How long will they stay broody?

[Wolf-Kim]

I was thinking about it today. How long will a hen stay broody? I know that the chicken incubation period is 21 days, but I also hear about people hatching other types of poultry and fowl under a chicken hen.

I have a Black Sexlink that went serious broody on me. I've thrown her out of the nest twice because she was only sitting on a couple of golfballs and I prefered her to be laying. Well, yesterday I went and visited a friend of mine and she surprised me with 6 beautiful peafowl eggs, what a blessing! I went straight home and apologized to Broody-butt and told her I really wanted her to stay broody now. LOL. Moved her into a plastic dog crate and gave her 6 more golfballs(to make sure she was still serious). Ran out there this morning and she had them all tucked away and glared at me venomously. Ran straight back to the house and grabbed those peafowl eggs, covered Broodybutt in a towel and exchanged her golfballs for eggs.

So now I am worrying whether she'll sit the whole period or not. What tells a hen to stop sitting? A hatching? If it is a hatching, what happens to those hens are sitting on golfballs or infertile eggs, they don't sit indefinately do they?

She has only been broody for a couple of days and I swapped the golfballs for the peafowl eggs this morning. My friend who gave me the eggs said "4 weeks 'til they hatch".

I really, really appreciate it. I'm very excited about it. My friend reassured me one standard sized hen could sit 6 peafowl eggs(What do you think?).

-Kim

 

[rooster-red]

Hormones are what drives the broody hen.

Some broodies have been known to just get up off the nest and never go back, but if you keep her in a dog crate where she feels nice and secure and her body temp stays up she should stay broody and hatch the peafowl eggs for you.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Thanks Rooster-red. She is in a medium sized plastic dog crate with a deep layer of hay with her nest in the very back of it. I put food and water at the front only 6-12" away from her. I have covered most of the door with a feed back in hopes of making it that much darker and cozy. I understood it was hormones, I just didn't know what triggered the hormones to tell her "It's time to stop". Thanks again

I just worry because she is a breed(Black Sexlink) that is not "suppose" to go broody, but she is very much so. I just checked on her and she has tucked all the eggs away so they cannot be seen by any angle and she still has the very mean determined look on her face. LOL

-Kim

 

[rooster-red]

Sounds like you have the same setup I'm using right now with a broody EE on day 18.

Make sure you pull her off the nest and let he stretch and poop and such for 10 minutes twice a day, or she'll poop the nest and contaminate the eggs.

As to what triggers them to stop sitting early, I don't think anybody really knows.

 

[fun monitor]

I'm glad to see this question, I'm about to do the same thing with a broody RIR. I ordered a barnyard bantam assortment of fertile eggs off ebay, they should be here tomorrow. My broody has been so for at least a week, but I tried to break her of it (throwing her off the nest and giving her cold baths...she had yolk stuck in her feathers from sitting on a broken egg) but she's persistent. She's already tried to go broody at least three times this spring.

DH and I have been discussing whether or not to put her in a crate by herself, which after reading this post, I'll definitely do when the eggs get here. I'll put her in the crate with some placebo eggs (real eggs or wooden eggs? is one better than the other?), let the fertile eggs settle, then make the switch.

Wish me luck! I think she'll be relieved to be in her own nest away from the other two laying hens who squish in the same nest with her to lay their eggs. And then of course I won't be bothering her and stealing her eggs either!

 

[NoSpringChick]

Quote:
So what do you do if the broody did poop in the next near the eggs.....my broody is on day 18 and I wasn't sure if I should disturb her and change the hay? She is also in a dog kennel inside the coop run.

 

[atief1253]

my hen became broody, we marked the eggs. other hens came in the nest box to visit, got poop all over the eggs, some were dead so we had to throw them all out. We did find four unmarked eggs that were clean and we put her and the eggs in a coop by herself. Will she stay broody until these eggs hatch? She does eat, drink and go in the run.