(Let Broody Hen Do It All) Experiances Please

[schrephouse]

Id love it if people will share their experiances letting a broody hen be. No interference other than removing eggs that get layed after sitting. Almost all you see is warnings. I have worked hard to take all precautions in the past. Delt with anxiety that the way I choose (among a ton of suggestions) isnt the best for our broodys, worried for months after hatch, worried intergrating them. When I was a young we were told "don't take the eggs from 'this' hen, she is going to hatch babies". The hen was always in the coop with all the other chickens. Sometimes multiple hens sitting on clutches. I never heard talk or saw a broody moved, broody area, nursery, grow out pins, intergration. I love my flock but am desperate for a moment of relaxation. Can my hens handle this on their own? My hens have it better than me.I have never tried just letting momma do it all. I have a broody today and debating what to do this time. Maybe I should give that a go and relax a bit. What was your experiance and result? I know plenty of people will share the horror stories which are helpful. I'd love to hear successes too please. Our hen house isn't that big (4x8 with 17ft enclosed run). Spring is here and the whole flock prefers perching in their enclosed run in good weather. I have a Broody house (3x4 currently housing a rooster ) attached to the run with its own 6x5 run on the other side as well. Also a (4×5 grow out hutch housing another rooster) with its own large run.

 

[HeidiGetsChicks]

So as a kid my family raised chickens the "old fashioned way". We had a coop enclosed in chicken wire, which we opened every day to let them roam, and that was it. During the day they had zero protection from predators (hawks and falcons, this was out in the Cameroonian bush btw) and zero shelter beyond what they could get from our porch or the eaves of outbuildings.

All of our hens were broody, to varying degrees of success. Our absolute best hen could routinely lay 12-14 eggs and only lose one or two from egg to adulthood. Our worst hen only ever managed to raise one chick to adulthood. The rest fell somewhere in-between.

We never closed off nesting areas or anything. We had two nesting boxes, and sometimes they used them and sometimes they didn't. Our hens frequently decided to nest elsewhere and we let them, simply making sure to bring them water if they were setting or, if they weren't yet and it wasn't good timing to have chicks, we'd leave one egg so they'd keep laying there and take the next. It was always kinda fun to find the eggs.

But I digress. I think a lot of it has to do with how you want to manage your flock. My parents very much had a "survival of the fittest" approach and accepted there would be significant loses in exchange for a flock that generally could take care of themselves. As a kid it was fun for me to discover a hen setting on some eggs in an obscure corner of our property, let my parents know that she wasn't dead after all and then bring her a small can of water. It was interesting to watch how some hens were great mothers and others were not. Chick deaths are awful, but we always knew with our best hen there was never anything to worry about.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I've mostly allowed my broodies to have their babies together with the rest of the flock. There were circumstances where I needed to separate them but the better outcomes were when the broodies stayed with their normal flock. The biggest interference I do is I'll usually set eggs in an incubator that coincides with when my broody starts sitting so I can hand off raising a bunch of chicks onto her.

The most common issue I find with broodies taking care of their own eggs is other hens wanting the preferred nest box and smashing eggs because the broody won't move.

 

[schrephouse]

UPDATE: Kisses did it, WE HAVE CHICKS!Of 9 egg clutch, I count 7 so far. Came 1 day early. She is still in nest box sitting on whats left. So far Broody Hugs is not bothered and sitting as normal. Fingers crossed the coming days are perfect.

 

[Shadrach]

I have always let broody hens get on with the job. They sat and hatched in my house, in their coops, in other tribes coops, in the maternity units I built and occasionally in the wild.
I have limited the number of eggs in their clutch and I have moved them from in the wild nests to maternity units when I thought the nest sites were unsafe.
I mark the eggs and remove any donations from other hens usually. I've had double and triple sits; not usually an overall success because some viable eggs have been left in the mums eagerness to get the chicks out and mobile.
I don't confine them: they need to get off the nest and out for excercise, eat, drink and dust bath and I do provide food when they get off the nest to make sure they eat properly.
The getting off the nest and out and about is the one thing that needs keeping an eye on, some do it automatically, some need to be lifted out until they get the idea.
I try to keep the sitting and hatching to the more senior hens. Usually each tribe has an established senior broody hen and these are the hens one wants to sit and hatch if possible. There are far fewer problems, particulalry where integration into the tribe is concerned.
I will I hope, never use an incubator, but there again I don't care if they hatch less than the number of fertile eggs they originally sat on.
Of course, one needs a rooster and hens that go broody to make a proper job of it and I've been fortunate in ahving plenty of both and the space to let them do what they do best.

 

[schrephouse]

UPDATE : HUGS IS NOW A MOMMA TOO! Today is day 19 and I see a wee little baby. By morning maybe she will have lots of babies. It's early hatch but all looks well. Closing the hen house door yesterday did the trick. Opened it this morning and she stayed on her clutch.

