Official BYC Poll: What Do You Do With Broody Hens?

[Ascholten]

I have a old pair of welding gloves I put on before reaching for the eggs. Dont laugh it works!

Works for what? Not being jerky, think I missed something vital in the convo here. Works for scaring her off the nest or am I on a totally wrong topic?

Aaron

 

[Wolf River]

Works for what? Not being jerky, think I missed something vital in the convo here. Works for scaring her off the nest or am I on a totally wrong topic?

Aaron

wont get yor hands peppered with beak marks!

 

[Ascholten]

Ahh I got you. Yep I did miss something. Wow, never had one get that snotty with me. id slap the taste off her lips if she did. They just grumble and hunker down more when you try to get the eggs in my case. If she's broody ill work my hand up under her and do a push plop off the nest into the main area then grab the eggs. If it persists then they get snatched right up off those eggs right out of the nesting box and plopped into a gulag cage and get to spend a few days outside the main pen area in their own little cell. THey also get to watch the other birds free range and have fun while they are locked up too. Come night time, they get locked in the shed, in their cage, covered up so nothing can get to them, but again, no fun for you. The broodiness typically breaks in a few days. Normally 3 or 4 dumps out of the nest, with a night time dump or two and they get the idea.

To be honest I only have 2 out of the 4 who go broody. One can be persistent the other, typically one good yelling at and plop and she's done The persistent one, she'll even sit up there when there are no eggs, waiting for the rest to lay to snatch them.

Maybe one day I'll rent a rooster for half an hour, and let one broody actually raise a family, but currently... not on the agenda

Aaron

 

[BDutch]

It depends. Do I want chicks? Yes or no?
This year I bought fertile eggs for two broodies. I didnt close the nest box at first. This was not very successful. I had only 3 chicks out of 10 eggs. Next time I separate them for a quiet hatch.

Most of the time I don’t have a rooster and don’t want more chickens. So in that case I wil break the broodiness.

My Dutch get broody a couple of times a year and aren’t very hard to stop breeding. I just take away the eggs and make sure they don’t sleep in the nest box over night. So I close the nest box before sunset / in the evening. And open it again after dark. After 2-4 days its over.

Only one problem doing so: The other chickens start laying on some peculiar places sometimes.

 

[BDutch]

There's no poll option for giving a broody day old chicks.

I give my broodies chicks straight from the incubator. Or eggs that have less than a week to go before hatch.

Its not wise to give chicks to a broody without knowing you’re broodies behaviour . Many hens don’t accept strange chicks if the timing is not right.

 

[Chookwagn]

Its not wise to give chicks to a broody without knowing you’re broodies behaviour . Many hens don’t accept strange chicks if the timing is not right.

Agreed but if you do it right there aren't normally any issues

 

[BDutch]

Agreed but if you do it right there aren't normally any issues

What breed do you have?

 

[Chookwagn]

What breed do you have?

Cochin bantams and oegbs

 

[BDutch]

That explains. Cochins are one of the sweetest breeds.
But wouldn’t recommend this to do so with a more average breed/ chicken behaviour.

 

[Chookwagn]

That explains. Cochins are one of the sweetest breeds.
But wouldn’t recommend this to do so with a more average breed/ chicken behaviour.

I wouldn't try it with a first time broody until she has been tested