Building brooding boxes, what should i use in the bottom?

[dldolan]

Quote:
HI! I am also a MI transplant out here in Northern California, and gld I found your questions as I want some of the same information! One of my blue cochins went broody this weekend. So I gave her 5 fertile BFCM eggs I bought locally... Can't budge her from the new nest I moved her to (from the previous nest in the main henhouse with 2 fake eggs in it---testing to see if she was "really" broody). I carried the whole basket with me (she growled the whole way but didn't peck), and put her in her new space, where she walked around for 5 minutes and I swapped out the fake eggs. She then "found" the five eggs in her new nest, and BAM! no getting her off. Will she eat/drink/poop when she needs to or wither away? She is locked down really tight on those eggs and I haven't seen her get off in the past 30 hours...



Also, she is all snug in the mommy housing* I made inside my run for letting broodies hatch a clutch, but (and I just thought of this) she is in a metal, oblong Christmas basket thingy, bolted down, but probably only 12-14 inches long x 6 wide. 5-6 inches of shavings under 5 eggs and her. When the chicks hatch (fingers crossed!), will they have enough room to all be in there? Should I get a bigger nesting box/basket? Or just leave it? To get the chicks out, they may tumble 3-4 inches down to the floor of the cupboard... I guess I should put down shavings so they don't get hurt, but how will they get back in?
See below: She is way in the back. I have left the cage door open (where the photo is being shot from) in the daytime so she can go out and scratch around/poop or whatever, but she doesn't budge (but two of my other hens go in and see if her food is better than theirs...!) I closed her in all three nights...

Anyway, I am trying to let her do her thing, but will she eat? This is so exciting and nerve racking!

 

[DMSrabbit]

Welcome to the West Coast. I grew up in Mendocino CA, and most of my family still lives in Sonoma county, they love all that wine. Alexander valley is great for that..

Anyways to answer some of your questions (and i am in no way an expert) heres what I would suggest:

1- With the hen being "too" broody, i would manually take her off tomorrow during the day (use gloves, because she may peck at you) and re-introduce her to your food and water. Maybe she will realize she can get off the eggs, and deficate outside as well as eat/drink. I have a SUPER broody silkie bantam that sat atop her 10 eggs and didnt move for 10 days until i moved her to candle them. I found out she was even defecating in the nesting box, and i lost one egg that was covered in fecal matter. I kick her off her nest once every 2 days to ensure that she will actually eat and drink. Otherwise she will starve herself.... Try that, if it doesnt work, i simply dont know. She will NEED to get off at some point.. I hope she just realizes that she actually needs to get off every once in a while.

2- As far as your brooding metal pin thing goes. U may want to take that out and transition to something that has a smaller ledge to it. Or u could always make a few adjustments to the current one. You could use tin snips and cut a small section out, bend it to the floor and drill it into the ground. Then u would have to use something like duct tape to wrap all the edges so no new chickies get cut (that could be very sharp).. I am taking the front door part off my nesting box to help the chicks get out of the nest and safely back into it and under her.

Other than this, I don't know what else to suggest

 

[they'reHISchickens]

There will be plenty of room in the nest. Most of a broody hen is feathers and the chicks pop through the feathers up and out all over the place. You have to be careful if you lift off a broody after chicks start hatching or you can lift off chicks with her, nestled into her feathers.

 

[dldolan]

Quote:
Small world...I live in Alexander Valley! Bought 5.5 acres almost a year ago after 4 yrs in Santa Rosa and love it up here. And I am close to my work (wine industry, what else?) in Dry Creek Valley...

Thanks for the suggestions and to they'reHISchickens as well! I will move her off if I don't see any of the food gone tomorrow. However, how long can the hen be off the eggs? I"ll get everything ready, but will need to have a few minutes to swap out stuff, I imagine. Days are in the 50's so not terribly cold, but I know nothing!
Thanks,
Dawn

Here's my broody's sister giving my son, the photographer, the stink eye. She excels at this, I must say.

