Broody mama question

[Hei-hei]

Hi all! First time doing chicks! One of my tiny bantams went broody, so we stuck some silkie hatching eggs under her. Should I leave her in the nest box with all the big girls or move mama and eggs to their own space?

 

[azygous]

Leaving her in a popular laying nest risks the other hens laying their eggs on top of the ones your broody is starting to incubate. The consequences of this are two-fold. Some eggs she's started to hatch can get broken. Newly laid eggs can get mixed up with the incubating eggs and result in a "staggered" hatch, meaning that some eggs will hatch later than the others. This has consequences for the earlier hatched chicks that the brooder will still be sitting on eggs instead of seeing to their needs.

So, yes, it's always a good idea to provide a safe nest for the broody so she and her eggs will not be disturbed. This is also a good idea so the new chicks are safe, as well.

 

[Hei-hei]

Leaving her in a popular laying nest risks the other hens laying their eggs on top of the ones your broody is starting to incubate. The consequences of this are two-fold. Some eggs she's started to hatch can get broken. Newly laid eggs can get mixed up with the incubating eggs and result in a "staggered" hatch, meaning that some eggs will hatch later than the others. This has consequences for the earlier hatched chicks that the brooder will still be sitting on eggs instead of seeing to their needs.

So, yes, it's always a good idea to provide a safe nest for the broody so she and her eggs will not be disturbed. This is also a good idea so the new chicks are safe, as well.

Thank you, I was thinking the same thing. I marked her eggs, so I could tell if others got added. So far, they’ve been leaving her alone and laying in the box next to her. I’m working on making a safe spot for her to move to.

 

[junior67]

I leave mine in the coop with everyone. I did this for 3 girls last year. I marked eggs and had to check and remove any new eggs laid each day. This worked out GREAT last year as the ones that were broody must have been a bit higher up (or my older girls aren't jerks)........

This year I have 1 broody.... Things went great for a couple days so I gave her some eggs, she was in a large shared box that only her and 2 other girls used (they all laid on one side of the shared box which was the side she was sitting in). One of those girls had no issues swapping over to the other side.... My older girl REFUSED to swap over and pecked at the broody until she left then that one sat on her eggs and laid her eggs..... Ok.... so I moved the broody over to the other side of the box and all seemed to be solved for a day or two. The one that beat her up went to the normal side of the box and laid her eggs no problem, the other one that was still laying laid her egg in the correct side so all was wonderful....... Then one of my other ones decided to go in and beat up the mom (not sure why as there wasn't really a reason and the one that did it isn't even laying even though she is almost 11 mo) then scratched around in the nest box and eggs were all over..... So I gathered the eggs (was missing 1 that I couldn't find anywhere) and put a cardboard box inside the nest box thinking that may help since she couldn't really fling them around and it put the sides a bit higher so not as much room to stand and scratch around. NOPE didn't help. today on day 8 (I had candled last night before I moved everyone in the shallow box) for some reason my broody switched sides of the nest box to sit on the fake eggs in the other side. So then the other girl went in poking around in her box, then was scratching around etc (I watched it back on my camera since I was at work), box got tipped over but think that was at the very end. The eggs ended up getting broken and eaten. I think this broody just is NOT high enough on the dominance chain to really defend her nest/eggs/babies against the others. So now I am going to have to break her since it isn't working out.


So IF you want to leave her in the coop it can work out but I will say be sure she is dominant enough that the others don't bully her. I am not sure if that was the issue or if my 11 mo olds are just jerks and the ones last year weren't jerks???

 

[Hei-hei]

I leave mine in the coop with everyone. I did this for 3 girls last year. I marked eggs and had to check and remove any new eggs laid each day. This worked out GREAT last year as the ones that were broody must have been a bit higher up (or my older girls aren't jerks)........

