Broody hen?

[chickens really]

Believe me you will know once a Hen is going Broody once she really goes Broody.....
It takes a few days to be sure...


Cheers!

 

[bobbi-j]

Believe me you will know once a Hen is going Broody once she really goes Broody.....
It takes a few days to be sure...


Cheers!

That's for sure! When you have a growling chicken pancake in the nest day and night for about 3 days, it's a good chance you have a broody.

 

[wild chick]

That's for sure! When you have a growling chicken pancake in the nest day and night for about 3 days, it's a good chance you have a broody.

Another newbie here... So, if I collect eggs everyday at 5 pm and there's a hen still on a nest, that would be my first clue? Watch for another day or two and if she stays there move her to a brood pen away from the laying nests? I have 8 pullets that have been laying since December (and one roo). When might I see this exciting day??? Wyandottes, and they turn a year old in June, if that helps.

 

[chickens really]

As she said ......Wait three days and If she is truly Broody?....You will know...


Cheers !

 

[bobbi-j]

Another newbie here... So, if I collect eggs everyday at 5 pm and there's a hen still on a nest, that would be my first clue? Watch for another day or two and if she stays there move her to a brood pen away from the laying nests? I have 8 pullets that have been laying since December (and one roo). When might I see this exciting day??? Wyandottes, and they turn a year old in June, if that helps.

That could be a clue. When I suspect I have a broody, I will check several times a day at various times for a few days, just to be sure. How and where you let her set is entirely up to you. Some very experienced chicken keepers here on BYC have good luck letting a broody set within the general population. They mark the eggs they want to hatch, and check every day after that for extra donations laid by other hens. I have never had that work out well. I end up with broken eggs, destroyed nests or a hen that goes into the wrong nest after she gets up for her daily constitutional. If I can, I will move a broody to a part of the coop that I can close off from the rest, but they can still see and hear each other. Last year when I tried that, the broody was very persistent. She wanted to nest in her chosen place and that's all there was to it. I moved her at night, I moved her during the day, it didn't matter. She brooded her eggs in the coop with the rest of the flock coming and going.

It's hard to know when and if any of your chickens will go broody. Especially if they're hatchery birds since that trait has pretty much been bred out of them.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you think you have one thinking about it, sometimes you can encourage it, by either letting eggs pile up in nest, or placing several golf balls in a nest. Sometimes if there is a clutch that looks right, it can flip the switch.... That and the Broody Gods are being generous.

Worth a try, if I think hmmm, no, maybe, I will set a nest up and see if I get a bite.

MRs K