Broody Hen Thread!

[microchick]

Nah. Hens are silly. I have 13 laying hens. Aggie goes broody. All the other hens say "LOOK! Goofy Aggie LOVES to sit on eggs for 21 days then have 10 or more chicks hanging on her for 4 weeks more. Let's give her our eggs to sit on then WE don't have to worry with the little beggers!"

So Aggie gets 12 more eggs donated to her cause and the hens are idiots so they donate to her till she looks like she is sitting on a pyramid of eggs and heaven only knows when they are going to hatch, except Aggie and she ain't tellin, LOL!

My Lil'girl finally got her little butt off the nest. I could tell the moment I walked into the coop and got a whiff of broody poop. How can anything as cute as a broody hen produce anything as disgusting as broody poop? And how do they manage to dump their food dish no matter how securely you put it in a corner for them?

 

[Selsley]

Nah. Hens are silly. I have 13 laying hens. Aggie goes broody. All the other hens say "LOOK! Goofy Aggie LOVES to sit on eggs for 21 days then have 10 or more chicks hanging on her for 4 weeks more. Let's give her our eggs to sit on then WE don't have to worry with the little beggers!"

So Aggie gets 12 more eggs donated to her cause and the hens are idiots so they donate to her till she looks like she is sitting on a pyramid of eggs and heaven only knows when they are going to hatch, except Aggie and she ain't tellin, LOL!

My Lil'girl finally got her little butt off the nest. I could tell the moment I walked into the coop and got a whiff of broody poop. How can anything as cute as a broody hen produce anything as disgusting as broody poop? And how do they manage to dump their food dish no matter how securely you put it in a corner for them?

we just got a few bits of wood and made a small box just big enough to fit 2 small bowls, and fixed it to the side of the nest box so it was level with her half in and half out the nest but slightly higher, so she could reach it while sitting, the only time we had a pooh problem was after they hatched and stayed in for 3 days, aprt from that one time her nest was clean


the nest is quite deep and big as its under the nest boxes and was designed for the goose
there is a space the same size to the left which is also her exit to the coop, we're looking through a rear hatch, after spending so much time with her during the 3 weeks, leaning in changing her water and topping up her food daily i was allowed to lift her slightly during hatching and handle the chicks at a few hrs old, shes the only hen that will take food from the hand now, as do the chicks. shes become really trusting.


our EE orpaucana hatching


our 1st 2 hatched, araucana


she abandoned the nursery at 4 weeks old and moved into a nest box above


playing on one of the perches. added to the stop traffic jams,
b4 flying to a nest box to sleep for the night... 5 weeks old

 

[microchick]

I like your food and water holder.

My nesting box is a large community style box for the hens to lay in. In their old coop, I went to great trouble measuring, sawing, hammering and other such mayhem to construct three nesting boxes for them only to have them lay in the same box day after day. SO when I designed my new larger coop, it was like, "why bother?" and I went with the community nest project.

Of course they all still lay in the same carefully wallowed out nest in the straw.

When Lil'girl went broody last week I didn't want to move her as she is a first time broody so I partitioned off 2/3rds of the community box for her and left one third for the 12 remaining hens that are laying to use. She has room to get up and stretch her legs, a 'port hole' to look out of that has been chicken wired over and room for her chicks to move around they hatch. Once that happens and they leave the nest, they will be moved to the broody pen where they have more room.

 

[Selsley]

ours was 1st time broody and moved her under the nests on day 2 of her sit, we had to block her in for a while (removing barrier everyday) as she kept returning up top after going outside, the barrier was eventually removed when she finally returned to the eggs on her own some time in week 2.
the barrier also forced our araucana to lay in a nest box too, as she liked to lay down below where it was quiet.
right now our hens are laying in a different box everyday as the chicks keep changing nest every 2 days and leaving it dirty lol, so theyre laying where its clean.

