Broody Hen Thread!

[justin24]

that cuz she black and hard to see

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, I am so very sorry but you did what you had thought would be best and if you were not going to be there to watch her like normal it was best to keep her in the run so nothing would get at her so please don't blame yourself. We all do things that are for the best and unforseen things happen. You did what you thought was best for her. It does sound like the heat was what had gotten her. It is so hard to lose one like that.
I recently lost my blind girl in the rains and flooding. Instead of putting her in her run because she would get wet in the rain, I kept her in the coop and she managed to get out of the coop and get lost in the pasture. I searched for days in the torrential rains and I could not find her. After everything stopped, I took my dog out with me to look again and he found her but I was too late. She was dead. There was so much water and it was also cold and she couldn't hang on. I felt terrible that I did not put her in the small coop & run that day but I thought she would be warmer and drier in the big coop. The sad part was she was only about 75 feet from the house and the grasses were so high, I could not see her there and I searched all over everyday and never seen her until the rains stopped and the grasses were by that time laying over from all the rain and my dog took me there.

If your girl was broody alot, they do pull their breast feathers out so they can get better contact with the eggs and keep them warmer. So, maybe that was not a sign of another illness. It does sound like the heat was a bit too much for her. I am so sorry and I do hope all goes well with your broody hen and she behaves and stays on her nest. I have noticed with mine, they tend to go to different nests when they start out being broody but later on, they get the hang of it and do not go elsewhere.

You have to keep us posted how things are going and of course pics of the new little ones when they hatch!!!
Lisa,

I'm so sorry about your sweet chicken. Interesting that we have such similar experiences. I cried when I read your story. It is so much like mine, so heartbreaking-- we both tried so hard and loved our girls. Your dog sounds like a very good helper to have around. I am so mad because there were only two hot days left in the entire summer-- the day my hen died at 98 F and the following day, also 98 F, and then it cooled way down. Had my trip been 3 days later, I'm sure she'd still be alive. Just maddening. I'm going to post a photo of my hen's picked out breast feathers. She was broody back in May, but we broke her of it in early June, so she hadn't been broody for about 9 weeks or so. Should her feathers have grown back in by the time she died if she had been feathering her nest while broody? She had been laying eggs again and her legs had turned white.

 

[ClareScifi]

Does this hen's breast look like she plucked out the feather's due to broodiness, or something else?

 

[NewToFarming]

Quote:
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I had a chick emergency last night!
It sure does look to me it could be her plucking being broody and it can take a couple of months for them to grow back too. My silkie boy was in a fight with another roo and had his topknot pulled out and it is still not back and that was over 2 months ago.

You are right our stories are very similar and I think about my girl everyday. I buried her under the prettiest sunflower we have because she was always so bright and happy. Your girl was very pretty and I hope your broody girl brings you bunches of new babies to help bring you some new little chickeys to love!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Stella, a tiny blue crested bantam went broody the other day. I gave her a Splash JG and one of her own eggs to sit on. Today she got off the nest to go have a break and then instead of going back to her nest, she went to a different nest! When I went to check on her this afternoon I found her in a different nest and her eggs freezing cold. I put her back on them..there is always hope. Since this is her first time being a mommy I didn't want to give her Sussex or Serama eggs ..

~Aspen

 

[AlienChick]

Yep! It's official.

Broodiness IS contagious!

Three weeks ago I had a Silkie go broody (the babies are hatching as we speak).

Then last week one of my Black Australorps went broody (she stole 13 eggs before I caught her cuz I was out of town).

Now I have my little d'Uccle sitting in the nest box and won't move. I don't know how many eggs she's got cuz she's fussy when I try to touch her.
Today I put two Silkie eggs underneath her dispite her growls.

Just think . . . a month ago I was WISHING

and HOPING for a broody hen!

[Be careful what you wish for!]

 

[kerrysmommy]

hello,
my silkie hen is always broody and always takes the other eggs that rnt hers! she has 4 eggs under her now and 2 so far look fertile

 

[FarmerBoy24]

Quote:
I agree it is Contagious. It's like this I have a broody hen with all these eggs. She gets kicked out by another hen and she like look at all these beautiful eggs I outta hatch em. And it keeps going on and on and on. lol Then you have some nestless broodies and 2 of them sharing the same nest box.

 

[spowell]

I have a white silkie that went broody sometime over Memorial Weekend when I was out of town. I discovered her sitting on two eggs Monday when I got home(they were not hers). Over the next week she stole 8 more eggs from other hens. I candled them and took her down to six. I had to mark those because she steals all the eggs, everyday, that are laid. Well I went out yesterday and another white silkie had gone broody and was sitting on nothing next to the other hen. By this morning, new broody had stolen 3 of the eggs out of the other nest. Now that's Karma

They are due to hatch this weekend. Best guess anyway.

 

[ClareScifi]

My broody is on Day 15 of sitting on the fertilized eggs. Before we got the fertilized eggs, she had been sitting on unfertilized eggs for over a week. I sure hope she doesn't give up on these fertilized eggs so close to the hatch date, thinking they aren't going to hatch!

Do you think that is a possibility, or does she know these eggs are good, instinctively, and will wait it out?