Broody hens with bad track record, to use or not

[janus60]

I have two tiny serama x hens that went broody together for their first time last year, they shared the eggs with no squabbling and sat really tight. but as the chicks began to hatch I would find them unmarked but dead scattered around the broody coop. neither hen made any attempt to brood them, just sat tight on remaining eggs. that didn't hatch. The last chick I found early in the morning, it was still alive but still and very cold, it died even thought I put it in my incubator to warm up.

Are these two reliable to use again as they have gone broody and love their eggs. I have split them up in separate coops but don't really trust them, they seem to just love sitting and resent chicks, can this happen again. I have bought eggs (little ones) as I don't have a cockerel and am thinking of using my incy rather than them.

 

[HEChicken]

I rarely let hens sit on eggs because what you described is just one of the things they can get wrong. What I do is hatch the eggs in my incubator instead. Then, after they've hatched, I take the hen, put her in a nursery pen and slip the chicks under her at night. When she wakes in the morning they are there but the eggs are not so there is nothing left for her to brood and her only job is to parent. I don't leave new mothers together because they'll sometimes fight over the chicks and kill them. Last year alone I had 30+ broody hens and this method worked on almost all of them. I had only one determined broody who wasn't interested in her chicks and only wanted out of the nursery pen so she could hightail it back to the nest box and brood some more. She is broody again right now and I'm in two minds whether to give her another chance. All of the others readily accepted the chicks and raised them very well.

For proven broodies/mothers I will sometimes give them pipped eggs so that they can hear and feel the chicks hatching under them but when its a first-timer I've found the above method works better.

 

[janus60]

HEchicken, how do you keep the hens broody while the eggs are in incubator for three weeks. Are they sitting on dud eggs which get exchanged for the new hatched chicks

 

[HEChicken]

Once they go broody they stay that way until they hatch something, in my experience. It doesn't matter if they're sitting on air - they'll continue to sit almost indefinitely. The only time I've had them give up is if its late in the year - as they go into winter they'll sometimes give up (and sometimes not - I've had birds go broody in November!).

What I do is collect the eggs from under them every day because those are my mixed layers and I don't want them hatched. Meanwhile I run the incubator with eggs I do want hatched, and that way I have control over what chicks are being added to my flock.

 

[janus60]

I settled one of them in her own coop with unfertile eggs last night, this morning she is squat down over nothing with the eggs in their nest totally ignored. she bristles and bites if I move her. She wont sit on the eggs and gets up if I shove them under her. The other one is still in her coop and covering her dud eggs. Going to put them back together and try to break there broodiness. Neither reliable and I don't trust them with chicks.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My experience with broodies is they'll either be good at it or they wont. And if they're not, its a trend that sticks around for the broody times to come. Most of my bad broodies find new homes, because I just don't want to deal with that mess (especially when I have hens that are phenomenal broodies).

 

[HEChicken]

I settled one of them in her own coop with unfertile eggs last night, this morning she is squat down over nothing with the eggs in their nest totally ignored. she bristles and bites if I move her. She wont sit on the eggs and gets up if I shove them under her. The other one is still in her coop and covering her dud eggs. Going to put them back together and try to break there broodiness. Neither reliable and I don't trust them with chicks.

You really can't judge how they'll be with chicks based on how they are with eggs - they are two totally different things. I've had good broodies who weren't stellar mothers and I've had hens who couldn't keep track of the nest they were supposed to be sitting on, but were excellent mothers. They only really reliable way I've found of breaking broodies is to give them chicks. If I'm unsure a hen will raise chicks, I just give her one to see how she does. In the first 24-48 hours or so, she'll readily adopt others, so I'll give her one and if she accepts it, the next day I'll slip the others under her.