Failed Broody Hen

[Ridgerunner]

Just happened to see this post. My hen started sitting a nest yesterday. Should I set up a dog crate in the coop and move her before she gets too far into this?

How big of a dog crate? Physical measurements? You need room for a nest, food, water, and a small bit more. A broody hen should know by instinct to not poop in her nest but the food and water are fair game. That means you'll need access to clean the food and water.

I'd wait until the hen has spent two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her regular spot to confirm she is serious about being broody. I've had hens show all kinds of signs of being broody but not stay on the nest long enough to hatch eggs a few times. If she is not a committed broody she could easily break from being broody if you move her too early. She might anyway.

I'd move her after dark with as little commotion as possible and lock her in the new pen. I'd leave her locked in there until the chicks hatch. Sometimes the hen wants to return to the old nest. I wouldn't give her that option.

I moved a couple of hens but now I let them hatch with the flock. There are risks no matter what you do, move her or leave her. Broody hens have been hatching with the flock for thousands of years, they have not gone extinct yet. If you decide to not move her let me know and I'll talk you through that.

Good luck!

 

[Anon112]

It can take up to 25 days for a broody to hatch chicks

Thank you for answering the question I've been trawling the forum to find! I didn't want to start a new thread because I figured someone must have talked about this.

I have a broody hen who has been sitting on a few eggs. Yesterday was day 21, today is day 22 and no signs of anything. (Though I have not seen the eggs since I candled a few of them on day 7).

I wanted to know how long I should wait before doing any investigating/candling of the eggs. I definitely messed up when candling the first time (broke and egg with an embryo in it ), so I've been trying to follow the advice here and be more hands off. On the other hand, I don't want her sitting too long if the eggs are no longer viable. This is my first time supporting a broody hen, I've already made a few mistakes, and I'm trying to be more on top of things here at the last stretch.

So here's a follow up pair of questions (for anyone willing to answer, not just the lovely person I'm replying to!):
1) If I get to day 25 and still nothing, would you recommend candling? And if I do candle, am I looking for movement? Or just a "full" egg?
2) If it does seem that the hatch has failed and I want to smuggle a few purchased chicks under her, how many days old can the chicks be? Do they have to be 1-2 days old? Or will a broody hen accept chicks that are 3-5 days old?

 

[McChooky]

Sneaking chicks under her too soon can cause her to abandon the nest. If you're sure none of the eggs are going to hatch you have nothing to loose.

 

[McChooky]

Be prepared and have a brooder ready in case she refuses to accept the chicks. You can call tractor supply or farm supply and ask when they're getting new chicks.They need to be the same age and same breed (day or two old chicks ) https://www.grit.com/animals/ten-secrets-to-a-successful-broody-hen-chick-adoption/

 

[Anon112]

Be prepared and have a brooder ready in case she refuses to accept the chicks. You can call tractor supply or farm supply and ask when they're getting new chicks.They need to be the same age and same breed (day or two old chicks ) https://www.grit.com/animals/ten-secrets-to-a-successful-broody-hen-chick-adoption/

Thank you for the article!

 

[McChooky]

Thank you for the article!

Please keep us posted and let us know how it all turns out!Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you counting the days right? That's a common mistake on here. It takes 24 hours for the eggs to have one day's worth of development so you say "1" the day after you start them. One trick to check your counting. The day of the week you started the chicken eggs is the day of the week the 21 days is up. If you started them on a Friday then the 21 days are up on a Friday.

1) If I get to day 25 and still nothing, would you recommend candling? And if I do candle, am I looking for movement? Or just a "full" egg?

If they get to 25 days I would not bother candling but if you do you would be looking for movement. A "full" egg could be an egg that fully developed and then died before it hatched.

2) If it does seem that the hatch has failed and I want to smuggle a few purchased chicks under her, how many days old can the chicks be? Do they have to be 1-2 days old? Or will a broody hen accept chicks that are 3-5 days old?

You are dealing with living animals so there is no one answer that is always right. The younger they are the more likely she is to accept them and they are to accept the broody. If the chicks have imprinted on something else it can be harder for them to accept the broody hen. It's possible a broody hen can adopt chicks a couple of weeks old, but it is not very likely but with living animals you just never know.

I've had great success with chicks 3 days old or younger. Sometimes older chicks work. Try it with the youngest chicks you can. That gives you your best chance at success.

They need to be the same age and same breed (day or two old chicks ) https://www.grit.com/animals/ten-secrets-to-a-successful-broody-hen-chick-adoption/

I could not open that link without subscribing and I'm not going to do that. For what you are doing I'd want them about the same age, within a day or two, but some broody hens have adopted other aged chicks while they were raising their own. It's much like different people on here have raised different aged chicks in the same brooder. But you are looking at your greatest chance of success and that would be if they are all within a day or two of the same age, a very young age.