This year I have 1 broody.... Things went great for a couple days so I gave her some eggs, she was in a large shared box that only her and 2 other girls used (they all laid on one side of the shared box which was the side she was sitting in). One of those girls had no issues swapping over to the other side.... My older girl REFUSED to swap over and pecked at the broody until she left then that one sat on her eggs and laid her eggs..... Ok.... so I moved the broody over to the other side of the box and all seemed to be solved for a day or two. The one that beat her up went to the normal side of the box and laid her eggs no problem, the other one that was still laying laid her egg in the correct side so all was wonderful....... Then one of my other ones decided to go in and beat up the mom (not sure why as there wasn't really a reason and the one that did it isn't even laying even though she is almost 11 mo) then scratched around in the nest box and eggs were all over..... So I gathered the eggs (was missing 1 that I couldn't find anywhere) and put a cardboard box inside the nest box thinking that may help since she couldn't really fling them around and it put the sides a bit higher so not as much room to stand and scratch around. NOPE didn't help. today on day 8 (I had candled last night before I moved everyone in the shallow box) for some reason my broody switched sides of the nest box to sit on the fake eggs in the other side. So then the other girl went in poking around in her box, then was scratching around etc (I watched it back on my camera since I was at work), box got tipped over but think that was at the very end. The eggs ended up getting broken and eaten. I think this broody just is NOT high enough on the dominance chain to really defend her nest/eggs/babies against the others. So now I am going to have to break her since it isn't working out.


So IF you want to leave her in the coop it can work out but I will say be sure she is dominant enough that the others don't bully her. I am not sure if that was the issue or if my 11 mo olds are just jerks and the ones last year weren't jerks???

Thank you for sharing! I’m working hard to figure out how to move her and give her a safe space of her own! So far she’s ok, but I think it will be better for her once they hatch too.

 

[junior67]

Thank you for sharing! I’m working hard to figure out how to move her and give her a safe space of her own! So far she’s ok, but I think it will be better for her once they hatch too.

my mamas last year did amazing with the chicks out in the flock and it was so easy to keep them there as the rest already knew them so no integration needed. Could you block off a section of the coop to have her in so they can see but not touch?

 

[Hei-hei]

my mamas last year did amazing with the chicks out in the flock and it was so easy to keep them there as the rest already knew them so no integration needed. Could you block off a section of the coop to have her in so they can see but not touch?

I’m trying to figure out if I can do that! They are leaving her alone right now. She gets pecked some when she decides to eat. But, it seems to be because she is trying to eat super fast and shoving her way in to the food dish. I might have to build a small coop and “run” inside my main run.

 

[azygous]

Building a small coop and run to accommodate broodies raising chicks is what I did. Well, actually, it started off as a coop to house two psycho roosters, and when they eventually died, I began using it for broodies. It was very, very successful for that role since one of the stages of raising chicks, broody raised or store bought, is integration, and that can be awfully stressful for the chicks.

My second coop is located at the opposite end of my run from the main coop. There is a large broody nest on the floor with an entrance out to a smaller run or choice of another entrance into a section of the main run. (My run is a maize of sections, all able to be isolated by closing gates.)

The chicks learn to roost in this broody coop, and then when they get older, almost without fail, they all move out of it and into the main coop with the rest of the flock all on their own. This makes it easy to then use it for the next batch of new chicks.

 

[junior67]

Building a small coop and run to accommodate broodies raising chicks is what I did. Well, actually, it started off as a coop to house two psycho roosters, and when they eventually died, I began using it for broodies. It was very, very successful for that role since one of the stages of raising chicks, broody raised or store bought, is integration, and that can be awfully stressful for the chicks.

My second coop is located at the opposite end of my run from the main coop. There is a large broody nest on the floor with an entrance out to a smaller run or choice of another entrance into a section of the main run. (My run is a maize of sections, all able to be isolated by closing gates.)

The chicks learn to roost in this broody coop, and then when they get older, almost without fail, they all move out of it and into the main coop with the rest of the flock all on their own. This makes it easy to then use it for the next batch of new chicks.

I am hoping to be able to do this once I get my second coop and expand my run. But it will just be one big run with a door of some sort between the 2 sections. so they won't have another area to go to but I can divide if if needed and I may have a "chick" door in there that they can go back and forth between them but the big ones can't. haven't figured that part out yet since I am still in the planning stages.

 

[Hei-hei]

Building a small coop and run to accommodate broodies raising chicks is what I did. Well, actually, it started off as a coop to house two psycho roosters, and when they eventually died, I began using it for broodies. It was very, very successful for that role since one of the stages of raising chicks, broody raised or store bought, is integration, and that can be awfully stressful for the chicks.

My second coop is located at the opposite end of my run from the main coop. There is a large broody nest on the floor with an entrance out to a smaller run or choice of another entrance into a section of the main run. (My run is a maize of sections, all able to be isolated by closing gates.)

The chicks learn to roost in this broody coop, and then when they get older, almost without fail, they all move out of it and into the main coop with the rest of the flock all on their own. This makes it easy to then use it for the next batch of new chicks.

Cool! I was thinking about building a run/coop right next to my main one for the chicks and broody mama or introducing new birds. Glad to know that this works well!