Broody Hen Thread!

[16 paws]

mymilliefleur

I like your pictures. If yours are lousy mine must be really bad...lol
Your hens and chicks are lovely. I like all the greenery in the pictures too.
Marie

 

[BackyardMarana]

Another 2 went broody ..yes!

 

[fisherlady]

Update: My broody hen got off the nest this morning, and she had 6 chicks + the 2 Barred Rocks! That means that 100% of the chicks survived and hatched. Here are a few (lousy) photos of the first 2 broodies to hatch. Below is Dandelion. This is her first hatch, and she has 10 chicks. She is an excellent mother. NO ONE messes with her chicks! Daisy below has 11 Easter egger and d'uccle chicks. This is her second brood. she is doing a good job with them.

I am glad you had a good hatch! It is amazing what they can tolerate. ... Your hens and chicks look happy to be out and exploring.

 

[fisherlady]

Set another hen today... she is a nest hopper so we moved her to the private broody hut in the people area of the coop...she got a mix of Silver Pencil Rock eggs and some Light Sussex cross eggs.

We now have a hen with 4 week olds, a hen with 2 week olds, 2 hens due Thursday, another due the next Thursday and now Patty in 3 weeks. So getting up to normal broody levels for us, LOL. The coop is going to be a busy place. Thankfully Lacey, Pidgy and Jo are all good at staying in their own nests and protecting them, they are all able to remain in their chosen nests in the coop without problems. ...it is much easier with them!

Patty doing her nasty broody impersonation. ...

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Set another hen today... she is a nest hopper so we moved her to the private broody hut in the people area of the coop...she got a mix of Silver Pencil Rock eggs and some Light Sussex cross eggs.

We now have a hen with 4 week olds, a hen with 2 week olds, 2 hens due Thursday, another due the next Thursday and now Patty in 3 weeks. So getting up to normal broody levels for us, LOL. The coop is going to be a busy place. Thankfully Lacey, Pidgy and Jo are all good at staying in their own nests and protecting them, they are all able to remain in their chosen nests in the coop without problems. ...it is much easier with them!

Patty doing her nasty broody impersonation. ...

Good luck to Patty! Hopefully she stays put and gets some chicks.
LofMc

 

[FarmerMac]

Fisherlady gave you good advice about whether to separate or not.

As to fertile eggs....depends upon where you are. 

You can look on Craigslist to find some local poultry owners around you (always buyer beware with anything on Craigslist...but I've met up with some good poultry people that way...and some not so good). A number of feed stores sell fertile eggs or can link you to someone who does. Check Facebook for local poultry meet up groups and poultry classified ads. Breeders often frequent those. Also, check your local 4H Extension office. Usually they have a list of poultry people who may have eggs to sell.

Also try the BYC buy/sell forum. You may be able to link up with someone in your area through your state group on BYC as well.

If all else fails, you can purchase eggs from a number of the big hatcheries...but shipping is pretty exorbitant. I've also purchased from eBay with moderate success. That will be expensive for shipping, and shipped eggs typically have a much lower hatch rate because the eggs are jostled in shipping.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

LofMc

X2. I usually separate my broody hens from the main flock. This year I left one in the main coop, I had to pull fresh eggs from under the broody hen every day.

 

[2lilchkns]

Hi! One of our chocolate orpingtons is sitting on 6 eggs--- they have 3 days to go before hatch. She is in the main coop, and we built a little wire enclosure around her so the other hens would stop laying in her best box

.

Two days ago, our second chocolate Orpington decided to go broody, and is refusing to leave a nest box. My question: when the first group of chicks hatch, can I take a couple and put them under the new broody? Will she stop being "broody" to take care of the chicks, even though she hasn't been broody very long? I thought it might help with flock integration if we have two hens looking after chicks. Also, we don't want to hatch any extra chicks, so I thought this would give the second broody something to do.

We've never had our hens hatch their own chicks before, so this is all new!

 

[fisherlady]

Hi! One of our chocolate orpingtons is sitting on 6 eggs--- they have 3 days to go before hatch. She is in the main coop, and we built a little wire enclosure around her so the other hens would stop laying in her best box

.

Two days ago, our second chocolate Orpington decided to go broody, and is refusing to leave a nest box. My question: when the first group of chicks hatch, can I take a couple and put them under the new broody? Will she stop being "broody" to take care of the chicks, even though she hasn't been broody very long? I thought it might help with flock integration if we have two hens looking after chicks. Also, we don't want to hatch any extra chicks, so I thought this would give the second broody something to do.

We've never had our hens hatch their own chicks before, so this is all new!

I don't graft chicks to a broody until they have been sitting for 10-14 days....just my experience that the hen's hormones are more prepared for chicks by that time....it can still work, since every hen is different and some are willing and able to handle chicks with practically no prep time. (We have 2 hens like that, but they are exceptional broodies)
If you are going to try grafting to her I would make sure to be able to dedicate a lot of time to the coop that day to supervise and observe, and be prepared to intervene at any sign of trouble. If she isn't interested in them you can always return them to the original mama hen.
If she won't take the grafts you could find a source for day old sexed chicks and get her 3-6 to raise herself in a few weeks with the plan to sell them when she is done with them. Young pullets usually are pretty easy to sell.

 

[nchls school]

I don't graft chicks to a broody until they have been sitting for 10-14 days....just my experience that the hen's hormones are more prepared for chicks by that time....it can still work, since every hen is different and some are willing and able to handle chicks with practically no prep time. (We have 2 hens like that, but they are exceptional broodies)
If you are going to try grafting to her I would make sure to be able to dedicate a lot of time to the coop that day to supervise and observe, and be prepared to intervene at any sign of trouble. If she isn't interested in them you can always return them to the original mama hen.
If she won't take the grafts you could find a source for day old sexed chicks and get her 3-6 to raise herself in a few weeks with the plan to sell them when she is done with them. Young pullets usually are pretty easy to sell.

X2.

 

[2lilchkns]

I don't graft chicks to a broody until they have been sitting for 10-14 days....just my experience that the hen's hormones are more prepared for chicks by that time....it can still work, since every hen is different and some are willing and able to handle chicks with practically no prep time. (We have 2 hens like that, but they are exceptional broodies)
If you are going to try grafting to her I would make sure to be able to dedicate a lot of time to the coop that day to supervise and observe, and be prepared to intervene at any sign of trouble. If she isn't interested in them you can always return them to the original mama hen.
If she won't take the grafts you could find a source for day old sexed chicks and get her 3-6 to raise herself in a few weeks with the plan to sell them when she is done with them. Young pullets usually are pretty easy to sell.

Thanks!