Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobbieschicks]

Thanks bobbieschick. I didn't think so. I got 4 BR's and 4 RIR's free and was told they were 10 weeks old. They probably are that old. Especially since they still talk the way they do.

I've caught my 9 week old RIR getting into/out of the nest boxes. They like to practice before actually starting to lay. I've also had a couple that want to sleep in the nest boxes - I just move them up on the roost at bed time.

 

[bobbieschicks]

My 2 broodies are in the same shed and if the eggs hatch, what should I do if they don't like each others chicks? I cant separate them into sections, the only thing I can do is put one back in the big shed with the big girls. Do you think it would be best to put the experienced mother back in the big shed? (which ever hen goes in the big shed will go outside whenever they want)

I wouldn't worry about them - my experience with two broodies who hated each other was with Smokey and Topsy - neither one bothered the other at broody time and they both left each other's chicks alone. At about 3 weeks after hatch Smokey started running Topsy & her chicks off if they were around. I think it's because that was a week or so before Smokey left her own babies and she wanted to make sure the pecking order was in place.

 

[lawatt]

I wouldn't worry about them - my experience with two broodies who hated each other was with Smokey and Topsy - neither one bothered the other at broody time and they both left each other's chicks alone. At about 3 weeks after hatch Smokey started running Topsy & her chicks off if they were around. I think it's because that was a week or so before Smokey left her own babies and she wanted to make sure the pecking order was in place.

I of course had the opposite experience earlier this year, when two of my broodies took a HUGE dislike to each other, and several chicks were killed in the process. now i've got two broodies AGAIN -- a second one, my light sussex, decided sitting on eggs looked like a good idea, after seeing the cuckoo marans doing it earlier this week -- and so I decided to move the second broody early, before she really got settled. she's only sitting on fake eggs so far anyway, so figured, if she doesn't take to the new pen, no great loss.

so i moved her late yesterday afternoon -- and amazing, no fuss, no squawking, and she settled right into her new nest as if she'd always been there. this morning still seems to be staying put. now i just have to decide whether to give her some of the 11 eggs already under the broody marans, or start her on some new ones?

 

[Johnn]

haha - I thought so! She loves to be a momma doesn't she.

Yep she does! It was her chicks from last years birthday yesterday!

 

[mstricer]

Thanks
Thanks. I noticed your post saying Bunny had went broody again, have you noticed that the top pic is my mother Orpington broody again?!

Is that the one who wouldn't give up her chicks at 4 weeks old? Curious to see how long she mothers them this time.

I had a White EE that mothered hers until they were 9 weeks. My last Marans mothered for 3 1/2 weeks they left them to themselves.

 

[Jharper]

[COLOR=008080]Did she hatch them?[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008080]Is this a first time experience for her if she did.?[/COLOR]

Some she did and some she didn't. She is a little over 2 and I bought her earlier this year. So I don't know if she has been broody or not before.

 

[CAjerseychick]

We use milk jug feeders so the chicks get inside and poop on the feed, plus they are too small to hop in to eat for a week or two anyway

They could drown in the water jug so i did a bucket on a brick with a brick for weight inside and a nipple screwed on the bottom to solve that after mama always tipped over the chick waterer.

The chick feeders seem so flimsy for the mama i havent even tried.

What do you mean by "regular" feeders? The metal tube ones with the holes around the base? I have 3 broodies now and dont want to buy one for each pen.

Sorry, driving home 5 hours yesterday and went straight to Bed!!!
Yes I meant the metal tube ones with the hole around the base, but I also have a big plastic one (pretty much same as the metal one) and the waterer is a 3 gallon plastic one that is pretty similar-- the plastic items I have up on cinder blocks-- the water is too shallow for a chick to drown in I am thinking... And I have a chunk of 2x4 up next to the cinder blocks so the chicks can hop up--
I went a little chicken crazy last spring when we started this whole venture and overbought supplies-- we started with 22 chicks and now have 11 adults and 3 chicks with 2 more broodies sitting on clutches.......
We have a coop and a chicken yard but it has an opening into some berry brambles that the chickens use to access our back pasture and free range about-- Mama also moved back into the coop while I was outa town! She was sleeping in a corner on the floor with the babies tucked up tight under her!!!!
So with this set up and plenty of room to roam (2 acres) no one is crowded so I dont seperate anyone out-- both my first and second broodies set in a nest box 3 ft up in the coop (I think I have another one out in those berry bushes)...you dont get as many chicks that way... but i am in no rush....

One think I did do last spring with the chick waterer-- my 22 were two sets of chicks a month apart so I had a chick waterer for the younger set-- was to set it up on a brick against the wire of the run and run a piece of wire around it to secure it -- Viola! No tipping and it was high enough they didnt scratch up too much junk up into it!

 

[Johnn]

I had a White EE that mothered hers until they were 9 weeks. My last Marans mothered for 3 1/2 weeks they left them to themselves.

My girl that we are talking about kept them until 22 weeks old last year!

 

[Texas Chickens]

Well we went to the feed store this morning and came home and unloaded it in the feed shed.. making room for bags I found another hen {Ozie} that is sitting on eggs I don't keep the door fully closed as I feed the cats in there so the chickens don't eat their food... seems she got in between the doors and made herself a nest and has round 8-9 eggs under her. She is well hidden so if you didn't stumble upon her you would never have found her.

This makes the 3rd hen sitting so far. She wasn't really mad when I cked to see if she was just laying or sitting on them. Cked on her about 3 hrs ago and she is still there sitting on her eggs. Its a tin shed under the trees so I guess its not that hot in there for her... nice quite and dark.

 

[Johnn]

The Orpington didn't get off her eggs today to eat, I'm not sure why because it was really hot so it was the perfect chance. Maybes she just popped off before I came and didn't want to get off again? But Daisy on the other hand regardless of weather or not she had been off before did. Nothing will keep her from her food!