 

[the poppster]

we originally started with 5 eggs the hen only started laying herself about 6 weeks before going broody we did 3 pure araucana. 1 suspected cross araucana and 1 of our biggest best egg layers a light red hen with white tail all 5 hatched the 1st day, 3 days after she 1st sat, she left the eggs after we moved her to a more private cooler place. we found her sitting in the original empty nest and the eggs were cold but another had been added by our pure araucana this one hatched a day later and was black, with slate feet and beak like its mother, the other 4 have the usual araucana markings. the 5th was a yellow bundle of fluff and looks like it may well have beard and muffs, and may well be rumpless some how 2 more blue eggs were added, we suspect the kids, but no one will admit it and we dont know when, we had barred her in to keep her sitting as everytime she went walkabout she'd return to the empty nest so she had ourside access once a day but only after the other chickens had laid, until she returned to the proper nest on her own; one of these 2 was what hatched 4 days after the 1st 5 so i wasnt holding much hope anyway, she had already started teaching the 1st 5 chicks to feed, the one hatching the day after couldnt learn this as it was still hiding under mum, and she taught them from the sitting position in the nest, so by the time todays hatched they were already exploring the coop, as long as the chicks stayed in the nest she stayed, but as soon as 4 came out to play she left it, and this constant in and out is what killed her, the 3 at the back and the little black are siblings from our purest hen (BLACK) the other lighter one from our suspected cross (partridge) and our 1st purpose bred EE all sired by the roo in my avatar , we're in france so our araucana dont look like american ones oh yeah i know i did what i could and i know nature can be cruel, im just saddened that she went so far, im happy we got 6 chicks from the original 5 we started with lol this was our 1st hatch, i will be better prepared for the next. 1st thing on the list a little incubator and brooded for when nature lets us down,

if something like that would happen again....keep the chick in a warmer, incubator or under a heat lamp, whatever keeps it warm. Then wait till the broody and other chicks settle for the night...then with the least amount of fuss stuff the extra chick under Mom. ..right deep under her...no introductions! Just stuff the chick under her and withdraw your hand....if she gets all puffed up and pecky! That's all the better! Give her a chance to nail you a few times, "chasing you away" protecting her chicks! I may divert her attention enough that she will be happy to settle down and not realize that there is an extra baby....if it works (it has for me) the chick will be accepted into the fold without a second thought....the newcomer will have all night to gather strength and get acquainted with mom and siblings....the hen and Chicks communicate vocally almost constantly....chirping, trills, and other sounds. If all goes well, the little one will be up and running around in the morning. If not, well....that's mother nature's way. I am raising an orphan at the moment....and wish I had not rescued it! It's not fair to the chick. Now I have to try to integrate it into the flock, which on a good day, will be traumatic and stressful to the orphan....on a bad day, could be deadly....and all because I just couldn't let it die...I was being very selfish in rescuing that poor baby...now it has to thru the terrifying trials of introduction to the flock....never going to do that again!

 

[microchick]

Today is day 6 for Lil'girl's eggs. I did a quick candling of 6 of them and saw healthy air cells in all of them. One might have had the developing of a blood ring in one of them but it's a little early to tell and the lighting isn't the best. I'll recheck in another week. In the mean time mom is doing well in spite of the heat.

 

[Selsley]

if something like that would happen again....keep the chick in a warmer, incubator or under a heat lamp, whatever keeps it warm. Then wait till the broody and other chicks settle for the night...then with the least amount of fuss stuff the extra chick under Mom. ..right deep under her...no introductions! Just stuff the chick under her and withdraw your hand....if she gets all puffed up and pecky! That's all the better! Give her a chance to nail you a few times, "chasing you away" protecting her chicks! I may divert her attention enough that she will be happy to settle down and not realize that there is an extra baby....if it works (it has for me) the chick will be accepted into the fold without a second thought....the newcomer will have all night to gather strength and get acquainted with mom and siblings....the hen and Chicks communicate vocally almost constantly....chirping, trills, and other sounds. If all goes well, the little one will be up and running around in the morning. If not, well....that's mother nature's way. I am raising an orphan at the moment....and wish I had not rescued it! It's not fair to the chick. Now I have to try to integrate it into the flock, which on a good day, will be traumatic and stressful to the orphan....on a bad day, could be deadly....and all because I just couldn't let it die...I was being very selfish in rescuing that poor baby...now it has to thru the terrifying trials of introduction to the flock....never going to do that again!

