Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[mara1]

How do you know if a hen is truly broody. I have one that is hanging in the box quite a bit doesn't like you taking the eggs. After gathering she eventually gets out until there's more eggs. They all seem to like the same box and will pile up in there with her.

 

[aart]

How do you know if a hen is truly broody. I have one that is hanging in the box quite a bit doesn't like you taking the eggs. After gathering she eventually gets out until there's more eggs. They all seem to like the same box and will pile up in there with her.

I think the key is if they stay in there day AND night for 2-3 days.
I've got someone plucking chest feathers in the nests, but not sitting in there for very long. But I gather often and only leave a couple golf balls all the time.
Was thinking of putting 6-7 balls in one nest and see if she sticks to it.

 

[gladahmae]

How do you know if a hen is truly broody. I have one that is hanging in the box quite a bit doesn't like you taking the eggs. After gathering she eventually gets out until there's more eggs. They all seem to like the same box and will pile up in there with her.

If they're *truly* broody, they will fluff up and flatten out (fluffy pancake chickens!) when you try to take the eggs. They may peck at you also. They will spend most of their time in the nest box (or wherever they've chosen to make their "nest") and basically only come off to eat/drink/poop. You can either keep doing what you're doing (taking the eggs/making her get out of the box) or give her some golf balls to "test" if she really wants to sit. After that you can decide if you want to give her some eggs to hatch (assuming she's broody) or if you need to break her of the broodiness. (which i have no experience with)

Another thing I have read (and seen my broody silkie do when i gave her eggs last year) is to put an egg right in front of the hen in question. See if she reaches out and kind of 'reverse shovels' the egg under her. That's a good sign that she is likely broody.

 

[Our Roost]

aart, last year late summer I had to birds decide to go broody at the same time. Our egg production started to drop off or so we thought. We didnt pay much attention to these two girls at first and just thought they were doing their daily routine of laying eggs in their favorite boxes. Becoming suspictious after the third day, I decided to gather the eggs under both of them. 12 under one and 15 under the other! They both had been stealing eggs from the other girls and gathering them underneath themselves. I took the eggs away and locked the whole flock out of the coop for the day in hopes to break them from broodiness but the next day they were right back in there again. Soooo, every morning for the next 21 days we had to change our routine and gather eggs before they had a chance to steal them for hatching. We candeled and marked some freshly fertilized eggs and let them sit on them for the duration. For whatever reason, only one chick emerged from both hens. She was a beautiful little thing to behold! After 3 days I took her away from her mother and put her in a brooding box until old enough to join the other hens. Its quite an experience and quite natural. Dont be alarmed. Enjoy!

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Here's my latest project.

Thank you RaZ for the update.

 

[Opa]

Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy but it really irks me on how bias the news medial is becoming. ABC's feature last Friday about kids and guns was just one more example of using "facts" to mislead the public to come to a conclusion based on misinformation and personal bias.

The death of any child is tragic but the inflated numbers they used weren't all what I would call children. The CDC number is up to age 19 and is all gun deaths including crime and drug related. A small percentage were gun accidents with children under age 10.

In one recent year sadly 28 children perished due to accidents with guns. During the same period over 650 children drowned. Maybe ABC should to an news feature on the danger of water and small children. Don't let you kids near any lakes, rivers, ponds, swimming pools, and even bathtubs. They are responsible for more tragic deaths than guns.

 

[mindylee]

I love my broodies!

Currently have 11
My numbers been all over the map the last 30 days. Had 22 then down to 7 and now 11. Got 50 eggs under them and looks like 43 are fertilized.

Im also gathering eggs for incubator. Have a few folks buggin me for chicks already. Also been selling hatchin eggs already.
Good start to the peep season.

 

[aart]

aart, last year late summer I had to birds decide to go broody at the same time. Our egg production started to drop off or so we thought. We didnt pay much attention to these two girls at first and just thought they were doing their daily routine of laying eggs in their favorite boxes. Becoming suspictious after the third day, I decided to gather the eggs under both of them. 12 under one and 15 under the other! They both had been stealing eggs from the other girls and gathering them underneath themselves. I took the eggs away and locked the whole flock out of the coop for the day in hopes to break them from broodiness but the next day they were right back in there again. Soooo, every morning for the next 21 days we had to change our routine and gather eggs before they had a chance to steal them for hatching. We candeled and marked some freshly fertilized eggs and let them sit on them for the duration. For whatever reason, only one chick emerged from both hens. She was a beautiful little thing to behold! After 3 days I took her away from her mother and put her in a brooding box until old enough to join the other hens. Its quite an experience and quite natural. Dont be alarmed. Enjoy!

Nope not alarmed. Only clue is the feathers in the nests, don't even know if she's serious.
I plan to bator hatch in a couple weeks, need those eating eggs for feed costs so will break her if she does in fact go broody.

 

[Chase Family]

Here's my latest project.

Thank you RaZ for the update.

I want a pair

 

[mindylee]

Well this is my new trailer I went to Tennessee this past weekend for!

Its a 2013 Calico miniature horse trailer. It's 5ft tall, 5ft wide,

and 10ft deep. Its so cute and lil! I can stick 3 mini horses in it with plenty room!

It looks big in the pic, but its shorter them my truck.