Broody Hen Thread!

[James Beller]

I guess then that the only thing you can do is either take a chance and let the hens share the nest or break one of being broody.

I tried this but the new one broke an egg and i had to through it out and kill the chick. it was a white crested black polish. Did i mention these two girls are pure polish hens?

 

[fisherlady]

There are identical nest boxes next to each other and so they cannot roll the eggs but all the other hens lay eggs in that one.  i keep trying to move the invader but she just wont have it.

If need be you will just have to remove the invader and house her elsewhere wether she likes it or not....some flocks can exist quite well with multiple broodies, in other flocks it is a total drama club....and drama clubs result in poor hatch rates and unnecessary chick deaths either through broken or neglected eggs or (less frequently) chick attacks.
The thing is that it is up to us as the flock keepers to recognize what the situation is and to remedy it...in a wild or open environment the hens would have room to spread out and seek isolation, in coops they do not, so we have to provide artificial barriers to give them their preferred (or needed) level of privacy.
Either move some of the hens or build a fenced area around their individual boxes to allow them to sit in peace, simple chicken wire can create an effective barrier.
If you move a hen and it breaks her broodiness then just wait until she goes broody again and move her earlier in the process...

 

[James Beller]

I guess then that the only thing you can do is either take a chance and let the hens share the nest or break one of being broody.

it is a small 3-6 coop with three broodies one mix and two pure polish. it has been a rough time with them and i had just got it to ware the original couldn't slide eggs under her. The other broodie the mix is in a bucket know.

 

[nchls school]

If need be you will just have to remove the invader and house her elsewhere wether she likes it or not....some flocks can exist quite well with multiple broodies, in other flocks it is a total drama club....and drama clubs result in poor hatch rates and unnecessary chick deaths either through broken or neglected eggs or (less frequently) chick attacks.
The thing is that it is up to us as the flock keepers to recognize what the situation is and to remedy it...in a wild or open environment the hens would have room to spread out and seek isolation, in coops they do not, so we have to provide artificial barriers to give them their preferred (or needed) level of privacy.
Either move some of the hens or build a fenced area around their individual boxes to allow them to sit in peace, simple chicken wire can create an effective barrier.
If you move a hen and it breaks her broodiness then just wait until she goes broody again and move her earlier in the process...

X2.

 

[James Beller]

X2.

They are pure polish so that is also quite strange i find that there instinct is much stronger.

 

[Crista]

I have broddies stacked up until the end of may lol there is going to be soo many chicks.

What a hoot.

I have 7 buff orp. And only one has been broody. I was hoping it would spur the others onward but a big NOPE.

Oh well. They certainly provide comic entertainment for us !

 

[wolf-hen300]

My broody hen stole two eggs from an other hen house which i didnt know broodies did but now i cant take them so i marked the eggs and i am letting her hatch them.I wish her and her chicks lots of luck!

 

[microchick]

One of our 7 week old chicks from my broody hatch about gave me a hear attack this afternoon. I was working on our new coop (YAY! 4X bigger than old coop) trying to get the first section of siding up when I heard one of the youngsters screaming bloody murder down at the barn coop. When the ruckus didn't stop, I dropped what I was doing and trotted down there expecting to see two of the little cockerels dragging one another around by their hackle feathers like they have been doing and instead found one of them had decided to try and escape the pen through the chain link fencing. Naturally it got caught half in half out and was hanging there screaming at the top of it's lungs. The minute I touched it it settled down, I yelled for DH who was in the pasture and nearby thank goodness and he came running, got his heavy wire cutters and did surgery on the fence. Baby fell out into my waiting hands and stuck his head under my arm. Poor little thing was scared to death but unharmed. I have no idea how it got the idea to do what it did especially when it was more than a foot off the ground.

Cockerels, go figure. I have a plank up around the parameter of their pen against the chain link in an attempt to prevent such an occurrence from happening. Guess maybe they are telling me it'st time for them to venture out into the world of the big chicken.

 

[wolf-hen300]

My broody is on three eggs.One is hatching on May 3rd the other two are hatching on the 10th.I think she is on two SS and one araucana. I will post picks of mom and babies.
<3 wolf-hen

 

[sharol]

My broody is on three eggs.One is hatching on May 3rd the other two are hatching on the 10th.I think she is on two SS and one araucana. I will post picks of mom and babies.
<3 wolf-hen

She won't stay on the nest to hatch the later eggs. Be sure you have an incubator fired up and ready to go when she takes the one hatchling and abandons the nest to care for it. You will probably have to raise the babies in a brooder -- in my experience (limited), that will be too much of a difference in age for her to take the new ones.