Kisses is doing great too with her 8 babies. The 9th one that seemed weak died

Now to see how raising with the flock goes.

Photo of Kisses with her 8 and Hugs with her 1st now 6.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

I've mostly allowed my broodies to have their babies together with the rest of the flock. There were circumstances where I needed to separate them but the better outcomes were when the broodies stayed with their normal flock. The biggest interference I do is I'll usually set eggs in an incubator that coincides with when my broody starts sitting so I can hand off raising a bunch of chicks onto her.

The most common issue I find with broodies taking care of their own eggs is other hens wanting the preferred nest box and smashing eggs because the broody won't move.

My experience has been the same as you've described. To avoid the crushed eggs I modified my nest boxes so 2 hens can fit comfortably with room to spare so while one is brooding the others hop up next to her and lay their eggs without a fight and then the broody will roll their unattended eggs under her so I just have to come out more often to collect the unmarked eggs.

I don't separate my rooster from the flock so when the chicks start hatching he comes in and watched the broody hen and keeps the other hens away. When momma takes her babies out in the beginning the other hens will try to get them but the rooster will watch them and if necessary he has grabbed and pinned the offending hens and they never bother the babies after that. Of course the momma hen does her part to protect her babies but it's nice that daddy rooster also does his part in it since I know not all roosters are like that. My hens tend to wean the chicks between 3-5 weeks old and then my rooster takes over from there until they are too big to fit under him and then roost next to him and after a month or so when they are about 2 1/2 months old he'll leave them and go back to the older hens. I did have to separate 1 broody because she was so aggressive with the rest of the flock around her babies that she accidentally trampled one to death trying to chase off the other hens so I moved her and her chicks to their own broody coop until she laid her first egg and then reintroduced them back to the main flock and the rooster took over raising the chicks a week later. Once the first hen successfully raises hers chicks with the flock they all learn and don't bother with future clutches aside from curiosity at the sound of new peeps so they look but won't touch them cause they know mom or dad will get them if they do. I added a picture of my rooster with his babies crammed under and around him.

 

[schrephouse]

Definitely 2 broodys now.

 

[schrephouse]

UPDATE: Interesting observations. It's been 9 days since 1st hatch 6 days since 2nd hatch. We have let Hugs go about her business raising her 7 chicks, we have opened Kisses to mingle as she wishes with her 8 chicks. In the beginning the rooster placed rules on the hens and literally blocked them from approaching momma hens and chicks. The hens have been great with the new additions. Today the run was open for free ranging. A squirrel entered the run and for the first time ever I almost felt sorry for a squirrel. Momma hen protected her chicks but it was the rest of the hens that relentlessly pursued, attacked and ran off the squirrel. They have never bothered with squirrels before. Later 4 chicks got seperated from Kisses (my hubbys mistake) their Auntie Australorp was caring for them and keeping them together. Essentially chick sitting. She even walked them back to their momma when guided by hubby and went about her business. Either we are getting lucky or we have the makings of a very functional flock. Today I'm loving my birds a little bit more. Fingers crossed it stays this way. No losses since the weak chick died on day 4, 15 healthy chicks. I'm still astonished with the hatch rate. 18 eggs, 16 hatched, 1 no sign of development, 1 died during incubation early.

 

[schrephouse]

So as a kid my family raised chickens the "old fashioned way". We had a coop enclosed in chicken wire, which we opened every day to let them roam, and that was it. During the day they had zero protection from predators (hawks and falcons, this was out in the Cameroonian bush btw) and zero shelter beyond what they could get from our porch or the eaves of outbuildings.

All of our hens were broody, to varying degrees of success. Our absolute best hen could routinely lay 12-14 eggs and only lose one or two from egg to adulthood. Our worst hen only ever managed to raise one chick to adulthood. The rest fell somewhere in-between.

We never closed off nesting areas or anything. We had two nesting boxes, and sometimes they used them and sometimes they didn't. Our hens frequently decided to nest elsewhere and we let them, simply making sure to bring them water if they were setting or, if they weren't yet and it wasn't good timing to have chicks, we'd leave one egg so they'd keep laying there and take the next. It was always kinda fun to find the eggs.

But I digress. I think a lot of it has to do with how you want to manage your flock. My parents very much had a "survival of the fittest" approach and accepted there would be significant loses in exchange for a flock that generally could take care of themselves. As a kid it was fun for me to discover a hen setting on some eggs in an obscure corner of our property, let my parents know that she wasn't dead after all and then bring her a small can of water. It was interesting to watch how some hens were great mothers and others were not. Chick deaths are awful, but we always knew with our best hen there was never anything to worry about.

This is what I'm considering.