(Let Broody Hen Do It All) Experiances Please

[Ms Biddy]

Your broody setup adjacent to the coop sounds perfect. I always seperate my hens and have had issues with the eggs when I haven't. First, having to constantly disturb the hen to take unwanted eggs out of her clutch. Then other hens crowding onto the nest daily and some eggs ending up pushed out or uncovered. Or a hen taking over the nest when she gets up and when she comes back she goes to a different box and then the thief hen gets bored and abandons the eggs. The worst has been crushed eggs and trampled late stage developing chicks.

The closest I've come to keeping them together is putting a drop pen over the nest and letting two hens brood side by side in seperate drop pens. The chicks mingled and ran in and out freely but the hens were contained. Food and water were just outside the pens where the hen could reach but not make a mess. I was originally trying to just have two hens raising two clutches together in one coop, but after the chicks hatched the hens started attacking eachother.

I know keeping everyone together works for some people and it's a beautiful sight. I assume these folks have nice docile birds. Mine are too moody and hormonal for it unfortunately. I don't usually have too much trouble reintegrating them with the flock. Again, I use a drop pen and I give them a good full week in it among their old flockmates. This is totally worth it to me to have the hens help raising the chicks.

 

[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.

 

[HeidiGetsChicks]

I know keeping everyone together works for some people and it's a beautiful sight. I assume these folks have nice docile birds.

The chickens my family had were from a remote corner of the globe where they had been bred selectively towards successful brooding as the most crucial characteristic for countless generations. They weren't particularly docile--I've seen a hen run straight at and attack a hawk that had landed on the ground nearby and was eyeing her chicks, and we had some failed integrations where they nearly killed a hen by pecking her half to death before we stopped it. But I think their instincts were just more finely honed regarding chick raising than most of the chickens currently available in the US today. I have to wonder how much epigenetics factors in.

 

[Ms Biddy]

The chickens my family had were from a remote corner of the globe where they had been bred selectively towards successful brooding as the most crucial characteristic for countless generations. They weren't particularly docile--I've seen a hen run straight at and attack a hawk that had landed on the ground nearby and was eyeing her chicks, and we had some failed integrations where they nearly killed a hen by pecking her half to death before we stopped it. But I think their instincts were just more finely honed regarding chick raising than most of the chickens currently available in the US today. I have to wonder how much epigenetics factors in.

I call this personality type "instinctual." Their wild drives are still strong. They're very productive and hardy but not always the easiest to manage.

 

[ffibyar]

I had a broody hen when I had a bunch of layers for selling eggs and just for fun.
I though how great it would be to buy some fertile eggs and have her take care of them. so I did.
She did a great job in her own separated area, because I had right around 85 hens at the time, and took care of the chicks. She had her own feed and water and even her own area outside of the coup when her and the little ones wanted to go out.
Down side of the ordeal was the chicks really never had a human doing much for them so they were always shy of me where all the others that I raised from 1 day old would actually come when I called them.
For me it was nice to try one time but I doubt if I would do it again.
This time around I bought an incubator and right now I have 8 chicks getting close to 1 month old and they are not any sort of way scared of me.

 

[mcdze]

yeah, the conclusion i came to is im better than them at hatching eggs lol ... i think if things are really set up nice for them and you have a big place, a broody can hatch a batch of chicks just fine, most the time in my small operation experience though, the only thing a broody does is make a big mess for me to clean up, its not a reliable way for me to sustain my flock numbers ..

 

[Perris]

My broodies hatch within the flock. Like others, I have found some are good at it, some not so, and that it's impossible to predict on the basis of breed or age whether a given pullet or hen will be one or the other; if they feel the urge, you just have to let them try to find out. And they do learn from experience.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Broody hens were around long before incubators. We have had always let the hen take care of it and had no real problems. Did use the incubator in the past when folks wanted chicks or to replace the non producing older hens. Biggest problem is for the hens if the little buggers manage to slip through the fencing and the hen goes bananas till we let her out, then all is well. Chickens are for your enjoyment and relaxation not stress you out as tight as a piano wire. Have confidence and experiment.

 

[Yardmom]

I have had (2 now)many broodies. I have left them in the flock, but more often I give them a cage inside of the coop. When left where others can access the nest the daily pushing from hens who want to lay in the nest has shook eggs enough to stop development. I had a low ranking hen setting and another hen wanted the nest. 4 out 5 eggs a day away from hatch were destroyed. I have had less problems with this with higher ranking hens. My current method is place broody in crate. Let her out or take her out every morning. If she returns to the old nest pick her up up and return to the crate and shut the door. If she returns to the crate (usually takes about 3 days) and the hen has a high flock ranking I stop shutting the door of the crate. If I think the hen ranks lower I continue shutting the door and letting the broody out every morning. With a smaller flock and plenty of nest boxes moving the broody might not be needed, but with 30 plus hens and only 6 actual nest boxes this is what has worked for me.

 

[schrephouse]

I had a broody hen when I had a bunch of layers for selling eggs and just for fun.
I though how great it would be to buy some fertile eggs and have her take care of them. so I did.
She did a great job in her own separated area, because I had right around 85 hens at the time, and took care of the chicks. She had her own feed and water and even her own area outside of the coup when her and the little ones wanted to go out.
Down side of the ordeal was the chicks really never had a human doing much for them so they were always shy of me where all the others that I raised from 1 day old would actually come when I called them.
For me it was nice to try one time but I doubt if I would do it again.
This time around I bought an incubator and right now I have 8 chicks getting close to 1 month old and they are not any sort of way scared of me.

It is true that hand rearing chicks yourself lend to them being more accustomed to human handling. I love my birds coming to me, eating out of my hand. I have done as you did separating broody hen and chicks, also incubating and raising myself. Integration has always been stressful for me. Also had mommas struggle in the pecking order while also trying to keep her chicks safe when reintergrating. For me right now I'd like to have a independent flock that can brood and protect their own young. Teach them to get to safety and establish themselves. Maybe wishful thinking. If I let her do it without my interference it could end in disaster and I may never do it again. But maybe it will be amazing. Still debating. Right now I'm letting her be in the nest she choose. Still got a little time to decide.