 

[dldolan]

Quote:
Just thinking...when I put her in the broody house on Saturday, locked in, she did eat and drink, and scratched around a bit in the dog cage run before "finding" the new nesting box...so she knows there is food/water there, i imagine.

Hmm, I thought I had planned well to give her both quiet space and privacy, but also a small run where the other hens could see her and she could see them. But to get to the back where the nest is, I'll have to pull off the dog cage. sigh. Best intentions...

After she hatches the chicks (fingers crossed), I figured on a week or two in the controlled space, then open the hatch so she can take her brood out in the big enclosed run, then eventually out in the orchard when the other hens are out? Sound like a reasonable plan?

Thanks again, Nate, for starting this line of idea sharing! I hope my questions will also help you...when are your babies due?
Dawn

 

[DMSrabbit]

@dldolan- I started "retraining" my hen to go out of the box to get food and water. I only had to move her off 2x, and now shes cured. I went outside like 30 min ago and saw a huge poop at the other end of the brooder near the feeder, and it seems the water has been dipped into. The hen is also facing a different direction now. I am so excited!! She now knows where everything is (again) and will do this on her own now.

I think if your hen knows where the food and water is, she will come off when she needs it. She will probably starve herself for a while, but she will eventually get off. You probably don't have to do a thing, just wait for your momma to hatch those eggs!! She can stay off the nest for several minutes, i am not sure of the exact time-frame, but she will decide when its necessary to re-clutch. I just talked to a man recently who told me that the embryo will keep developing as long as it is above 60 degrees, its too small to notice, but they will stay active and growing even without the momma atop of them. I hope this helps..

Also as far my hatch dates are concerned, i have,

11 Bantam Barnevelders
and
11 Full Size Barnevelders Dec 23rd is day 21 for these eggs so they should start hatching then

and

25 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes That should start hatching on the next day (Dec 24th) and continue on through CHRISTMAS!!

I should have PLENTY of Christmas chicks!!! I'm totally excited!!

 

[dldolan]

Thanks for the "retraining" tip. I'll give it a try if I see no movement on her part in the next day.

So exciting! Good luck with your hatches. This is my first ever try at it! (OK, her first ever, and my first watching-over!

)

Life is good.

 

[Michigan Transplant]

@DMSrabbit, THANKS for the information. I read anything I can about chickens and THINK I know a lot till the time comes to do something. I have milk crates that the "girls" are using as nesting boxes. I have two that are just sitting on plywood on the wall secured with a piece of 1x2 so that the eggs don't fall out. Those can come off and move very easily. I also have another smaller pen adjoining the large one where I can move my sitter and she will have access to food and water. I just think I would be able to leave her alone more in "Warmer" weather so that the water wouldn't freeze and she would stay warmer as well.
When I got my first 6 chickens (Silver Campine's) in March, I kept them in on the patio in a large bath tube that wasn't being used. I wouldn't put them down in the chicken house because I didn't want my babies to get cold. What if the electricity went out? We have a gas stove on the patio so knew they would stay warm. During the summer on the HOT days, I had an air condition running. My reasoning for this was to keep ME cool, LOL I treat them like I would like to be treated. I would have a LOT more chickens if my husband would let me but have told him I want to see if one or more of the "girls" can hatch some eggs. Guess after the first of the year I will see what happens. THANKS for your help and to anyone else who would have told me this.

 

[dldolan]

Quote:
Hey There! How did your Christmas hatch go? Very well, I hope! I am starting to peek under my broody on Thursday...I hear sometimes the broody hatches babies more quickly than 21 days, which will be Saturday for me...

*And she was trainable on the eating and pooping thing! (took me three different days of poking her off the nest, though. But now she'll get off for 5-10 minutes every morning when I go out. Good to know...

Dawn

 

[sanchoman]

I bought a bag of "corn cob bedding" which I saw a local cochin breeder using over the summer.