Broody Hen Thread!

[bhawk-23]

What happens to the pecking order when a hen goes broody? Orpy was always top hen, no challenges from the others. But today I noticed the second in line asserting herself quietly, but Orpy got the message and walked away. Second hen is dominant but rarely mean in her enforcement. I wish they all were like that.
Orpy is puffing up and growling but not asserting herself in the same manner as before all this. No pecking or standing over another.
Also, I know a hen can have strange poops when broody but Orpy's is only a small amount and runny.

Sorry for these strange questions. Pecking order enforcement is difficult on me and I don't want to see a change up before the chicks are hatched. I thought Orpy being on top would help secure safety for her and her chicks.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

So anyone who ever watched a broody will appreciate this

Love it. I like the one with the car alarm going off

 

[JacinLarkwell]

What happens to the pecking order when a hen goes broody? Orpy was always top hen, no challenges from the others. But today I noticed the second in line asserting herself quietly, but Orpy got the message and walked away. Second hen is dominant but rarely mean in her enforcement. I wish they all were like that.
Orpy is puffing up and growling but not asserting herself in the same manner as before all this. No pecking or standing over another.
Also, I know a hen can have strange poops when broody but Orpy's is only a small amount and runny.

Sorry for these strange questions. Pecking order enforcement is difficult on me and I don't want to see a change up before the chicks are hatched. I thought Orpy being on top would help secure safety for her and her chicks.

Odds are shell remain if she is in the coop or within sight

 

[chickenlittle21]

I have a question: broodies protect their chicks by pecking chickens that try to mess with them, right? So I have a broody who is very low in the pecking order and has even been attacked by one of my small polish hens. How will the broody peck chickens that try to mess with her chicks if shes low in the pecking order?

 

[aart]

What happens to the pecking order when a hen goes broody? Orpy was always top hen, no challenges from the others. But today I noticed the second in line asserting herself quietly, but Orpy got the message and walked away. Second hen is dominant but rarely mean in her enforcement. I wish they all were like that.
Orpy is puffing up and growling but not asserting herself in the same manner as before all this. No pecking or standing over another.
Also, I know a hen can have strange poops when broody but Orpy's is only a small amount and runny.

Sorry for these strange questions. Pecking order enforcement is difficult on me and I don't want to see a change up before the chicks are hatched. I thought Orpy being on top would help secure safety for her and her chicks.

I have a question: broodies protect their chicks by pecking chickens that try to mess with them, right? So I have a broody who is very low in the pecking order and has even been attacked by one of my small polish hens. How will the broody peck chickens that try to mess with her chicks if shes low in the pecking order?

It depends on the bird.
I had a mid to low girl go broody, she figured out right quick how to assert her 'broody fierce' after I let her back into the flock a week after hatch. She reveled in it for far too long, being rather bullyish long after she weaned her chicks.
Had another that was fairly high in the order before hatching, she took a week to get her fierce on, even the cock chased her around.

Note: I have my broodies incubate and hatch separated by wire wall, wall is removed a week or so after hatch.

 

[Perris]

I thought Orpy being on top would help secure safety for her and her chicks.

How will the broody peck chickens that try to mess with her chicks if shes low in the pecking order?

I have both types simultaneously at the moment, and they hatch and raise their clutches in the flock here. The top hen's chicks undoubtedly have an easier time of it; the top hen is still top hen, but she spends a large part of her day with her chicks apart from the main flock, and everyone else gives them a wide berth. No.2 hen is a well mannered lady and steps up whenever top hen is absent, and steps aside when top hen is back.

The low ranking hen is on her second brood this year, and she defers to her seniors, steering her chicks away from the threat. But she is uber aggressive to her juniors, and even reckless; I've seen her trample her own chicks in her zeal to defend them (stupid bird). So you'd imagine her chicks would grow up low in the pecking order...but when she drove them off at 9 weeks, her first brood were adopted by the top hen, whose own chicks were then 2 weeks old - I had really not expected that. Now they are teens (18wks) they go their own way most of the day, but there is regularly a subflock of top hen and her chicks plus her adopted chicks wandering round, while low broody and her new chicks mingle only with ex-dominant roo. So I would say you both have to wait and see how it works out for your broodies and their flockmates!

 

[bhawk-23]

Odds are shell remain if she is in the coop or within sight

Good to know. She is in the coop in a nesting box so the girls have to see her when they lay. We put up a half curtain to give her a little shield because the others would not go in to lay with her growling at them. Maybe we should remove that. For now, they (not broody) are all roosting in the run. That is how we caught her broodiness because she didn't roost outside but rather walked into the coop which made us curious and quite confused to see her in a box! Lol

She will brood, hatch and raise her chicks with the flock unless we incur major safety issues for any of them.

 

[aart]

Good to know. She is in the coop in a nesting box so the girls have to see her when they lay. We put up a half curtain to give her a little shield because the others would not go in to lay with her growling at them. Maybe we should remove that. For now, they (not broody) are all roosting in the run. That is how we caught her broodiness because she didn't roost outside but rather walked into the coop which made us curious and quite confused to see her in a box! Lol

She will brood, hatch and raise her chicks with the flock unless we incur major safety issues for any of them.

Have you marked the eggs you want to hatch and removed any new ones laid in there daily? Maybe she won't let the others lay in her nest, but good to be sure.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Good to know. She is in the coop in a nesting box so the girls have to see her when they lay. We put up a half curtain to give her a little shield because the others would not go in to lay with her growling at them. Maybe we should remove that. For now, they (not broody) are all roosting in the run. That is how we caught her broodiness because she didn't roost outside but rather walked into the coop which made us curious and quite confused to see her in a box! Lol

She will brood, hatch and raise her chicks with the flock unless we incur major safety issues for any of them.

Do your birds free range? I ask because 2 of my hens have to be locked in the house when I free range their flock otherwise they lose their chicks

 

[Redhead Rae]

Have you marked the eggs you want to hatch and removed any new ones laid in there daily? Maybe she won't let the others lay in her nest, but good to be sure.

THIS^

After she hatches out her first eggs you do NOT want a nest full of half developed eggs.