yup, i had rescued it through the day and had warmed it up manually,but i put her back under mum too early, i thought they had settled for the night but they hadnt, and they left the nest again 10 minutes after i put the chick under, i think an extra hr, and she would have survived the night and been walking by the next morning, like the other chicks were the day after they hatched, they were walking about and poking their heads out. least she would have been able to move instead of just having to lie there being trod on, but saying that, it would have had to brave the outside world at 3 days old instead of a week old like the others. the chick who hatched a day late has been constantly smaller then the rest, and still is after 5 weeks, its a tough life trying to play catch up.

on a bad note, heard squeeling coming from the run today, saw a chick lying on its back with the 2 cocks next to it, we think it was attacked by the bantam cock, i thought it was dead but as i got close it jumped up and ran off, tried to see which one it was to check it, but lost it in the crowd so was unable to, whichever it was they all seem ok.
we segregated the cocks 4 days ago to rest the hens but the chicks and bantum hen can cross over to their side, yesterday i thought the cocks seemed glad of the company of the chicks when i saw then in a small bunch eating together, im sure it was the bantamas it was the only cock i seen lording it over the chicks, the araucana cock is very placid, like i said to my sister " i'll twist his neck in an instant and wont feel bad about it, the araucana chicks are worth more to me than some scuffy little bantam"

 

[Dmontgomery]

Hello everyone. This is Henrietta.

She is an OEGB obviously and my favorite girl. For reference her nesting box is 12"x16" inside. She has gone broody each year since we got her 3 years ago. Every spring she hatched out 3-4 chicks. When the timing has been right, we have slid a couple extra chicks under her late at night to add to the brood. She is the greatest little mother for 5 weeks, then...well you know. In spite of her size she is queen of the coop and nobody is brave enough to mess with her.
This year she hatched out 3 black bantam Cochins who are now about 16 weeks old and doing great. Unfortunately she went broody again on 8/1/16. Usually it's only once a year, but we let her have 3 eggs again. She's so dang cute I couldn't tell her no. We counted down the days, then count the past due days. I was worried all along about her sitting all day in 90+ degree weather, but she doesn't seem bothered by it at all.
We finally gave up last Thursday and started looking for chicks for her. We couldn't locate anyone within 30 miles with day old chicks but a local breeder had some incubating with an expected Saturday hatching. He called Saturday night and said they had just started pipping. We waited and waited. He finally texted back this morning that we could pick them up tonight.
Please send her your prayers and good wishes that she will accept these new babies and get off the nest for at least a few months.

 

[fisherlady]

Hello everyone. This is Henrietta.

She is an OEGB obviously and my favorite girl. For reference her nesting box is 12"x16" inside. She has gone broody each year since we got her 3 years ago. Every spring she hatched out 3-4 chicks. When the timing has been right, we have slid a couple extra chicks under her late at night to add to the brood. She is the greatest little mother for 5 weeks, then...well you know. In spite of her size she is queen of the coop and nobody is brave enough to mess with her.
This year she hatched out 3 black bantam Cochins who are now about 16 weeks old and doing great. Unfortunately she went broody again on 8/1/16. Usually it's only once a year, but we let her have 3 eggs again. She's so dang cute I couldn't tell her no. We counted down the days, then count the past due days. I was worried all along about her sitting all day in 90+ degree weather, but she doesn't seem bothered by it at all.
We finally gave up last Thursday and started looking for chicks for her. We couldn't locate anyone within 30 miles with day old chicks but a local breeder had some incubating with an expected Saturday hatching. He called Saturday night and said they had just started pipping. We waited and waited. He finally texted back this morning that we could pick them up tonight.
Please send her your prayers and good wishes that she will accept these new babies and get off the nest for at least a few months.

Good luck on the grafting! I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures!

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

My OEGB, Olivia likes to co brood with her Frizzle friend Lily usually only once a year. This year they hatched out six guinea fowl and she looked after them till they were 3 months old and three times the size of herself!

Have you left the eggs under your Henrietta? Then swap the chicks for the eggs. Hope things go good for you!