Broody Hen Thread!

[PD-Riverman]

have my first broody hen in the flock so far (an olive egger). moved her to a wire type rabbit cage beneath a tree so she has shade but lots of indirect light and air flow to cool her off. i was putting her into the coop at night to roost with the others and it seemed to work as each morning she'd come out with the others and spend several hours doing the scratch and peck thing before going in to lay (i thought) but then she wouldn't come back out so she's in the jailhouse again... should i just leave her there overnight by herself in the open air cage and just give her a good 3 or 4 days of that until she actually lays an egg in there? thanks for any input.

3 Full days---Put her in there on Friday----Saturday(1) Sunday(2) Monday(3). Good Luck!

 

[microchick]

Interesting point about the calcium Lady of McCamley. I clearly remember a week before Aggie went broody there were a few mornings when I let her out that she made straight for the Oyster Shell container that I keep out for the hens and gobbled calcium like it was popcorn. At the time I remember thinking, well, now that is strange. Now I know to watch her and when she starts gobbling Oyster Shell I'd better get things ready for her to go broody.

Aggie only stayed with her first clutch of eggs for 2 weeks before she started laying again and went back to the flock. As it was only the first of March I had to suppliment them with a heat lamp. The strange thing that happened during this brooding time was that the chicks that yes, were little wild childs while under their Mom's care, tamed down nicely for me. Now the little Buff Os will come and sit next to me on the bench in the run and enjoy being held and cuddled. The Welly/Buff O crosses are a little more timid thanks to their Welsummer genes but even they are more easily handled than the full blooded Welsummer hens.

I considered getting an incubator in fact I am planning to make a larger DIY 'bator to have on hand just incase I have late hatching eggs now or in the future. But I have to agree. Chicks hatched by a hen come away with the best end of the deal. Nothing beats learning from Mom. And when Mom goes back to the flock, they have their surrogate Mom to step in with a helping hand. I might not have feathers, but I'm really good at digging worms and grubs out of the garden for them.

 

[Huggerlady]

I would not wash them----Take out what you can from busted eggs, then Hands Off. "I" never bother my hens at hatch time. Good Luck 

Ok, got all cleaned out and I took out 4 eggs that looked like liquid and threw them as far as I could without checking afterwards, (we don't have neighbors, lol). Left her with 5.
Early on I read to allow them to just do it all..Well that doesn't work unless you have experience in the whole process. This is her first, wonder if she will get better or do they repeat same habits? I mean I really thought they destroy or roll away dead or unsuccessful eggs. I am bothered that she can sit on rotten eggs! Yuck!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Interesting point about the calcium Lady of McCamley. I clearly remember a week before Aggie went broody there were a few mornings when I let her out that she made straight for the Oyster Shell container that I keep out for the hens and gobbled calcium like it was popcorn. At the time I remember thinking, well, now that is strange. Now I know to watch her and when she starts gobbling Oyster Shell I'd better get things ready for her to go broody.

Aggie only stayed with her first clutch of eggs for 2 weeks before she started laying again and went back to the flock. As it was only the first of March I had to suppliment them with a heat lamp. The strange thing that happened during this brooding time was that the chicks that yes, were little wild childs while under their Mom's care, tamed down nicely for me. Now the little Buff Os will come and sit next to me on the bench in the run and enjoy being held and cuddled. The Welly/Buff O crosses are a little more timid thanks to their Welsummer genes but even they are more easily handled than the full blooded Welsummer hens.

I considered getting an incubator in fact I am planning to make a larger DIY 'bator to have on hand just incase I have late hatching eggs now or in the future. But I have to agree. Chicks hatched by a hen come away with the best end of the deal. Nothing beats learning from Mom. And when Mom goes back to the flock, they have their surrogate Mom to step in with a helping hand. I might not have feathers, but I'm really good at digging worms and grubs out of the garden for them.

That makes sense.

I don't remember where exactly I saw that recommendation, but I did a bit of research on the hormonal physiology of brooding, and a hen goes into highest lay just before brooding. She has to in order to gain the clutch size necessary to begin the shift in hormones from the estrogen/progesterone rich pre-brood laying phase to the prolactin rich brooding phase (wherein progesterone and estrogen diminish substantially).

Interesting...I read that a hen's ovary literally shuts down and recedes during brooding under the effects of prolactin. Once she is done brooding, her hormones shift again (under thyroid influence) to rebuild that ovary once again becoming estrogen and progesterone rich.

