Broody Hen Thread!

[throwntogether]

This may sound bad but I really don't care how many if any hatch. I just hatched out 6 early April in attempt to start cross breeding an amercauna and a black copper maran and don't want to end up with too many chickens not on my list of crossbreeding but it would be cool to see a hen mother her babies as I have never seen that before so with that said what is the reason to mark the eggs and how many should I leave. She is a golden laced polish

 

[throwntogether]

Oh. When is the best time to steal the eggs for candling so I can check development and leave the ones I think will hatch?

 

[throwntogether]

X2...if you are able I would suggest candling the eggs, see if they seem to be the same development stages pull at least half of them and place them in an incubator and leave her the rest. You can always graft back the incubator chicks to her or think of it as having eggs in reserve in case something happens to her hidden clutch.

The hen can only effectively incubate what she can keep well under her, having a lot of eggs out around the fringes means a lot of eggs which get inconsistent temps and development issues, as she rotates and shuffles the eggs there will be others placed around the outer edges and then they will have problems. The end result is a lot of eggs with poor development and possible birth defects or chick mortality even before hatch.

You can move food and water to a closer spot but be careful it isn't close enough to draw other flock members to her nest or attract predators to her area. Rats and many other predators will smell the food and come to investigate and potentially discover her. You can create a screen or partial fence around her area to detere stray dogs or cats from getting to close but short of building a dome around her you aren't going to be able to do much more to protect her from predators.

Good luck with her, hope she ends up with a great family of chicks for you.

So I read this again and have some more questions. If I incubate the eggs in my incubator can I give the chicks to her after hatching and she will care for them? Wil she accept them? Will she accept them even if none of the eggs under her hatch? Is there a way to introduce them to her to better guarantee her acceptance?

 

[fisherlady]

So I read this again and have some more questions. If I incubate the eggs in my incubator can I give the chicks to her after hatching and she will care for them? Wil she accept them? Will she accept them even if none of the eggs under her hatch? Is there a way to introduce them to her to better guarantee her acceptance?

The reason to mark the eggs is so you can remove any newly laid ones (other hens may know of her nest and add to her clutch which will overwhelm her).
You only want her to work on keeping a limited number warm so they have their best chance. My familiarity with Polish is limited, but smaller hens I would give 6, large hens I would do 8-10 in her situation.

Yes, it is likely you can graft newly hatched incubator chicks to her, do a search in this thread or the 'Old fashioned Broody Hen Hatch-a-long' thread for the word 'graft'. It is a common subject and many posts on these two threads in particular about it.

Best time to candle is when she gets up to do her daily feeding. Take a heavy towel or blanket to throw over your head to provide darkness and a container for eggs you are moving to incubator or pitching.
If none have started yet just leave 6 marked ones in her nest and incubate the rest.

 

[varidgerunner]

Yes indeed....so true.

I agree. If you want reliable broodies, those that will sit the 3 weeks and even 3 more if the first for some reason fails, and do it again season after season, go to a game or Silkie, and even many bantam Cochins.

My layer types have all been selected for decades to lay well...which means broodiness has been deselected out of them. You can get a commercial layer breed that goes broody, but often they sulk, playing at it, rather than brooding....or brood partially but then poorly mother.

Some of the large fowl heritage breeds have been carefully bred so that some lines are very good at brooding again...my Marans turn out to be that way...they have been overall beautiful and broody birds.

But some have too much commercial blood in them yet, which makes for fickle brooders....and perhaps those are the ones many complain of not having the stamina to brood well.

I've heard Asils are excellent broodies, which amazes me a bit as they are not fluffy like my Silkies or bantam Cochins (who resemble a mop). I know the games are closer to the original jungle fowl, so they have strong brooding (and flying) instincts. I have only had a few game types. I really enjoyed them...lost them as they always managed to get themselves into trouble flying over stuff or getting into stuff.

