Broody Hen?

[skirbo]

Okay, so I haven't had chickens long. Got them to keep a feral roo company and in a coop rather than playing tag with the local traffic. One of them, a buff orp, has been sitting on an egg on the nest pretty much every day for a week now. She gets up and goes to eat when I go in the coop and put food down, but she gives me an evil eye when I take her egg.

Should I consider this broody behavior? She's in the coop with a roo of undetermined origin, so I'm not inclined to try letting her hatch any of her own, but I might get some to slip in there and see what she does.

Thoughts?

Sarah

 

[Mrs.Puff]

She's broody. BOs are notorious broodies. Does she screech at you when you take her egg away? Does she sit on the egg all day? You might want to get her some hatching eggs. Look under buy/sell/trade for some. You should do this soon.

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

Sounds like a broody hen to me....I did the same thing I seperated her into a small dog crate and slipped some fertile eggs I bought local under her...marked the calender....and waited....she hatched out 5 of the 6 I put under her....

 

[skirbo]

Thanks guys. I have some EE eggs in a friend's bator at the moment, which is frustrating, because now I'll have boo-koodles of babies. I'll keep an eye out on the hatching egg section.

Thanks again,
Sarah

 

[FarmerDenise]

Sounds broody to me. Although I've never had one go broody on me at this time of year. I have had hens spend a lot of time on the nest, possibly to stay away from the rooster or to stay warm.
I have slipped eggs under hens before with success. I wouldn't do it now, because it is just too cold. It takes a lot out of a hen to hatch and raise a bunch of chicks. I usually wait til April to have my hens hatch out chicks for me. This year I plan on having several hens hatch chicks at the same time, so they can share the parental duties.

 

[FarmerDenise]

You could put the eggs from the incubator under the broody hen. The hen doesn't know if it has been 21 days or 7 days. They start communicating with the chicks before they hatch. She'll probably do a better job then the incubator. And it is so fun to watch the hen with her newly hatched youngsters.
I've slipped purchased chicks under hens before, after I had them sit for maybe a week on fake eggs. I have only had one chick rejected by the moms. Chicks raised by a Momma hen act a lot different. And mine are still tame, because I handle all of them a lot and try to help the moms.
You would have to make sure the mom and her chicks are kept in a warm place. Because some moms will wear themselves out, taking care of their chicks. Watch the hen carefully, to make sure she eats and drinks and gets breaks. Fortunately BO's are sturdy chickens. I have lost two Silkie hens to chick rearing. But Silkie's are notorious for broodyness and being good moms.

 

[davidb]

shes broody, best incubator ever made

 

[skirbo]

I never would have thought of doing that. I'll think about getting the eggs from the friend and putting them with her. They'd have a car trip first though, about twenty minutes, and they are due to start hatching this Thursday or Friday anyway.

Is she going to get stressed out if I *don't* let her hatch and raise something?

Sarah

 

[FarmerDenise]

She'll get over it. If I let my Silkie hatch something every time she goes broody, I woudn't have any eggs to eat, be overcrowded with chicken and she'd starve herself to death. (Which two of them basically did). When I am not ready to have the hen go broody, I just keep taking her of the nest and keep removing the eggs. I also remove any fake eggs I might have in the nest boxes. Sometimes it takes a week for her to loose interest.