Is this what "broody" looks like?

[krista74]

First off give her a couple more days without eggs. She may decide that the broody thing is not for her yet!

Then if you give her eggs, the freshest is the best. Personally I would start gathering eggs now (or eggs gathered a couple of days ago at most) and give them to her in two days if she is still broody.

I agree with all of the above advice. I always let my girls sit on plastic eggs for a couple of days to make sure they are serious about being broody. Even then there are no guarantees!

Fresh eggs are definitely better than refrigerated eggs, but if you have no alternative I have heard of some people successfully hatching from fridge eggs before. Just let them come to room temperature before you put them under her! I used to start collecting eggs when I saw first saw my broody hen, and after 3 days would have a clutch to put under her. I used to just keep them in a basket in a cool-ish room in my house, and turn them over twice a day at morning and night.

I was looking forward to having a broody, but it happened sooner than we had anticipated and didn't have eggs/money/time to deal with the situation just then. So instead of letting her sit there for a month trying to hatch golf-balls, we decided to build a "breaker box". A few scrap 2x2s and some left-over hardware cloth, and voilla! 2 days in broody-jail and she was back to her old self (if a bit grumpy about the experience.)

Are you planning on letting the next broody hatch some eggs? I remember last time when you told us about the bird in question, and I was so disappointed for you. Hatching chicks, and then seeing the Momma Hen with her babies is amazing. I am starting to get really excited now - it's Day 20 and my broody is really anxious, clucking a lot, and looking between her legs. I think something is starting to happen!

Krista

 

[ShockValue]

It's for sure in the plans to let the next broody hatch out some eggs. I've been keeping a short list of local and internet folks that have fertile eggs for sale that I will contact as soon as I see signs of broody-ness!

 

[krista74]

It's for sure in the plans to let the next broody hatch out some eggs. I've been keeping a short list of local and internet folks that have fertile eggs for sale that I will contact as soon as I see signs of broody-ness!

Well good luck! Can't wait to hear the good news!

Krista

 

[Just sayin]

Well, mine came outside for awhile... and I thought "well... that was a lot of to-doo about nothing!" But now I think she's gone back in there.

I dunno. Doesn't help that it's a particularly crappy day here in Western Washington. I rather feel like finding a comfortable warm bed to hole up in for awhile too.

 

[joannefiddler]

Do keep us posted on what you decide to do! I agree with not disturbing her. When my "Lee" had her first clutch she ejected two eggs from the nest herself...how she knew they were duds is part of the mystery of it all lol. It's wonderful to see what a hen following her inborn wisdom does, and how challenging it is for us humans to replicate what she does with a machine. Your rooster is a handsome lad...would be a proud papa!

 

[Just sayin]

Will do. I'm sure I'll need all of your help with the next quandary she presents me with!

She did lay an egg today... And so far we've just let her have it.

 

[Just sayin]

Well, this is about day 9 and she came out today! She's been sitting the nest around the clock since my last post.

We made one brief attempt to move her and her egg to a dog crate where we made a nest for her, but it seemed to us that it was not going to work to move her, at least by day. She fretted and paced and got stressed out for about 30 minutes, and we inevitably let her go back where she was, and gave her egg back.

We decided we would try to move her if it turned out she actually hatched this egg. That it might be easier to move her then?

I've been worried about whether she's been eating or drinking, been hand feeding her the last couple of days and offering water. She hungrily ate the food, but had been refusing the water.

I'm happy to see her out and about, glad that she'll likely eat and drink at least.

She's the Buff Orpington.



Our rooster tried to hassle her... she wanted NOTHING to do with him!

This is my "Not Tonight!" look.



Not sure if she's going to go back in or not. She's been out about a half-hour now. She's still very crabby. I would not mind if she decided now was not the best time to do this and gave up on it. We'll see!

 

[krista74]

That last picture is hilarious! She looks just like my BO girl who hatched out 4 chicks last week. You do quickly come to realise that a broody hen is at the top of the pecking order. A couple of weeks ago my roo made a pass at my broody hen too, and he RAN from her when she puffed up and growled at him. It was a VERY funny sight!

I think you will find your girl is eating and drinking. It is quite common for them to do it when there is no-one around, particularly during the early stages. I had one broody whom I NEVER saw get off the nest. She sat for 21 days though, so she must have been getting up to eat and drink at some stage, other wise she would have starved to death. I had another broody who was quite the opposite and would leave the nest for up to an hour at a time. I would go out to the coop, see and empty nest (except for the eggs of course) and think "Where is she this time?!" She would always come back though, and often if I saw her out in the yard and said to her "What are you doing out?" she would give me a funny look as if to say "Oh, oh. Busted!" and run like lightening back to the nest!

You will find at the moment that your broody is very much imprinted to her nest. All of her hormones are telling her that "This spot is where I'm meant to be." A lot of people have issues trying to relocate a broody hen for that reason. However, once she has hatched her chicks, she then imprints to them instead of the nest. As long as you move the chicks, she will go anywhere to be with them. You could put the chicks in an upturned washing machine and she would be happy, as long s she was with them! They are funny little things.

Good luck with hatching day, and please let us know how it goes!

-Krista

 

[Just sayin]

Well, her respite was about an hour. Now she's back on the nest. I feel better about her now though, now that I know she's had something to eat, and drink, and she looked good walkin' around for a bit.




But, while she was up... I got a look at her 'clutch' which I thought was just one egg. Now there's four, and they are obviously not all hers! I guess they've had more chicken shenanigans going on than I thought. I hope they're all close to the same age. Hope for the best at this point! I marked them all with a sharpie so I can hope to keep them straight if more appear there.

 

[crazy4eggz]

Our young silkie hen will not get off the nest either, and winter is coming to Minnesota. She acts funny if we try and lift her up and has many eggs that are hers and other hens under her. Not sure if we should let her have the eggs as we have roos and many other hens in this coop…how will she be able to keep chicks safe from all of them all winter? Help?