eggs under her, plus she is not laying eggs. I did some research and found out she is Brooding, not what I wanted her to do yet. BTW I have a small rooster, not sure of the type, it does have feathers on its legs though. I am presently to break the brooding thing by using a dog cage as a deterrent so she will stop. If my picture goes threw showing her in cage, Am I doing the right thing

This can work with some birds to break broodiness. I have done it before. I give them about 3 days then I put them back in. Sometime they need longer so continue to monitor her behavior. Good luck and welcome.

 

[microchick]

Ditto on the welcome!

The broody buster cage worked on Aggie when she went broody back in December. It was a temporary fix at best as she is now the mother of 8 adorable Buff O/Welsummer, Buff O and possibly Buff O/Speckled Sussex chicks.

Sometimes a broody's gonna do what a broody's gonna do. I think your success breaking her mood depends on the breed of hen you are trying to bust and the hen's genetic predisposition to go broody. In our case the fix only lasted 2 months.

Oh well, there is always room for one, make that 8 more.

 

[Wendy High]

Catching up on thread...
Here's momma and babies. Doing good at 2 weeks.

Still has all 7 though you can't see them in pic.

 

[microchick]

Too cute! What breed is momma? Kinda looks Welsummerish. I wish one of our Wellie girls would go broody but right now they won't even let the boys look at them let alone mate with them.

 

[Wendy High]

They are black breasted red old english bantams.

 

[16 paws]

malkared,

So sad to read about Belle and her chick. Something like that happened to me after letting my Jersey Giant hatch in the coop with the others. Let me just say it turned out very bad....

If you cant move them to a separate broody pen then take some wire that the chicks cant get thru and surround the broody and eggs so the others cannot get to them. I would put a sheet over the top to give them privacy. I have had chicks just disappear in the past before I started doing this. Some people have had luck in letting their hens brood with the others but I havent.

Dont give up. Just look at this as a learning experience. pdriverman and fisherlady have some excellent advice on this matter. They have a lot of experience. Let us know how the others are doing.

 

[malkered]

malkared,

So sad to read about Belle and her chick. Something like that happened to me after letting my Jersey Giant hatch in the coop with the others. Let me just say it turned out very bad....

If you cant move them to a separate broody pen then take some wire that the chicks cant get thru and surround the broody and eggs so the others cannot get to them. I would put a sheet over the top to give them privacy. I have had chicks just disappear in the past before I started doing this. Some people have had luck in letting their hens brood with the others but I havent.

Dont give up. Just look at this as a learning experience. pdriverman and fisherlady have some excellent advice on this matter. They have a lot of experience. Let us know how the others are doing.

Hi, thank you for your post. I took the unhatched eggs and put them in the incubator with some bantam eggs I was hatching and three of them hatched along with 2/10 eggs from the bantam hatch. Two of the chicks were from my own hens and one was a mail order green egg. the chick from the green egg hatched with a partially unabsorbed yolk sac so she's in an isolation incubator and I have my fingers crossed for her.

I therefore have 4 healthy chicks in the incubator.

Belle has left the nest but is still behaving oddly and has been wandering around as if she has lost something.

 

[coopbuilder82]

Thank you for this thread!
I have a silkie who has been broody for a few days. This morning I put six eggs under her. I will check frequently to see how she's doing. This is my first time with a broody.

 

[microchick]

Congratulations on the broody! Lots of good advice here especially if you are a newbie at this. We all will look forward to your updates!

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Lol am loving this thread my flock is going to be 15 wks on Mon so figured I should start studying now about Broody and give myself time to gather everything (aka definitely an XXL plastic dog kennel for a Broody nest/chick raising box), and start checking out electric broodies incase I have one lose interest a couple weeks in. Thanks for all the great info will just be lurking in the background taking notes