How long can a chicken be broody for?

[rosemarythyme]

Hmmm...Clover has comfortably sat in the dirt of the shaded garden bed near the other chooks for about half an hour now...maybe her broodiness is broken?

Nah, if she's a dedicated broody she's just sitting quietly to get you to go away, then she'll immediately run back to her chosen nest. Never trust a broody, they're darn good liars!

What I worry about though is if no one is broody now, and I have all these chicks, who will raise them? Teach them how to scratch in the dirt, keep them warm at night (even though it is very hot at the moment).

Chicks raise themselves just fine on instinct, it's why chickens have been so successfully domesticated. Since you have adult chickens the chicks will learn to copy their behavior as long as you brood them near the flock.

You will need a plan to provide heat at night, whether it's a brooder plate or a heat bulb or a heating pad w/o shut off.

 

[ChookaPete]

Nah, if she's a dedicated broody she's just sitting quietly to get you to go away, then she'll immediately run back to her chosen nest. Never trust a broody, they're darn good liars!

Chicks raise themselves just fine on instinct, it's why chickens have been so successfully domesticated. Since you have adult chickens the chicks will learn to copy their behavior as long as you brood them near the flock.

You will need a plan to provide heat at night, whether it's a brooder plate or a heat bulb or a heating pad w/o shut off.

I do have a heat lamp - but it is so hot at night!


Well I am confused about Clover at present - I was trying hard to break her broodiness just so she'd eat up otherwise she'd wither away and die...Now I want her to be broody again so she can hatch some chicks from their eggs but she seems to have come out of that?
I guess I all can do is observe her over the next six hours and then report back.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I do have a heat lamp - but it is so hot at night!

How hot is hot? If it's truly consistently hot enough you won't need an extra heat source at all.

 

[ChookaPete]

How hot is hot? If it's truly consistently hot enough you won't need an extra heat source at all.

Well today for instance, 39 degrees Celcius during the day, and overnight temperature down to 22 degrees Celcius. It has been over 30 degrees Celcius during the night lately too.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Well today for instance, 39 degrees Celcius during the day, and overnight temperature down to 22 degrees Celcius. It has been over 30 degrees Celcius during the night lately too.

30+ Celsius would probably be warm enough. 22 would not and would need supplementing at night. But given the overall warmth even a incandescent bulb might work, rather than a heat bulb (which can be crazy hot).

 

[ChookaPete]

30+ Celsius would probably be warm enough. 22 would not and would need supplementing at night. But given the overall warmth even a incandescent bulb might work, rather than a heat bulb (which can be crazy hot).

Thank you! Would a salt lamp with its small incandescent bulb be okay?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you! Would a salt lamp with its small incandescent bulb be okay?

You'd need to get a temperature reading under it to see. For chicks under 1 week old, aim for a warm spot big enough for the whole group to snuggle under of roughly 32-35C.

 

[ChookaPete]

You'd need to get a temperature reading under it to see. For chicks under 1 week old, aim for a warm spot big enough for the whole group to snuggle under of roughly 32-35C.

Ta thanks! What if I just hung the heat lamp up high, or put something in front of it to disperse the heat, so it is not too hot for them?


For reference, here are my Hy-Lines back when they were chicks, inside their little coop. I hung up the Heat Lamp and they roosted below it. One could not reach the roost so she slept in the straw below. Gosh they were so cute when they were little!

 

[ChookaPete]

Clover is no longer broody! She spent the whole afternoon with the flock, dust-bathing, eating, drinking etc. She did occasionally make a few clucky brood noises, and puff out her chest, but she is now roosting with the rest in the coop! So I guess my isolation tent trick did work. She was in there for 42 hours.


In an odd twist, this is now somewhat of a dilemma for me! I have already requested for a dozen fertilised eggs, and now need a broody chook to put them under! I have tried looking for an incubator but no luck so far. I have one more shop to try tomorrow morning - if I cannot find an incubator then I'll ask the breeder to incubate the eggs for me, then I will buy whichever chicks hatch. Unless of course, when I am back and if one of my chooks goes broody, then I'll buy those eggs and bring them home to go under a broody chook.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ta thanks! What if I just hung the heat lamp up high, or put something in front of it to disperse the heat, so it is not too hot for them?

Assuming you do end up needing to brood chicks yourself after your update...

Hang it high, get a lower wattage bulb (pet stores have bulbs for reptiles that don't run so hot), and only run it when temps drop. During the day you likely won't need it at all with daylight hours being so hot.