Ever had a winter broody?

[samsr]

We have 2 BO girls sitting in eggs. They are only 7 months old. We do have 2 roosters the same age that have been mating with the 14 girls for some time. We moved both hens to the brooder box 10 days ago with a divider between them and they have continued to sit tight, only getting up to eat drink and poor. We do have a heat lamp but it is up quite high as I don't want them dependent on warm temps in case of power loss (from MN). I do not use a heat lamp in the ckicken part of the barn, it has not gotten below 10 degrees and everyone is doing fine no fostbite.We hope to hear peeps soon!!!
Questions: should I lower heat lamp when chicks are born or will mom keep them warm enough? Should I keep moms and chicks together in the broody house until they are fully feathered? How do I reintroduce them all back into the flock?

After my broody hatched her chicks. I reintroduced them back to the flock. Mama took very good care of her chicks. No other hen was allowed to get near them in fear of mama. It didnt take long and they all got along. You shouldnt have to worry about the chicks. Just the mama. Mine just happened to be the alpha hen that went broody. She could hold her own pretty well

 

[Indigosands]

Here's my broody gal, the black silkie "Mrs. T". Her buddy is my lovely splash bantam cochin "Lilly". They get along well, and Lilly seems very protective of her. I often find her sitting just in the doorway of the box, watching Mrs. T. When I went in to take pictures she crawled into the box beside Mrs. T. I hope all goes well and she doesn't get jealous of her babies. I'll be keeping a close eye on both of them, they are about 8 mos old.

They are housed in a temporary pen, because main coop is designed with standards in mind, height, perches and all. It's all too high up for them. Plus I hope to hatch some of Lilly's daughters to fill out a bantam flock in the spring at which time they'll get a permanent wooden house like the others.. They are in a old child's little tikes play house with a chicken wire run, in which I have grown out many chicks and stays quite comfortable for them due to the air space between the plastic walls. I have card board in 3 of the 4 windows and the last is wide open. There is a long piece of cardboard stapled over the door with the bottom flap open so they can get in and out but it traps most of the heat. Deep pine shaving bedding. I have a heat lamp secured to one of the inside posts at the roof with a white 250w heat lamp in it. It was all that I had when the temperature dropped so rapidly. I do plan on replacing it with red before the chicks arrive.

I couldn't get a good pic of her, she can flatten out like nothing I've ever seen. LOL! Her box, I made this a little larger, with a slightly higher "lip" to it, hoping the chicks would be encouraged to stay closer to mama to play. She absolutely will not sit in a nest with a cover over it. I'm surprised she's even stayed in this once since she stubbornly makes her own nests even though I provide her a box. :




Lilly on guard.



What she's sitting on, some pure ameraucanas, some easter eggers and some EE/ancona/AM mixes

 

[Chicks-N-Blooms]

Hi, Everyone! I'm new here - well, sort of...I've been reading your threads for several months now.

Anyway, I have a beautiful Mottled Ancona, a Golden Seabright Bantam & one other hen (I think she's an Americauna...I'll try to post a picture of her tomorrow & maybe someone on here can tell me for sure what she is) & ducks (2 Peking, 1 Blue Swedish) that all hatched May 18th.
The ducks & Ancona all started laying September 22nd; the Seabright & Americauna started laying October 14th & 18th. The duck eggs were fertile but the chicken eggs were not. (I had no rooster.) We intended to eat the chicken eggs & let the duck eggs hatch. However, they had a different idea about it. The ducks & Ancona all chose to lay in the same nestbox - and the eggs were very nearly the same size & color so I had no idea which were which. (We don't have that problem anymore...the eggs the ducks lay now are HUGE!) I tried to remedy this by moving a few eggs to each nestbox, but the Ancona would spend all night moving them all back into one spot so I gave up.
October 16th, I purchased a Red Cochin Frizzle Rooster from a really nice lady in a nearby town & when I went to pick him up, she talked me into purchasing two of her hens as well (a Black Silkie & a beautiful Black Silkie Mix who has smooth black & emerald feathers).
The the ducks stopped returning to the chicken pen to be locked up at night & started laying in the flowerbed next to the back patio so I removed all of the eggs (there were over 60), scrambled them for the other animals & toasted the shells & crushed them for the chickies.
All 5 of the laying chicken hens continued to lay in the same nestbox until November 30th, when Amelia (the Silkie Mix) refused to get off of the nest. So, for 14 days now, she has been faithfully brooding on a nest of over 20 eggs. (There were 20 when I counted on the 29th & there had been being 5 new eggs each morning.) However, since Amelia was sitting on the nestbox they'd been sharing, there were 2 new eggs in a different nestbox the morning of the 30th. Since then, there have been mornings when I'll go out & find one of the other hens on the other nestbox & another hen standing in front of her just staring (it's cute...they remind me of my children trying to rush one another out of the bathroom - lol) and twice now, a couple of hours after everyone has left the pen & I've gone in to check on the food/water levels & found Chip (the Ancona) sitting ON TOP of Emily (the Silkie). They're hilarious!

I'll update & add some pictures as things progress. Based on everything I've read, I'm expecting babies on the 20th.

