Broody Hen Thread!

[Becca51]

Hello Microchick. . . The reason I couldn't add eggs any earlier is because I was out of town. According to the person that was caring for them she was off and on Saturday and was on the nest when she Fed Sunday morning. The earliest I could add eggs was during the night Sunday night. Should this be fine as with the timing? Krist26 hi there . . . The hen stayed on the nest while I was adding the eggs but she quietly pecked at my hand each time I touched her feathers. All seems to be good - she is still on the nest. Just need to know when to move her to her own room.

 

[jnckids]

I think I might have my first Broody hen! She's been sitting almost exclusively for the last three or four days. She doesn't go far from the coop and she got a little grumbly when I came in to check on her. She has three eggs to sit on. Is she broody? Any obvious signs to watch for that she definitely is?

Thanks!

Put golf balls or plastic Easter eggs under her and make sure she's stays on them. Then one night sub the real eggs in.

 

[microchick]

Hello Microchick. . . The reason I couldn't add eggs any earlier is because I was out of town. According to the person that was caring for them she was off and on Saturday and was on the nest when she Fed Sunday morning. The earliest I could add eggs was during the night Sunday night. Should this be fine as with the timing? Krist26 hi there . . . The hen stayed on the nest while I was adding the eggs but she quietly pecked at my hand each time I touched her feathers. All seems to be good - she is still on the nest. Just need to know when to move her to her own room.

That should work, Becca51. Staggered hatches can be done but they are a pain in the posterior as you either wind up with dead chicks or letting eggs finish in an incubator and returning the chicks to mom.

If your hen only quietly pecked your hand, she's a gentle one. I've had bruises from mine. LOL. I usually just set the eggs at the hen's breast and let her situate them under her. Saves my skin that way.

 

[silkieRaiser]

ok, im back. so i'm gonna start breaking my silkie tomarrow, but another hen has gone broody!!! Should i break them together where the orpington and silkie couldn't really move around much, or should i do it one at a time? I'm worried if i break them one at a time the first broken one will catch back on, seeing her friend still broody....

 

[mich9510]

She's been on the nest for a solid 48 hrs now. Might be time to move her. (Again)

And she's been pulling out her feathers. I guess shes decided that she means business. Going to move her tomorrow.

 

[nchls school]

I asked this question earlier and wanted to get an opinion again. I just think there was a lot of posting at the time and it was missed. My broody has now been sitting for 6 days today is day 7. I want to relocate her since every time she gets up my clumsy, no care, leghorns jump on the nest because my broody is sitting in the "preferred" box. The broke one egg on day 2 and when my broody gets up she has to fight her way back onto the nest. I would just rather move her.

When and how is the best to do so? Thanks.

If I have to move a broody it is while it is dark. Moving seems to work best if the whole original nest box can be moved without having to handle the hen and eggs. Because of this I have all movable nest boxes. If this isn't possible, try to make the new nest as close to the first as possible. Good luck.

 

[jnckids]

Well she was off the nest today for possibly as long as 2hrs then she went back to the nest like it was nothing... We shall see. Today is day 8 and we candled.... One broken, 5 questionable, 22 still look good... I think.

 

[KJzCola]

Ok, so I put my fertilized eggs under my broody mama (Maran Mix) three weeks ago almost to the hour. She was in the normal coop in her favorite nest box up until today. I have a rather mean wellsummer in the coop that i witnessed push her way into mamas nest box and start pecking at her. that's when i knew i needed to separate for sure as i was a bit on the fence t up until that point. Ideally i would have had time to get into the coop and enclose the nest box she was sitting in with a ramp for the babies to get down and a divider between them and the rest of the flock. I did NOT have time for that, as I was out of town for the last 5 days. I decided instead to move mama and eggs into another environment to buy me more time to set up the enclosure in the coop because I am also preparing for my baby shower on Saturday and have too much to do before then.

So I VERY CAREFULLY moved mama off the eggs, put the eggs on a nest in a bucket, put mam on the eggs, set a lid on top, slowly carried bucket to the external enclosure, took mama off the eggs, moved eggs into the new nest, and put mama back on. Im worried i may have changed her environment too much for her to continue to sit. She stayed in the nest while I put finishing touches on the external enclosures, like placing the food and water inside, and covering with chicken wire, but she wasn't spread out to cover the eggs, I could see many uncovered under her. Once I got done, she left the nest and started trying to escape the box. Once she finally calmed down she ate out of the feeder for a while.

She is FINALLY back on the eggs, but still not spread out (I took a tiny peek under the lid). I still see several eggs uncovered . She is in a large Rubbermaid black tub with chicken wire across the top, I did set the lid just resting on top to create a darker environment to try to help calm her, i figure i can remove the lid tomorrow to allow for a natural night and day cycle again? The nest in in a cardboard enclosure in one end of the box with a "doorway" cut into it. The box is on my back patio so no direct sunlight at all but it does get a slight breeze on occasion.

What would you expect to happen, should she continue to calm and settle in with the set up I have now, and return to the task of hatching these babies this week? is resting the lid on top for today a good idea to create a darker calmer environment? also, some bedding ended up in the one little drinker cup while she was trying to escape so now she cant see the water source no can she access it, Im afraid to get in there so soon to fix it that it will set her off again. Should i just leave it for now and try to fix it tonight? will she be ok without water for a bit?


Thanks to all for reading!

P.S. Im trying to come up with a backup emergency plan for hatching if she does abandon the next. I dont have any sort of incubator but my oven has a proofing feature.... thoughts on using this?

 

[thunderbird]

So one of the eggs under my broody orpington has what looks like a peck mark, the egg is on day 6 or 7, how much of a problem is this?

 

[WVduckchick]

So one of the eggs under my broody orpington has what looks like a peck mark, the egg is on day 6 or 7, how much of a problem is this?

By now, if you candle, you should be able to tell if it's developing. If it is, and you want to try to save it, you can try to tape it, that fabric like medical tape works in an incubator. Not sure if a hen will peck or what she will do. I wouldn't use wax, the hen might eat it.