Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

Do any of you provide additional food for your Broodys other than the flocks usual food while they are sitting? I was offering my hen some extra scratch each day and she would usually eat it up once I replaced her curtain and walked away but she seems uninterested in it the last few days. She has been getting off the nest (I can tell because of the broody poo I find each day, which seems runnier the last 2 days) but when I feel her crop it feels mostly like just water. Should I be concerned? I don't want her loosing a lot of weight

. This is her first time being broody and she's about 5-6 days in I think.

We provide ours a small bowl with a variety of healthy (protein high) treats while they are setting... scrambled eggs mixed with chick starter... oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins, hulled sunflower seeds or peanuts, cooked fish, tuna, fine chopped liver or chicken, fine shredded lettuce or cabbage, meal worms (live or freeze dried)... usually a choice of two with only about a tablespoon or so of each needed. The hens can do OK with the same food as the flock is getting, but we have had good luck with providing these treats once a day. It also gets the hen more comfortable about us messing around near her, since we are viewed as a source of goodies. When we go to the coop the broody hens with babies come to greet us instead of hiding or avoiding us... so the extra effort pays off with chicks who are usually pretty people friendly.

Yikes!! I forgot to add a couple of favorites... yogurt and cottage cheese!

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

That what I was thinking. Thanks!

 

[daniellea2912]

Once mine are committed to being broody, they rarely get off the nest at all.  Maybe once or twice a day to eat, drink, and poop.  They do lose weight and only one of mine will eat the corn or feed I put near the nest for her.  I don't mess with my broody girls too much.  They know what they are doing and I just watch and marvel at how amazing it is

We provide ours a small bowl with a variety of healthy (protein high) treats while they are setting... scrambled eggs mixed with chick starter... oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins, hulled sunflower seeds or peanuts, cooked fish, tuna, fine chopped liver or chicken, fine shredded lettuce or cabbage, meal worms (live or freeze dried)... usually a choice of two with only about a tablespoon or so of each needed.  The hens can do OK with the same food as the flock is getting, but we have had good luck with providing these treats once a day.  It also gets the hen more comfortable about us messing around near her, since we are viewed as a source of goodies.  When we go to the coop the broody hens with babies come to greet us instead of hiding or avoiding us... so the extra effort pays off with chicks who are usually pretty people friendly.

Yikes!!  I forgot to add a couple of favorites...  yogurt and cottage cheese! 

Thanks both of you for the info! Maybe I am just being a worry wort, she's my first broody and she's the smallest and youngest of my flock. She's only been getting off the nest 1x daily and I always seem to miss it. I did get her off the nest last night at dusk and she seemed ok just seemed sleepy but that could a been bc it was roosting time. She ate a few bites of pellets before I put her back on the nest. I guess I'm just worried she will loose too much weight since she has about 4 weeks to go before I get my chicks and she's already been sitting almost a week... I'll try offering her some of the things you give fisherlady, but she only seems interested in food here and there. However, from what you said CarolinaHen, she should be fine on days she doesn't eat anything extra

 

[bumpercarr]

Thanks both of you for the info! Maybe I am just being a worry wort, she's my first broody and she's the smallest and youngest of my flock. She's only been getting off the nest 1x daily and I always seem to miss it. I did get her off the nest last night at dusk and she seemed ok just seemed sleepy but that could a been bc it was roosting time. She ate a few bites of pellets before I put her back on the nest. I guess I'm just worried she will loose too much weight since she has about 4 weeks to go before I get my chicks and she's already been sitting almost a week... I'll try offering her some of the things you give fisherlady, but she only seems interested in food here and there. However, from what you said CarolinaHen, she should be fine on days she doesn't eat anything extra

If she's gentle enough (mine tried to take my fingers off) just put a bowl of the really good stuff right in front of her and she will eat it. I try to stay out there when I do that because the other hens will try to steal it from her and they don't really need the extra calories/protein.

 

[bumpercarr]

Although this has nothing to do with a broody hen sitting on eggs, I thought I would share since it struck me as funny. I've got 4 chicks that I hatched out of the incubator 4 1/2 weeks ago that are being integrated into my brahma pen as you read. Each night, I take them out of the dog crate and put them in a box in the garage....just to keep them safe from predators.

So last night was the first night, and as I'm gathering them up to move them, they are squealing like stuck pigs. My #1 broody, a silkie mix, is in the other turn out. She starts pacing back and forth next to the fence and making very similar noises to those that she makes when I grab the chicks or eggs out from under her. She seemed to be saying that I should leave her babies alone and how in the world did they get over on that side of the fence! It was fun watching her, hoping that this maybe gets her hormones going so that she goes broody before my next incubator clutch hatches. The brahma hens, who up to that point showed very little interest in the little guys began to finally show some interest and gave me the evil eye as I was moving the chicks. I've got 36 eggs in, and I'd love to have my silkie mix raise some of them instead of me, but they are such expensive eggs I am afraid of trying to give her some of the chicks after they hatch unless she is broody.

Anyway, I thought it was a cute story.

 

[daniellea2912]

If she's gentle enough (mine tried to take my fingers off) just put a bowl of the really good stuff right in front of her and she will eat it.  I try to stay out there when I do that because the other hens will try to steal it from her and they don't really need the extra calories/protein.