I'd also like to know if anyone has any suggestions for me regarding the nestbox situation.
I have 3 nestboxes side by side (actually, it's a wooden shelf turned on its side...they like this MUCH better than the crates they were using with the ducks - I guess because they have more privacy & are sheltered better from the cold?) They were all using the compartment nearest the pen door, but now Amelia is brooding there so they're using the one nearest the pen wall. Because of their seeming impatience with one another, I took 6 of the eggs out of this one & moved them to the center compartment, leaving the other 6 in the one they were all using. However, the next morning, the eggs had all been moved back into the compartment by the wall. After the 3rd morning of this happening, I gave up trying to separate them.
Spice (the Seabright) & Phantom (the Americauna) have not been fertilized by the rooster so I remove their eggs each morning & just leave Emily's & Chip's. (Spice & Phantom are both bantams & lay small brown eggs. Emily lays larger brown eggs & Chip lays larger bright white eggs so they're easy to tell apart.)
Another issue:
Now, however, I've found when I go to check on them about 7pm, Spice is sitting on the eggs. And, when I go back out to let them out about 6am, she's still on the eggs. But, she goes out of the pen between 7 & 9am & stays out all day. During that time, Chip sits on the eggs two or three hours & Emily does the same. Everything I've read says the eggs should not cool down for more than an hour or so if they're going to hatch so I don't think these are going to hatch...also, I don't think they're trying to hatch them...they keep laying more eggs (there are now about 15). But, with that much sitting, things are bound to be developing...beginning to developing & then dying from being left for hours to cool? Any suggestions? What can I do? Has anyone else had anything similar happen?

One last question:
About 2 weeks ago, the 2 Bronze Turkey hens began laying & they each lay an egg about every day & 1/2 (no, they're not laying in the nestbox with the chickens...they tried, but they're too big to squeeze into the compartment; yes, they do both lay in one nesting spot...they made a nest in the hay under one of the heat lamps). Because their eggs are not fertile (we have no Tom), I've been leaving 2 & replacing each new one with a fertile duck egg (as our ducks are not brooding, just laying & laying & laying). I tried leaving just the duck eggs in place of their eggs at first, but the Turkeys (Chase & Mimic) knew they weren't their eggs & would lay their new eggs in a different spot. Since I've been leaving 2, they've been staying in the same spot.
My question is...is it likely that these ladies will go broody & eventually sit on our duck eggs? Or, like the ducks, will they just lay eggs in their nest & then carry on their normal daily activities? On a side note: our geese are both boys (White Chinese & Brown Chinese). The Brown Chinese (Budge) has been trying to mate our Turkey hens...to some purpose. Does anyone have any idea if this combination could actually ever result in fertilization & hatching?

I know this has been a long post with several different subjects, but if anyone can offer any advice about any (or all), I will really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[xxnativewolfxx]

well to awnser your turkey question my hen last spring started laying in one spot to and she would bury her eggs under eggs and one day she sat!!! lol so I have doubt your turkeys will go broody soon and I don't see why not they wouldent sit on them! I have no idea how well they will do raising them are hen was so aggressive witht he other birds that her chicks would get stuck in between her and they all dident make it!

 

[buckhuntr2427]

My silkie hen went broody a month ago I let her lay on her seven eggs 3 made it till 18th day then I let them go till 25 days and never hatched I guess it got to cold its been mid 20s to upper 30s here but I was very dissappointed she lost her first clutch any suggestions here? Private message me plz I still have alot to learn about cold weather broodies

 

[Suzie]

This girl hatched these twelve chicks in my hay store three weeks ago... night time temperatures both then and now are minus 11 C.. so cold that even the river that runs through the land is frozen....she and they are fine despite the cold weather... I have housed her and them in a stable..no heating...just a wooden box that they huddle down in at night.. bedding is hay and the stable floor is covered with a thick layer of straw...

The chicken is a bantam and I found over 20 eggs in her nest... it was at least 10ft high and I was amazed when my young dogs discovered her lying on the floor with 10 chicks underneath her...how she and her chicks managed to get down to the floor I will never know... it took a ladder to reach her nest and one chick was still cheeping in the nest and one of the eggs pipped and hatched too!

I am so happy and utterly amazed...she disappeared for weeks and I thought she had been taken by a buzzard...such a wonderful outcome for me and of course for her too!

I hope all of you who have broodies set on eggs have great results in this awful weather, chickens are incredible at hatching all year round.

 

[iliv4chicks]

thanks! I will try that!

 

[iliv4chicks]

today is day 18 for my black silkie's eggs. I was trying to keep her from coming out of the "egg chamber" this morning when I was feeding her because It's lockdown today. so I was struggling with her, and she kicked the eggs around a little bit. she didn't crack any, but I'm still a little worried. does anyone think they'll be fine?

 

[Suzie]

With my Silkie's and with my bantams.. they do tend to kick the eggs around and no harm has ever come from this....they are sometimes cumbersome when "turning" their eggs...I am sure all will be fine!

 

[iliv4chicks]

how long did you let her off the eggs for every day? did she spill anything on them? and was she in a coop or outside? sorry to hear you lost them. my silkie is on 3 right now, and today is the 18th day! so eggcited. but her 1st clutch of eggs didn't make it either... neither did the 2nd clutch.

but the rest of the clutches made it after the 1st 2. if that was her first time, she might have not been experienced enough to know how to turn them everyday and things. I know they have instinct, but still they need practice, like my mamma goose did. here she is with her 2nd successful hatch, the babies are all grown up now. twinkie (one of the babies in the pics) is laying, and pretzel (the other baby ) Is the dad of the eggs that mamma goose is on.