- Jun 23, 2012
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So I've got two broody hens at the moment, which is rather common for me (I have one hen that went broody three times last year!), but I've got two birds that I've never gotten chicks from, and I'm a little concerned...
Hen A is an Asil, and she's gone broody before, but she's never hatched anything. I tried to graft some chicks to her last year, and she pecked the head of one of the babies, and I quickly removed the chicks, and set them under Mamma (an Old English Game hen), who was also broody at the time. Now hen A is broody again, and I candled her eggs to find out that they are, in fact, growing (there was a dark spot that covered about a third of the egg when I candled one of them). I have a few concerns with her going broody, because of her reaction to chicks last time. Will she be likely to reject chicks that she hatched herself, or did she only attack the one because it wasn't originally hers? Also, will she try to attack my other birds for simply existing around her chicks? She has always been fairly aggressive (she drew blood once...), so I don't know how much I trust her with a nest, though I've heard that Asils are generally good mothers...
Hen B is a Japanese Bantam, and I think this is her first time going broody. When she is on her nest, she is the most determined bird I have ever seen, I can wave my hand in front of her face, but unless I touch her, she doesn't pay me any attention (but once I've got her attention, she's pretty mad, and starts attacking my hand...). I've noticed that, when Hen B gets off her nest, she seems to forget about them completely (she went broody yesterday, and last night I had to move her from the roosting board back onto the nest). She was on for a few hours yesterday, and then off for a few hours, and this morning, she was on the nest until I let the chickens out, at which point she wandered for a bit, but now she's back on the nest... She also seems to have trouble remembering to put the eggs all the way under her, so I keep having to push the eggs under her when I go in to check on her... Do you think she's killed her eggs? The weather has been in the 70s and 80s during the day, and going down to the high 50s at night, if that makes much difference...
Hen A is an Asil, and she's gone broody before, but she's never hatched anything. I tried to graft some chicks to her last year, and she pecked the head of one of the babies, and I quickly removed the chicks, and set them under Mamma (an Old English Game hen), who was also broody at the time. Now hen A is broody again, and I candled her eggs to find out that they are, in fact, growing (there was a dark spot that covered about a third of the egg when I candled one of them). I have a few concerns with her going broody, because of her reaction to chicks last time. Will she be likely to reject chicks that she hatched herself, or did she only attack the one because it wasn't originally hers? Also, will she try to attack my other birds for simply existing around her chicks? She has always been fairly aggressive (she drew blood once...), so I don't know how much I trust her with a nest, though I've heard that Asils are generally good mothers...
Hen B is a Japanese Bantam, and I think this is her first time going broody. When she is on her nest, she is the most determined bird I have ever seen, I can wave my hand in front of her face, but unless I touch her, she doesn't pay me any attention (but once I've got her attention, she's pretty mad, and starts attacking my hand...). I've noticed that, when Hen B gets off her nest, she seems to forget about them completely (she went broody yesterday, and last night I had to move her from the roosting board back onto the nest). She was on for a few hours yesterday, and then off for a few hours, and this morning, she was on the nest until I let the chickens out, at which point she wandered for a bit, but now she's back on the nest... She also seems to have trouble remembering to put the eggs all the way under her, so I keep having to push the eggs under her when I go in to check on her... Do you think she's killed her eggs? The weather has been in the 70s and 80s during the day, and going down to the high 50s at night, if that makes much difference...
