Broody Hen Thread!

[Selsley]

6days old and freezing cold. no sign of a break in the weather since they were born
yesterdays frozen bread on the left of picture still didnt defrost even in the sun.
although its cold it has been sunny with no wind so there is some warmth, we expanded the area the chickens could use for the winter, and they always sit round the side of the house in the sun, which is good, coz the back now is always in shadow with the low sun

 

[Coop de Grass]

Interesting. What I have read both here and on the net in general says that the hen will switch gears from brooding to 'lock down' once the eggs reach 18 days of gestation give or take and she starts feeling and hearing movement and chirping from the developing chicks. If you even want to graft chicks to a hen, wait until she is close to that time frame 14-18 days before you try as otherwise the hen stands a chance of becoming 'confused' and attacking this little creature that has suddenly appeared under her.

It would be interesting to hear others who have tried this. I believe there are some 'broody' breeds that don't adhere to this and are easier to graft but not all are that flexible.

I love BYC!

I have had a camera inside my coop since we moved the girls from the ridiculous tiny coop I started with- a kit that I put together - into the larger converted shed. I have been able to spy on them during various broody hens. I have never seen a hen stop turning the eggs until the first chick hatches. After that, there is a lot of adjusting anyway because the chick is hiding and coming out, and climbing on top of mom.

I've never seen the hen stop turning at 18 or 19 days.

I have put chicks under a hen that has chicks already - she was ok with the chicks that looked just like her chicks. The darker ones were immediately expelled!

Anyone else have similar or different experiences?

 

[nchls school]

Has anyone tried bringing a broody chicken and her eggs inside at like night 17? Yes. There have been a few times when it was necessary. All of my nest boxes are portable, easy to move, (which makes it much more likely the hen will accept the move) so they can be situated in plastic tubs and brought in to the house. A while back one of my brooding frizzle hens was showing signs of going downhill from the cold. I put her nest box in a tub and placed it in our kitchen. A week later she had a 100% hatch. I would hesitate to do this if the nest box can't be moved as is. I bring in every broody, in this fashion, when the eggs are hatching after a couple chicks have hatched for observation. Serama chicks can be really slow at learning how to drink. I have saved many chicks by bringing each new family into the house for a few days. Thinking I could do that with Rockie since while she didn't stay in her new nest box once Limpie was out and returned to her old one but maybe if she is inside then it will take and she will stay on her eggs? If nothing else this would keep the eggs from getting cold since the house is at 70 and if it did take then I could foster the rest of the incubator chicks to her as well. What does everyone think? Has anyone ever done this? Did it work?

My serama don't usually share nests; when they do I use identical nest boxes so each has their own nest and, day by day, slowly separate them. I have also use nest boxes with a high divider so eggs and chicks can not be swapped. The divider was low enough so each bird could see into the other's nest, but high enough so egg/chick stealing was not possible. I made the divider low enough for the hens to see into all the nests so that any hen returning from break would settle on uncovered eggs. A higher divider resulted in the hens piling into one nest and the others getting cold.

 

[nchls school]

Quote:

 

[Selsley]

I love BYC!

I have had a camera inside my coop since we moved the girls from the ridiculous tiny coop I started with- a kit that I put together - into the larger converted shed. I have been able to spy on them during various broody hens. I have never seen a hen stop turning the eggs until the first chick hatches. After that, there is a lot of adjusting anyway because the chick is hiding and coming out, and climbing on top of mom.

I've never seen the hen stop turning at 18 or 19 days.

I have put chicks under a hen that has chicks already - she was ok with the chicks that looked just like her chicks. The darker ones were immediately expelled!

Anyone else have similar or different experiences?

i did in the summer but it wasnt with chicks they were old enough to look after themselves, the mother hatched 6 eggs 4 chipmonks a pure white and a jet black, and it was the black and white she had issues with, so upon searching why mothers peck their chicks i read that a mother will reject chicks that are not like the rest, which in this instance rings true,

but after further thought, in our case it could be that it was because they were hens, the chipmunks all turned out to be cocks, and they were the only youngsters allowed near her on the perch, the hens were pecked untill they moved, and even then she would peck over a male to get to a hen beside him. but this could just be preparation to put the hens in their pecking order

out of our last hatch we had 2 grey males almost identical, a black male with bits of brown and the back hen from our black araucana, we had a grey male with lovely red in its neck from our brown araucana, and an EE from our buff orpington the white tailless hen our 1st EE just 6mths old

 

[Coop de Grass]

i did in the summer but it wasnt with chicks they were old enough to look after themselves, the mother hatched 6 eggs 4 chipmonks a pure white and a jet black, and it was the black and white she had issues with, so upon searching why mothers peck their chicks i read that a mother will reject chicks that are not like the rest, which in this instance rings true,

but after further thought, in our case it could be that it was because they were hens, the chipmunks all turned out to be cocks, and they were the only youngsters allowed near her on the perch, the hens were pecked untill they moved, and even then she would peck over a male to get to a hen beside him. but this could just be preparation to put the hens in their pecking order

out of our last hatch we had 2 grey males almost identical, a black male with bits of brown and the back hen from our black araucana, we had a grey male with lovely red in its neck from our brown araucana, and an EE from our buff orpington the white tailless hen our 1st EE just 6mths old

Interesting that these were eggs that the mother had hatched, yet she rejected the 2 that were different! For me the funny thing was that of the 4 foster chicks, only 3 ended up looking like the Buff Orpington - the 4th got more dark feathers but by the time that happened she had been adopted!

In the photo to the right, you can see that the chick in partial shadow to the left of the hen has started to darken. When it hatched, it only had eyeliner, so I named her Amy Henhouse.

I

This is how she turned out, she is the dark one and the other two were in the photos above. She fooled us all, Amy turned into Amos!




I doubt that it was the sex, how old were they when she started to favor the roos? Buffy took care of the chicks for 8 weeks and tried to keep all of them underneath her on the roost. It was quite amusing!

 

[ChickenMomma14]

I wonder what chicken went broody the most times in the world? HMMMMM???? /img/smilies/hu.gif

Well I know my dark blue Cochin bantam goes broody an average of 2x a week sometimes more... Not saying she is the most broody hen but she is up there!

 

[nchls school]

I wonder what chicken went broody the most times in the world? HMMMMM????

My serama are quite constant-two weeks to lay a clutch-three weeks to brood and hatch chicks-three weeks rearing and the process begins again=a new family every two months-six times broody a year and most begin at 4-5 months of age; grandmothers before they are a year old.

 

[gimmie birdies]

That is funny and true...

I just gave my bantam buff cochin broody hen 5 dark brown mystery eggs, if I were to guess, eggs were maran of some sort. but not BCM.

I have 11 mystery eggs in incubator on day 5

 

[nchls school]

That is funny and true...

I just gave my bantam buff cochin broody hen 5 dark brown mystery eggs, if I were to guess, eggs were maran of some sort. but not BCM.

My wife bought a dozen hatching eggs at this weekend's poultry auction (unknown breeds-but very large). One of the eggs is a very dark brown (won't be able to candle????). Are there other breeds that lay that dark of an egg? Some of the eggs were green. Some, lighter shades of brown-a mixed assortment of huge eggs!