Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[luvmychicken]

Hey everyone. Havent been on in a very long time. No broodie last summer at all. This year, first on hatched 1 chick and got off the nest. I was at work til late that day and she didnt stay with the chick. It didn't survive. Now I have a broody bantam. About a week left til the big day. Cant wait she is tiny but setting on 11 eggs

 

[Wishapup]

This is the 3rd year I've tried moving my broody hens to a separate kennel. Not working. They stay broody, making broody noises and puffed up in a trance, but they won't sit on the golf balls in the new nest. They just stand around for days until I bring them back to the main coop, where they return to a nest box. I've tried this many times...I don't think it's going to work.

The issue with the main coop is that I have lots of hens and 10 laying boxes. During the day, various "clutches" of eggs accumulate. I can mark a nest of eggs, but it could be abandoned in favour of another group of eggs.

I have a number of broodies, though, so it might be worth risking that 1 broody would be sitting on them at any given time.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

This is the 3rd year I've tried moving my broody hens to a separate kennel. Not working. They stay broody, making broody noises and puffed up in a trance, but they won't sit on the golf balls in the new nest. They just stand around for days until I bring them back to the main coop, where they return to a nest box. I've tried this many times...I don't think it's going to work.

The issue with the main coop is that I have lots of hens and 10 laying boxes. During the day, various "clutches" of eggs accumulate. I can mark a nest of eggs, but it could be abandoned in favour of another group of eggs.

I have a number of broodies, though, so it might be worth risking that 1 broody would be sitting on them at any given time.

I would look at the kennel set up and see what might be so "different" that the hens don't like it. It really helps to have a broody spot that is nest boxes rather than dog kennel if that is what you are trying to use. They will need the feel of a proper box.

Assuming that it is a perfectly decent place to brood, and they being chickens are just fickle, I got around the "I don't like to move" glitch by having a broody hutch/grow out that I put them in either at the first hint of a brood or my bantams simply live there so that is where they will brood.

If a hen is reluctant in a new broody nest, I can place screens and boards in my hutch system so that I can block a hen in so she can't get out. Some become very upset and won't settle, so you have to let them out. Some squawk a bit, pace a bit, then settle. After they have been quiet and look to be in a good brood again for at least several days, I open it up more and test the waters.

LofMc

 

[rebrascora]

The simplest option is to let her go broody in one of the main nest boxes... ie wait until she is committed to brooding and has been setting day and night for a couple of days, then remove the eggs she has and replace with the eggs you want to hatch. Place a removable board across the front of that nest box, so that other hens cannot get in to disturb her (it doesn't have to be the full size of the opening but cover most of it) and remove it once a day for her to come out to eat and poop etc. Then you can supervise her broody breaks and ensure she goes back to the right nest by removing all eggs from the other nest boxes so that she choses the box which has eggs in... hers. It really is very simple. She gets to brood where she wants, doesn't get disturbed by the other birds climbing on top of her to lay which risks the eggs getting broken and you have peace of mind that she is not wandering off to another nest and abandoning her eggs whilst you are not there. I have 2 broodies and this works absolutely fine. They know when I remove the board that it is time to get off and do what is necessary and even if I can't make it the same time every day, they hold until I remove the board and the increased light stimulates them to get off and go.

I keep posting this method as so many people seem to have the same problem, but no one seems to comprehend just how easy it is and how well it works. If you have a freestanding nest box, just put a cardboard box over it with a few holes punched in it. Broody hens like to be in the dark and undisturbed, so it is much kinder to do this than to allow other hens to climb all over her nest or move her to somewhere that she doesn't feel safe.

If you must move them, make the new nest really dark and she will most likely settle very quickly. Once she settles and feels the eggs under her, she will stop panicking and click back into broody mode.

 

[Wishapup]

I would look at the kennel set up and see what might be so "different" that the hens don't like it. It really helps to have a broody spot that is nest boxes rather than dog kennel if that is what you are trying to use. They will need the feel of a proper box.

Assuming that it is a perfectly decent place to brood, and they being chickens are just fickle, I got around the "I don't like to move" glitch by having a broody hutch/grow out that I put them in either at the first hint of a brood or my bantams simply live there so that is where they will brood.

If a hen is reluctant in a new broody nest, I can place screens and boards in my hutch system so that I can block a hen in so she can't get out. Some become very upset and won't settle, so you have to let them out. Some squawk a bit, pace a bit, then settle. After they have been quiet and look to be in a good brood again for at least several days, I open it up more and test the waters.

LofMc

My kennel set-up is pretty ideal (I think; not so much the hens). It's quiet. I cover it with a sheet so it is secluded and very dark. I also tried giving her a box for the eggs with a partially covered top. They are just VERY attached to the nest boxes.

Last year I remember I did have one hen move successfully, actually. However, it took her several days to adjust and the hatch itself was not successful. I had moved her in the middle of incubation out of necessity as I had an egg-eater attacking the developing eggs when broody was on break.

The broody quarters is a great idea! I've thought of doing that myself if I had more room. Thanks!

I should be more persistent and wait longer, but I don't like to see them pacing and knocking over the water that I thought I securely wired to the side or stepping in the feed and tracking mess around from agitation. I caved after 2 days this time.

I peeked under the sheet into the darkness and Dusty was just...standing there doing nothing. The golf balls were spread all over the kennel, scratched out of the box--it needs a lip on the side. When I tried with the other hen, she had conflicting feelings: she got on the nest, got off the nest, got on, got off, and then decided it wasn't for her and spent the rest of her time trying to get out.