She's pretty nice still. I mean I wouldn't reach under her for the eggs or anything! But other than screeching at me when I first move the curtain in front of her nest box she doesn't mind much when I touch her head or around her nest once she realizes it's me not one of the other hens. I found an old teensy food bowl from when I used to have pet rats so I sanitized it an it's in her nest now. Hopefully she will munch on the scrambled eggs/tuna I put in there this morning

 

[LisaLouHoo]

Darn, I got my hopes up this afternoon when my broody from last year stayed in a nest box all afternoon. I thought for sure she had gone broody, but NO, she jumped off later and was foraging outside with the rest of the hens. I want to get hatching eggs under her!!! I guess in HER time, not mine.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
What breed is she?

Some breeds that brood really well can be removed from their nest for a short time, brought out of their trance, and eat, drink, dust bathe, stretch, flap, etc, before going back to their brood box. This only works for really tame hens that totally trust their keepers, and for birds that hold their brood well. If you're not sure, you probably shouldn't try it.

I take my Dorking hens off their nest for 15-20 minutes, 1-2 times per day. Be really careful lifting the broody, as they sometimes have an egg under their wing, up to their armpit, and you don't want it to drop onto the other eggs when you lift her. I cover the eggs immediately with bubble wrap that is wrapped in a clean towel. I take her totally away from the nest (in another room, or another yard, where she can't see the nest). I set her on several small towels that have scratch inbetween them. Then I talk to her and gently pet her neck and back to bring her out of her trance. As soon as she's awake, she frantically eats whatever's in front of her. Once she's full, she starts stretching and scratching the towels and drinking and flapping her wings and screaming to clear her lungs, sneezes to clear her nostrils, empties out all the broody poo, then she wants to crawl all over me and play and be petted (like I said, very tame hens only). After about 15-20 minutes, she starts fluffing up and clucking, which is my signal that she needs to go back to her nest. I carry her back rapidly (she's very insistent at this point), set her outside the box, uncover her eggs, and if it's dark I shine a light on her eggs. When she sees them she gets back in her nestbox and makes the happiest sounds, arranges the eggs under herself, and is back in the broody trance in 30-60 seconds. One of my broody hens will frantically try to get away from me every 3-4 days when she's carried past her old dustbathing spot, so once I stopped and put her down. She really needed a bath, and was SOOOO happy when she was in the dirt (it had been almost 10 days since her last dustbath). But suddenly the "egg timer went off," and she started clucking and fluffing up and wanted to get back to her nest. I prevented her from doing so until she shook the dirt out of her feathers, but then she went back to being a dedicated broody.

Please don't try this if your hens aren't really tame, or if it's easy to break your hen's brood, or if you're not sure. My hens are VERY stubborn when they brood, it consistently takes 3-5 days to break their brood when I do it intentionally, and they love being handled, so I've got essentially no risk as long as I'm careful to keep the eggs from getting chilled. (The broodies are in a separate, secure, secluded area of the barn, so nothing can get to the eggs when the hen is away). I weigh them twice weekly, and after almost 3 weeks of brooding they have lost only 0.4 and 0.5 lbs (they started out at 5.8 lbs and 7.1 lbs, so that's almost nothing for them, but would be a higher percentage in a little silkie or game hen). Because my girls are so big, I'm less concerned about weight loss during brooding than the lack of exercise. They get REALLY stiff when they're that big, and they need to flap and move to clear their lungs and respiratory passages. I know, I know, they'd be fine if I just left them alone, but I'm a worried mom. Plus, they really seem to enjoy the few minutes of company every day.

 

[daniellea2912]

What breed is she?

Some breeds that brood really well can be removed from their nest for a short time, brought out of their trance, and eat, drink, dust bathe, stretch, flap, etc, before going back to their brood box.  This only works for really tame hens that totally trust their keepers, and for birds that hold their brood well.  If you're not sure, you probably shouldn't try it.....

Thank you SO much for sharing your knowledge! Poe is an Ameraucana hen, she's wasn't raised from a chick by me but instead bought as a POL pullet a few months ago so she's not normally super tame but not super flighty either (and very easily tempted to do anything if you have treats). She is pretty small but not bantam or anything. I have been visiting her and giving her extra food each day though so she seems to not care much anymore if I'm there and messing around with her- she will even let me reach underneath her to feel the eggs. She's been broody for 6 days now. She's been getting off the nest at least once a day (as evidenced by her broody poos), but I never seem to catch her while she is off the nest to see how long she's moving around etc. Yesterday I pulled her out carefully, mostly just to check her condition and see how she was since this is her first time brooding and my first broody. She seemed pretty stiff at first but got up after a few minutes of laying on the coop floor. I carried her to the feeder and she ate a few bites of pellets but not much. She started clucking a lot so I put her back by the nest and she climbed back on... Today I didn't get her out, but gave her some high protein food while she was on the nest. I'm not sure I want to mess with her each day but I think I will maybe once or twice a week to check her weight and make sure she's dust bathing and acting healthy- especially since I still have 4 weeks until I get my chicks I am going to try to get her to foster...

 

[TheGLucas]

This has nothing to do with this subject but I was wondering how to post these