Confession: I don't EVER want another broody hen!

[ams3651]

thats tough, I would be hand feeding too. Mine are good about getting up, so good that my last one was setting a week before I found her because she came for food every time I went out to the coop.

 

[chickenlady08]

I have had some do very well and get up off the nest at least once a day. then I have had a few not budge, but I would pick them up and put them near the food and water and they would eat and poop. I am not sure of why some willingly get up and some stay put. I did notice as it gets closer to hatch time the they didn't move from the nest and if one hatched they didn't move either. I do love and would surely miss the broodies if I didn't have them.

I hopt she hatches something out or you get something from the incubator for her.

Good Luck!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yes, I was doing that up until the day before yesterday. She'd stay off the nest for a few minutes, running back and forth between the feeders and the waterer. I read in Storeys Guide to Chickens (I think it was) that you shouldn't disturb them or try to take them off the nest when it gets this close to hatch time?
The only upside to the whole thing is that she's getting a whole lot friendlier. I can see her watching me when I enter the coop in the morning and I can feel her anxiousness for me to hurry up and tend to her.
Her scrambled eggs and cheese are cooling now.

 

[Pinky]

I sort of know how you feel. My turkey hen went broody her second year out side. I knew she had no fertile eggs because I had no tom. She stayed on her nest for a month and a half! Back then I was scared she would eat me if I got too close, and I never had a broody, not to mention any hen. We thought she was a male until she laid her first egg. She looked very worn out and I had no idea how long it took turkey eggs to hatch and no knowledge of BYC. When she reached the 1 month and a half I told myself she
needed to eat so I did what you did and started hand feeding her. She wouldn't eat if I put the food in front of her. After a week of hand feeding she finally gave up and got healthy looking again. Since then though she became a lot calmer and she raised two clutches of chicken eggs. She couldn't be a turkey mom, but she made a good chicken mom. Alot of my hens go broody in pairs, so when one hen goes to eat and drink the other watches the eggs. After the chicks hatch one hen usually lets the other do all the chick raising though.
I hope your hen hatches her eggs

and i'm sure she is loving the food you give her

 

[jasonm11]

i dont mean to hijack this but i have an assalorp that has pulled al her feathers on her breast and belly and has been setting for a week or two. we rob the eggs, but she continues to lay in the bucket. i kick her out in the yard and she will eat and go right back. Is this normal. last night there were 5 eggs in the next bucket she could have been laying on but she just stayed in her bucket. She is not laying recently either.

 

[Pinky]

Quote:
Broody hens won't lay after they have been sitting for a while in the nest. Most like to stick to their own nest too. I had to block off one of my nest last year for about 3 days to break one of my broody hens (Already had 2 broodies).
Good luck to all your hatching eggs

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yep, sounds normal to me for a broody. You'll need to either give her some fertile eggs to hatch or break her. Broodiness is hard on their bodies and unless they reach a successful conclusion or are broken, they can suffer and die.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
I tried that but she wouldn't eat or poop she just sat there looking dazed. That's why I put the food and water within pecking range. As for pooping, she did poop right there in the nest.

I have had success with broodies but that one really bothered me and it was the last time I have let them go broody.

 

[jasonm11]

 

[nutmeg]

Last summer my buffs tried to hatch their eggs but were unsuccessful. Then one disappeared while I was out of town and my son was caring for them. Since we live in a rural , heavily wooded area I thought any number of things could have happened to her. I finally gave up hope for her return after a week. However three weeks after that I looked out the window one evening and was surprised to see her with 6 tiny chicks. She was an awesome mom but I am not sure I will let her do it again. FOUR of them were roosters. So far their manners are decent and I hope they stay that way or they will be finding new homes.