Managing/Encouraging broody hens with a "Broody Box" ***Hatching Pics!

[Winsor Woods]

This is all great info. I'll be keeping an eye open for more signs. I'll also let some eggs pile up in the boxes. If anything happens, I'll update this thread. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Dan

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
What breeds do you have? Two of my broodies did the hide and stash before they set and I have two others that are content to scream at me from the nest boxes with nothing but shavings under them. A third is also looking like she's going to join the sit on shavings club--good thing I have double the nest boxes I need for the number of hens I have. I'll need to find some eggs for them (I'm maxed out on "barnyard mix" chicks, so maybe some turkeys or something...) or start rotating them thru the broody buster pretty soon. Funny though, just a month ago I was thinking that I'd never get one to go broody, I think it is contagious just like loopy12 said.

My broody girls are:

2 Black Australorps-- One had a hidden nest, the other is sitting on shavings.
1 (maybe 2) EE-- First one hid her nest, but let me move her and hatched out 8, the other seems to favor the nest box with no eggs.
1 Buff Orpington-- She's sitting on shavings in the nest box.

 

[flakey chick]

I added more eggs. I was gone all day and noticed she laid another egg. There was a bunch of broody-like poop just outside the nest box, so I assume she was brooding some. She's been mean to the other hen- guess that's a sign and I'll just let the eggs pile up and wait.

 

[Winsor Woods]

Quote:
I have GLW's and SLW's. My neighbor has Cuckoo Marans and has a couple hens that like to go broody. I'm getting some fertilized eggs from her to add to my clutch if/when one of my hens goes broody. I haven't seen any broody signs since I let Dottie out of the broody box. I'm going to let eggs pile up in the nest boxes. We'll see how that affects their behavior.

Dan

 

[Winsor Woods]

I wanted to update this thread. After the weather warming up, I noticed one of my GLW hens spending 5 hours in the nest box on Saturday. I made a mental note of which hen she was and watched her throughout the day. When all the other chickens came back to the coop and hopped up to the roost, she stayed in the nest box. When I awoke the next morning, she was still there. She was sitting on about 10 eggs. So on Sunday Night, I moved her to the "Broody Box." She settled down quickly on the wooden eggs and was flattened out over the new clutch of fake eggs all day on Monday. She's still there on the wooden eggs today. I've also noticed that she's had a chance to eat and drink from her own feeder and waterer. Tonight, I'm going to swap out the wooden eggs with the real ones and start the calendar. We'll see if I get my first batch of chicks hatched out from my own eggs. I'm really excited.

Dan

 

[flakey chick]

I have an odd update. She gave up being broody - we predator issues for the past week and a half- now she has gone full on broody! I think she was smarter than I gave her credit for. I figure she probably heard the raccoon snooping around the coop a few days before it tunneled in. Luckily no chcikens were harmed. The girls stayed in a cage in the house until we stopped trapping critters (one coon and one opossum) . In the process of trapping the critters, all the fertile eggs were eaten. Now she seems to sense it's safe to raise a family. I guess I better get her some more fertile eggs.

 

[Winsor Woods]

Today is day 21 for incubation. Out of the 18 egg initial clutch, I'm down to 12. I pulled a few over the past couple weeks that I noticed weren't being covered. There were also a few that got broken.

I'm a bit concerned that I don't have any pipping. This morning there was one broken egg, but no chick. Not sure what happened with the contents. There was also an egg that kicked out of the nest. It was very cold to the touch so I removed it and broke it open in the compost bin. There was a recognizable chick inside so I know that there's been some development in these eggs.

I don't hear any of the eggs peeping yet. I also don't see any pipping. Is there an acceptable range for incubation period? Everything I read says it's 21 days and I'm a bit nervous that there's nothing going on yet. Anyone have any comments/suggestions/reassurance??

I'm down to 7 wyandotte eggs and 5 Cuckoo Maran eggs.

BTW, Dottie, has decided to be broody again too and has been sitting in an empty nest box. I put a few fake eggs under her just in case things don't work out with Donner's incubation. Dottie's on deck if I need to give this another go. If I get a decent hatch out of Donner, then I'll take the necessary steps to break Dottie of the broodiness.

Dan

 

[flakey chick]

Quote:
Give it a couple more days. I last time gave my hen an extra 2 days and then I was going to take her eggs away. When I went to get them, one was broken, but no chick. Then I saw the chicky's legs dangling down. Momma had it up under her wing. The other eggs didn't hatch, but one pipped.

 

[tracyork]

I guess I see what everyone means about it being contagious! I have 2 young Ameracauna's that are both looking pretty broody. One has been moving in that direction for a while and now is in full mode on an empty nest. The last couple days her sister appears to be following suit, but she is still laying. Last summer it was my Welsummer, she was very sweet about it. These girls seem a bit more feisty and tempermental.

So anyway, I have a couple questions... Last time I separated the hen into the chicken tractor and she raised her chicks for the first couple months separate from the rest of the flock. This year, I already have young pullets in the tractor so I guess I'm building another alternative facility for the moms-to-be. Can I keep them together? Do you all usually keep them separate from the rest of the flock? These girls are young and small, 10 mos., I was thinking of only putting 6-8 eggs under each to maximize coverage and prevent wasting fertile eggs. Last year I hatched 7 out of 12 under a similarly young and small hen. Does anyone have an opinion about that? And lastly, do people usually have hens go broody year after year, or do they usually just do it when they are first coming into maturity? Ie. should I expect my welsummer to follow suit tomorrow?!

 

[cwhit590]

Winsor and flakey, good luck with your broodies.

Last year one of my Buff Orpingtons went broody twice. She was a very good momma and she was very easy to work with...she went broody in the early spring and late summer. Seems like she went broody around the times when I introduced new roos.

I thought that BO would go broody right away again this year, but nothing....so....this spring I had to tempt someone into brooding. I just marked some extra eggs and set 15 in a nest...one of the BO's 'daughters' from last summer actually set on them. I gave her new eggs and let her set, and she hatched out 5 chicks the other week. And now her sister is broody and setting on a clutch! Both are young hens - and they have a little more attitude than their momma!

This year it seemed like both of these hens went broody after a full moon....I dunno if that has anything to do with it

but an interesting observation.

My broodies seem to have issues with egg breakage, so I'm probably going to set smaller clutches under them in the future (like 10 eggs or less). However, I do let them set in the nestboxes, so the breakage could be from other hens that try to lay in the nest.