Broody Hen Thread!

[Greg88]

I apologize if this has been discussed. I did a quick search and not much came up.
I have not taken the time to read all1066 pages of this thread yet.

My Broody BO has eaten VERY little if any over the last several days.
I have tried wetting it, I have offered cooked eggs. She shows no interest.
I smooth over the bowl I have near by for food, and it appears undisturbed the next day.
She is thin, her keel bone is fairly prominent.

I know Broodies will eat (and need) less because of energy being expended but I am concerned.
She is in her first week of sitting on the hatching eggs I purchased so she has a while to go.

I wormed everyone with Valbazen back in November as a precaution.
Thoughts?

 

[PD-Riverman]

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.

Good, I do not know how much info you have collected so I will ask----If she is with other hens----did you mark the eggs so you can remove fresh added/layed eggs daily? Make sure you mark your calender. You can check her on her 18th day, but "I" would not bother her at all----hands-off on the 19/20/21/ day---let her hatch. In my opinion if you tilt her or raise her a little to see the eggs during those days---It causes the moisture to escape that she might need to have a good hatch. Good Luck!!u

 

[Wendy High]

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.

Keep us posted..

 

[fisherlady]

I apologize if this has been discussed. I did a quick search and not much came up.
I have not taken the time to read all1066 pages of this thread yet.

My Broody BO has eaten VERY little if any over the last several days.
I have tried wetting it, I have offered cooked eggs. She shows no interest.
I smooth over the bowl I have near by for food, and it appears undisturbed the next day.
She is thin, her keel bone is fairly prominent.

I know Broodies will eat (and need) less because of energy being expended but I am concerned.
She is in her first week of sitting on the hatching eggs I purchased so she has a while to go.

I wormed everyone with Valbazen back in November as a precaution.
Thoughts?

Normally I don't do much to intervene, but some inexperienced broodies can run into trouble, if you have eliminated parasites (internal and external) as culprits and are concerned her condition is failing you have limited options....leave her alone and hope for the best at the risk of loosing her, move her to a broody breaker cage and incubate the eggs yourself, manually remove her from the nest daily and give her tempting, healthy feed at that time or maybe every other day. She may get smarter about things if you give her a few more days but her physical condition should be your guide.

 

[fisherlady]

@ Gregg88 ,
We all handle our hens a bit different based on our experience and goals, I have hens who brood wherever they want and the only thing I do is give them marked eggs and remove imposters, I have hens who need privacy but otherwise are left alone and we have hens who need a bit of support for an assortment of reasons.
I can honestly tell you we currently have 2 hens sitting. One in a community area who we have no need to worry about at all, she is a wonderfully independent and care free broody for us... the other not so much.... she had a weird experience last winter when she skipped the egg setting stage and went straight to mama monster mode with another hen's chicks! And she was awesome with them and thankfully the other hen had cobrooded with other hens before and let her do her thing. This year Brownie decided to do it right and went broody on eggs, the problem we realized early on is that she was not getting off of the nest, she is 4 years old and when we finally moved her off to check things she actually had trouble walking, so she is now on the 'needs moved daily' list to prevent issues. If we see signs she got out herself then we don't bother her. She is the only hen in the past 50-60 we have set that actually has needed that done, I am still hoping she gets into the swing of it without interference but at her age I would rather not risk problems when she is simple to handle and cooperative.

 

[Greg88]

Fisherlady
Thanks for the thoughts. It certainly give me some direction.
Thanks again!!

 

[snlconner]

Sad news, our hen left the nest way too long yesterday, decided to go back last night. Was on most of the day today but tonight she left for good. The eggs were fertile and developing but I think they died while she was off yesterday and once she realized they were dead she left the nest.

Maybe next time

 

[pilatik]

Glad to know that there's a broody hen thread! I have a buff orpington that's just gone broody for the second time and am trying to decide whether to put her in a broody buster cage or give her eggs.

Can anybody give me some insight on what to do?

First time she went broody was September. She spent 8 days in the broody buster cage before I gave in and gave her 11 fertilized grocery store eggs. She hatched 9 of them (one died on the first day), and mothered them for the next 12 weeks -- she pushed the last one away at the end of December. So she seems like a pretty dedicated mother, and I'm tempted to let her hatch again.

The problem is that we're really not set up for a broody chicken. The coop has two nest boxes. We have 3 chickens, so that's usually plenty. But last time my other girls insisted on sitting on top of her to lay their eggs, which caused all kinds of trouble. We were worried about raccoons and cats if I put her in a box outside. I finally stuck her in a dog crate in our office, which wasn't ideal for anyone.

She's currently in the broody buster being supervised by a very energetic toddler. I'm not optimistic about breaking her of it.

Has anybody had good luck finding new homes for their broody hens? She's pretty stubborn and good at hatching, so finding her a home where she can do that would be awesome. Any ideas on where to look, what to ask about?

Failing that... Any suggestions on how to let her brood that's a bit easier on us all? Any suggestions on where to get non-grocery store eggs on short notice? I'd like the chicks to be a bit easier to get rid of, and since we're in a city, backyard breeds seem to do better than unknown breeds.

Thanks!

 

[PD-Riverman]

She spent 8 days in the broody buster cage before I gave in and gave her 11 fertilized grocery store eggs.

What kind of broody buster cage you got?????

I break many(all that I put in it) in 3 days and they are usually back laying in a week or two. If you don't want more chicks break her----Don't give her away!!

 

[pilatik]

Dog cage with a wire bottom. I put it up on sawhorses to make sure that she couldn't really start setting. This worked great for my Australorp... for her, not so much. Am I doing something wrong?