LofMc

I find the asils to be even better than those resembling a mop. Most of them are bare breasted. Direct skin contact with the eggs. If they go on a food run, and have to walk through wet grass or mud, they aren't carrying anything extra back to the eggs. Just direct skin contact, chicks get plenty of mom's oil to keep them nice and waterproofed while building those early foraging skills. And, you shall not mess with Mrs. asil hen's chicks, no matter how frisky you feel. They go from sweet pets to wing piranhas at the first peep.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I find the asils to be even better than those resembling a mop. Most of them are bare breasted. Direct skin contact with the eggs. If they go on a food run, and have to walk through wet grass or mud, they aren't carrying anything extra back to the eggs. Just direct skin contact, chicks get plenty of mom's oil to keep them nice and waterproofed while building those early foraging skills. And, you shall not mess with Mrs. asil hen's chicks, no matter how frisky you feel. They go from sweet pets to wing piranhas at the first peep.

Really good point about the bare breast skin to egg contact.

My ladies pluck their breast (except for my Silkies...I've never seen them do that come to think of it)....so they are skin with mop cover.

Do you ever have trouble with the Asils breaking eggs? They look heavier legged.

Interesting breed....I've never had an Asil....miss my games at times though.

LofMc

 

[kendallb12]

Update! My BO is sitting on the 6 eggs we placed under her still! it is day 2! On day 5
I will candle them and try post pictures of the eggs!

 

[goldie1234]

My plan is to put two broodies in the grow out coop. Should I block the run off and put food and water in the coop but out of reach or leave access to the run? It will be all theirs.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Rosemary's babies are one week today (some 7 days, some 6). They are in a brooding box/run inside of my larger run. It's all covered, etc. with another coop for the hens. Need some advice on letting them out to integrate. The other hens are familiar with the chicks because they've heard/seen them for the past week.

My plan was to let them out for a couple of hours today while I can supervise. Rosemary has been an excellent broody so far, so I do expect her to protect the babies, but would like some advice on things to look for.

If you've got laid back hens, the only thing to watch for is the trouble the babes can get themselves into or draw.

Take a perimeter walk to make sure they can't escape through a fence. They will find the tiny hole and squeeze through, strand themselves, and cheep until they expire. The little bird brains never seem to figure out to go back through the same way.

Also, nothing draws predators like the sound of peeps. Keep an eye out for neighborhood cats, dogs, hawks, rats, snakes, etc. Whatever is your "flavor of the month."

If the hens are aggressive, it usually is directed towards the momma who has been out of the flock for 3+ weeks. She is a "new" bird to them, or at least on the lowest pecking order. It is the scuffle with her in resettling her pecking order that can stomp on babes or scatter them. (Unless you have a good rooster...pappa then will settle any disputes and protect babes.)

Pick up or cover anything they could fall into and drown or tangle into. Be sure they can't eat the layer feed if that is out. Many go to all flock with oyster shell or calcite grit supplement so that the babes can't shut their kidneys down on high calcium feed.

Think toddler-proofing your area....unless you are farm free range. Then you have to simply accept some loss trying to limit any severe threat.

Good luck on the outing. Nothing is cuter than seeing momma with babes in the flock.

LofMc

 

[varidgerunner]

Really good point about the bare breast skin to egg contact.

My ladies pluck their breast (except for my Silkies...I've never seen them do that come to think of it)....so they are skin with mop cover.

Do you ever have trouble with the Asils breaking eggs? They look heavier legged.

Interesting breed....I've never had an Asil....miss my games at times though.

LofMc

Mine aren't that huge or heavy legged. They are rather long legged. One of the problems with incubating oriental game fowl of any kind, is that you will have crooked toes. No mechanical turner can turn as good as Mom. (The other problem is that they will often harm each other as chicks without mom to keep the peace.) They have really long necks compared to some other breeds, they can really get in there and arrange eggs. Very coordinated. Some of the large asil as well as shamo and malay can have trouble with breaking eggs.

On the chick proofing, my yard looks like a tornado shook a thrift store overhead. Various cast-off cookware used for water receptacles everywhere. I go around and make sure they have rocks and bricks in them, so that chicks can get out, if they get in.