Broody Hen Thread!

[trailrider330]

I was wondering. If I have a broody and she has chicks under her how long would you wait to let her and the chicks outside. I don't want any. To get hurt or die so I'm keeping them inside in a large cardboard box. I plan to wait until they are about 2 weeks old and have some feathers.

I usually aim for sometime between 1-2 weeks old to let them free-range with the rest of the flock. I gradually increase their time outside, while gradually decreasing the amount of time I spend standing guard.

 

[Coker farms]

Hi

No fake eggs will not make a hen go broody.

Once a hen goes broody in my flock I move her to an old cupboard that I place in the hen house. I have holes drilled in the door to allow a little light into it. I dust it with DE and make a nest in an old drawer in it and put the eggs I want to hatch in the nest and when the broody has started sitting tight, I move her into the cupboard nest and close the door. The darkness and the nest of eggs will usually mean she settles onto the new eggs. Once a day I open the cupboard door and let her out with the flock to eat and dust bath etc, then when she is ready to go back to the eggs, I make sure she gets back onto the correct nest and close the door. The first few days, she will go back to her old nest site and needs placing back in the cupboard but after that she finds her own way back to the correct nest. I usually put food and water in the cupboard with her so that it's available if she needs it.
The advantage of this system is that the broody gets a dark, quiet place to brood without disturbance from the other hens and they can't lay into her nest. I know she is safely on her nest when I'm not there and can't wander off and climb back onto a different nest of eggs by mistake. She still remains part of the flock as she eats with them once a day, so no reintegration problems and she can then rear the chicks within the flock. When they are hatching, I normally keep her in the cupboard for a couple of days and then I let her decide when she is ready to bring the chicks out. I have a large mixed flock including roosters and they free range every day. I've never lost a chick due to injury from another flock member and my broody hens are quite low in the pecking order. My first broody hatched 14/14 eggs and raised all 14 chicks without incident or loss. My Tasha is a total star though!

Anyway, that's the way I do it and it works very well for me.

fake eggs might not make a hen go broody, it tempts her though….

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, I was tempted to qualify my negative statement by saying that if she is on the point of going broody, then a nest full of eggs whether fake or real can trigger it, but it was rather late when I was typing and I couldn't be bothered....shocking attitude I know!! Fake eggs don't do anything different to normal eggs in that respect and neither will make a hen that is not thinking of going broody, start to brood.

 

[fisherlady]

I usually aim for sometime between 1-2 weeks old to let them free-range with the rest of the flock.  I gradually increase their time outside, while gradually decreasing the amount of time I spend standing guard. 

X2

Outside time depends on your set up and the weather, I allow many of our experienced hens out as soon as they want, but we watch closely to make sure all the chicks can keep up and that they all get back inside when she does...
An enclosed and chick proofed run and a nest area with no ramp allows outside time as soon as they can toddle, ramps, open areas with chick dangers means more observation time and generally an older age for free ranging (over a week or two)
Inclement weather can also cause a need for delay in the very young being out...as can large broods in colder weather, since the hen will have to really work to keep them all together for frequent warm ups.

 

[microchick]

It would be nice if we could trigger broodiness in our hens but I'm from Missouri, the 'show me' state so I'll just have to see it to believe it. From a medical, biological POV IMHO I fully believe that much of it has to do with hormonal fluctuations in the hen. Right now I have 12 hens and so far only one has gone broody. Oh, the others showed interest. They stared at that broody hen and watched her sit on that nest for several days. They even donated eggs to her cause but not one of them crawled into the nesting box next to her and started setting her own clutch of eggs. Maybe hen #1 has a slightly higher level of whatever hormone is essential for a hen to go broody and that hormone is low in the other 11 hens at this time. So does that mean that in a week one of those 11 hens may experience a fluctuation in their hormones that will cause her to go broody? Might be an interesting thing, if you could somehow draw a blood sample that you could test to track hormone levels in you hens so you might be able to gauge who is going to go broody and when.

EPT for Hens. Now there is a money making idea!

 

[fisherlady]

In other broody news.... Brownie has her 12 out and about despite the 30F degree weather, though she is keeping them under the covered part of the paddock since it has been either raining or snowing here the last 2 days!

Laverne hatched 9/10 eggs, looks like the 10th one quit in the last few days, it never did pip internally.
She is doing great so far, already is teaching them to run to people for goodies when we walk into the coop. LOL

 

[rebrascora]

From what I have read, the pressure from a "pile" of eggs on a pre broody's chest when she is on the nest, can trigger the full broodiness and switch her into incubation mode but her hormone levels will already have been heading in that direction to start with. I'm still desperately waiting for one of mine to go broody. I've started leaving eggs in the nest in one of the pens and I have a free range girl who is secreting eggs in a sneaky location and although I could reach and remove them, I'm letting her stash them for now. The eggs will be fine to eat still and I'll remove them and give her the ones I want hatching just as soon as she sets. My girls don't seem to like fake eggs (they often toss them out) and to be honest, real eggs are cheaper and don't get wasted anyway.

 

[rebrascora]

@fisherlady

What a lovely brood of assorted chicks and great photos! Are they farmyard mutts or just a mixture of breeds?

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Fisherlady your chicks are sooo pretty

 

[PD-Riverman]

I have a broody australorp (well three actually lol). But I was thinking about using one of them to hatch out some of my guinea fowl eggs. But I had a few questions

How many guinea eggs should I put under an australorp? She is a big girl

Is it cruel if I don't let her keep any of the keets? Right now I am just hatching to sell. Mainly because I don't really have the extra space for more birds right now, the coop is pretty much at it's max with guinea and chickens. I want to get a larger coop in the future but it probably wont be until next spring.

A big hen should be able to cover 12/15 guinea eggs or more if she has a bowl shaped nest. It might make you feel better to put the guinea eggs under her leaving enough room for a couple chicken eggs which you add 6 days later. When she hatches all, take the guinea/keets and let her keep the chicks----every one will be happy then.