Broody hens will hatch and raise pheasant, turkey, and other species. They don't know breed. Breed is a manmade thing, not natural with chickens. You can mix breeds and colors, just get them as young as you reasonably can.

Good luck if you try it.

 

[Anon112]

Are you counting the days right? That's a common mistake on here. It takes 24 hours for the eggs to have one day's worth of development so you say "1" the day after you start them. One trick to check your counting. The day of the week you started the chicken eggs is the day of the week the 21 days is up. If you started them on a Friday then the 21 days are up on a Friday.


Broody hens will hatch and raise pheasant, turkey, and other species. They don't know breed. Breed is a manmade thing, not natural with chickens. You can mix breeds and colors, just get them as young as you reasonably can.

Good luck if you try it.

I know it was only a few weeks back, but this has been a hectic month. Looking at my journal, I wrote down "Strawberry Day 1" on Thursday, May 16th. So I suppose that would have made yesterday day 21 and today day 22? I will definitely give her a few more days. Despite my strong anxieties about her health at the beginning, she seems to be doing relatively well: eating, drinking, and her comb looks healthy.

Tomorrow I will start scouting out some options for purchasing chicks if it comes to that. A local(ish) farm I love hatches their chicks on Tuesdays, which would be day 26, so maybe they will be able to hook me up.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[SweetieChicken234]

How big of a dog crate? Physical measurements? You need room for a nest, food, water, and a small bit more. A broody hen should know by instinct to not poop in her nest but the food and water are fair game. That means you'll need access to clean the food and water.

I'd wait until the hen has spent two consecutive nights on the nest instead of sleeping in her regular spot to confirm she is serious about being broody. I've had hens show all kinds of signs of being broody but not stay on the nest long enough to hatch eggs a few times. If she is not a committed broody she could easily break from being broody if you move her too early. She might anyway.

I'd move her after dark with as little commotion as possible and lock her in the new pen. I'd leave her locked in there until the chicks hatch. Sometimes the hen wants to return to the old nest. I wouldn't give her that option.

I moved a couple of hens but now I let them hatch with the flock. There are risks no matter what you do, move her or leave her. Broody hens have been hatching with the flock for thousands of years, they have not gone extinct yet. If you decide to not move her let me know and I'll talk you through that.

Good luck!

Great reply, thank you. I have a 48" dog crate I set up inside the chicken run. I tried to put some plywood around it and cover with towels. I put a cardboard nest box in there but I think I need to do better actually. There's plenty of room for nest, food and water. The nest she is brooding in is attached to my coop wall so I can't move it. It's too high up for chicks unfortunately. I've marked her eggs right away so any other hens that lay I can remove those eggs. Today I candled them just to see and they look about right for 2-3 days development. It's also like 100 degrees here so I'm sure that helps. The hen has pulled her breast feathers out and seems to return to her nest after I make her come out to eat. She looks thin already so I've taken to hand feeding her. I sat with her after work and watched to make sure she had water and feed. She came out and took a dust bath. I'm going to hold off moving her just yet but I am mostly set up with the dog crate.

 

[McChooky]

Are you counting the days right? That's a common mistake on here. It takes 24 hours for the eggs to have one day's worth of development so you say "1" the day after you start them. One trick to check your counting. The day of the week you started the chicken eggs is the day of the week the 21 days is up. If you started them on a Friday then the 21 days are up on a Friday.


If they get to 25 days I would not bother candling but if you do you would be looking for movement. A "full" egg could be an egg that fully developed and then died before it hatched.


You are dealing with living animals so there is no one answer that is always right. The younger they are the more likely she is to accept them and they are to accept the broody. If the chicks have imprinted on something else it can be harder for them to accept the broody hen. It's possible a broody hen can adopt chicks a couple of weeks old, but it is not very likely but with living animals you just never know.

I've had great success with chicks 3 days old or younger. Sometimes older chicks work. Try it with the youngest chicks you can. That gives you your best chance at success.


I could not open that link without subscribing and I'm not going to do that. For what you are doing I'd want them about the same age, within a day or two, but some broody hens have adopted other aged chicks while they were raising their own. It's much like different people on here have raised different aged chicks in the same brooder. But you are looking at your greatest chance of success and that would be if they are all within a day or two of the same age, a very young age.

Broody hens will hatch and raise pheasant, turkey, and other species. They don't know breed. Breed is a manmade thing, not natural with chickens. You can mix breeds and colors, just get them as young as you reasonably can.

Good luck if you try it.

Sorry I should have been more clear! I was trying to stress how important it is to select young chicks out of the same bin instead of selecting different breeds and ages from different bins to make them easier to accept.I also failed to mention the chicks can reject the broody too!