Can't say I understand it all, but you as a nurse (if I remember correctly?) would likely. I'll link some of the really interesting stuff below for your perusal.

It tells me that I want to keep the estrogen/progesterone phase supported right up to full clutch, then allow shut down and shift to prolactin...but after she is done brooding, to prevent that ever sulky brood, I need to help some of them restart the hormones...calcium may help play a role in that.

Anyone have any documentation to know how to support a hen's physiology during the brood in and brood out phases?

I'd like to manipulate some things better nutritionally, especially if I have a lingering brooder who may just need some chicken HRT support! (I'm getting a clue that calcium is a key factor for pre-broodiness and post-broodiness transition...I think I am going to be pushing the calcium supplements more for my breeding girls).

LofMc

For those who enjoy a "good read"...

http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al675e/al675e00.pdf (Long but informative report on small holder brooding...lots of statistics here on efficacy of hen brooding for the small holder)

http://proda.worldpoultry.net/PageFiles/28037/001_boerderij-download-WP6781D01.pdf (Report on how to prevent Turkey brooding but tells you a LOT about the brooding process and physiology)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3572575 (Calcium logistics in the laying hen)

https://www.researchgate.net/public...alcium_Availability_and_Reproduction_in_Birds

 

[Poppyfrida]

Our Buff Orpington has been broody for months now. Honestly she seems kind of crazy. We can't have more chickens here so we can't let her actually sit on eggs. Since she's screeches at everyone our egg production from the other girls has declined. How do we get her to stop? Is there anything we can do?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Our Buff Orpington has been broody for months now. Honestly she seems kind of crazy. We can't have more chickens here so we can't let her actually sit on eggs. Since she's screeches at everyone our egg production from the other girls has declined. How do we get her to stop? Is there anything we can do?

The quickest way is to put her in a wire cage with no bedding and raised enough so there is air flow under her.

I do not recommend the icing method as you can shock a bird that way.

Leave her in that cage 24 hours for 3 days, with of course food and water.

I would make sure she is out of direct weather and sun, but she also needs lots of natural light to stimulate her pituitary.

I would make sure you give her good quality layer feed with higher calcium as you want to stimulate her receptiveness to the estrogen and progesterone that will end the brooding cycle and begin the laying cycle again.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Two Barnebars (Barnevelder/CL) hatched...this clutch 100% (only set 2 eggs) with my co-broodies Mimsy and Rosie.

One is clearly a girl....this second...ah geez....indiscriminate bit of hazy white on some feather tips, perhaps...not a dot...not a whisp even...will have to see if it dries and appears clearer tomorrow once fluffed more.

So maybe a third boy (darn). Maybe a girl????

The other clutch in the main coop, looks like I'm down to one developing egg out of 4 set....the tussle for that nest always reduces hatchability (but the integration factor is awesome with those that do hatch).

LofMc

 

[Poppyfrida]

The quickest way is to put her in a wire cage with no bedding and raised enough so there is air flow under her.

I do not recommend the icing method as you can shock a bird that way.

Leave her in that cage 24 hours for 3 days, with of course food and water.

I would make sure she is out of direct weather and sun, but she also needs lots of natural light to stimulate her pituitary.

I would make sure you give her good quality layer feed with higher calcium as you want to stimulate her receptiveness to the estrogen and progesterone that will end the brooding cycle and begin the laying cycle again.

LofMc

Thank you for that information. Do you have a recommendation on a good quality layer feed? We give them Scratch and Peck right now. I am a bit of a non GMO and non soy, non corn, organic freak but I'm open at this point cause she's driving everyone crazy.

 

[microchick]

Thanks for the articles, LofMc. I will definitely take a look at them and yes, it does make perfect sense. I was an OB nurse the first 5 years of my career.

So if the calcium plays such a big roll in kickstarting either the brooding phase and then the resuming of ovarian function, it would probably be advisable to make Oyster Shell available to the hen during the 'chick' phase of brooding at some point. Or maybe not make Ca available. I was feeding chick starter (gamebird) to hen and chicks without Ca available and she still started laying again exactly 5 weeks after she went broody. which I read somewhere is the number of weeks the average broody is hard wired to stay in the broody phase.

Manipulating the hormones of a hen. Hmmm, interesting concept as you would be able to control if and when a hen went broody.

 

[slordaz]

I just let nature take it's course with our first broody, she started laying when chicks were about 5 weeks old and stayed with them for another week