The simplest option is to let her go broody in one of the main nest boxes... ie wait until she is committed to brooding and has been setting day and night for a couple of days, then remove the eggs she has and replace with the eggs you want to hatch. Place a removable board across the front of that nest box, so that other hens cannot get in to disturb her (it doesn't have to be the full size of the opening but cover most of it) and remove it once a day for her to come out to eat and poop etc. Then you can supervise her broody breaks and ensure she goes back to the right nest by removing all eggs from the other nest boxes so that she choses the box which has eggs in... hers. It really is very simple. She gets to brood where she wants, doesn't get disturbed by the other birds climbing on top of her to lay which risks the eggs getting broken and you have peace of mind that she is not wandering off to another nest and abandoning her eggs whilst you are not there. I have 2 broodies and this works absolutely fine. They know when I remove the board that it is time to get off and do what is necessary and even if I can't make it the same time every day, they hold until I remove the board and the increased light stimulates them to get off and go.

I keep posting this method as so many people seem to have the same problem, but no one seems to comprehend just how easy it is and how well it works. If you have a freestanding nest box, just put a cardboard box over it with a few holes punched in it. Broody hens like to be in the dark and undisturbed, so it is much kinder to do this than to allow other hens to climb all over her nest or move her to somewhere that she doesn't feel safe.

If you must move them, make the new nest really dark and she will most likely settle very quickly. Once she settles and feels the eggs under her, she will stop panicking and click back into broody mode.

Mine are committed to brooding. There are always fresh eggs in my boxes and they are always sitting on them. I collect once or twice a day, but they are typically never devoid of eggs.

Blocking a nest is a great idea. My bantams are so small, though, I worry I might not be able to keep them from wriggling out. I wondered about that earlier...so I tried folding up the perches on the upper boxes. She came out immediately, so I'd have to somehow attach mesh across the whole front...and make it easy to remove. I think that is the method I'll have to go with. Thanks for sharing your successful experience with it!

 

[rebrascora]

How about folding the perches up and slotting a piece of cardboard or plywood between them and the nest box and wedging it in place. I find it really helps to make the nest itself dark with something solid rather than putting mesh across. Then when you want them to come off, by removing the board the increased light seems to trigger them to take a break. Whilst she is having her break I collect all the other eggs from the nesting boxes, so that when she is ready to return, the only nest box with eggs in is hers, so it helps her to chose the right nest. If she does get it wrong, it's a simple matter to pick her up. place her in the correct one and place the board back.

My bantam only once wriggled out but it was because she heard me feeding the others. Most of the time she seemed very happy to sit quietly in the nest even for a few minutes after I removed the board. I think I was maybe just a bit slow getting to her that day.

 

[lauraschicks]

I have a Cream Legbar hen that was covered by my Svart Hona roo (fibro melanotic solid black). What is the likely colors/patterns of their offspring? The reason I ask is because I hatched 4 chicks of which 2 were solid black pullets, one was cream with hints of red (a pullet ) and cream legs, and the 4th, a cockeral, was a strong barred pattern with white legs. My CL hen has yellow legs and my SH roo has black/charcoal colored legs. I don't remember for sure that the Cream pullet was out of a blue egg so feel she's a mix up but not SHxCL. The real question is whether the cockeral can be SHXCL or if it's more likely a cross from my CL hen and a Malines roo I no longer have? The Malines was fully barred with white legs.
Any thoughts from any of ya'll interested in genetics?
Laura

 

[Pyxis]

I have a Cream Legbar hen that was covered by my Svart Hona roo (fibro melanotic solid black). What is the likely colors/patterns of their offspring? The reason I ask is because I hatched 4 chicks of which 2 were solid black pullets, one was cream with hints of red (a pullet ) and cream legs, and the 4th, a cockeral, was a strong barred pattern with white legs. My CL hen has yellow legs and my SH roo has black/charcoal colored legs. I don't remember for sure that the Cream pullet was out of a blue egg so feel she's a mix up but not SHxCL. The real question is whether the cockeral can be SHXCL or if it's more likely a cross from my CL hen and a Malines roo I no longer have? The Malines was fully barred with white legs.
Any thoughts from any of ya'll interested in genetics?
Laura

With that cross you have actually created black sex links - all cockerels will be barred, all pullets will not. I found when crossing a NN cockerel with my ayam cemani hens that the fibromelanistic trait seems to be kind of hit and miss in the cross, and the colors are random too. I hatched, for instance, one pullet whose blackness is almost on par with purebred cemanis, and then I also hatched a pullet who is all white with yellow legs. To tell if your cockerel is from your Malines rooster, is he single or double barred? If he was from the SH rooster, he could only be single barred since the SH isn't barred. If he's from the Malines, he could be double barred, and actually definitely would be if your Malines rooster was double barred.

 

[angelasbrood]

I have a little bantam mix, Crispie, pretty sure she's got some silkie in her. Well, she has been broody for some time now, so I finally let her sit on a few eggs. I had them in the bator for the first two weeks, and when the weather warmed up and I knew she was up for the task, I stuck them under her. All four began to pip, however, when I checked this morning, there was 1 out and doing well, 1 out and dead, 1 still in the egg and dead, and 1 struggling very hard, but most definitely stuck. I took that little guy out of the shell and stuck him back under his mama, going to go check on them again.

I think the problem is that I did not separate her from the flock, and because I have more than one silkie hen, there were other "want to be mamas" drawn to the peeping chicks. This may have caused unnecessary roughness and caused Crispie to disrupt her chicks. I will be building her her own space today and getting them out of there so they can flourish. So excited that she gets to be a mama though, she's been waiting and wanting this for so long.

 

[fisherlady]

My kennel set-up is pretty ideal (I think; not so much the hens). It's quiet. I cover it with a sheet so it is secluded and very dark. I also tried giving her a box for the eggs with a partially covered top. They are just VERY attached to the nest boxes.

Last year I remember I did have one hen move successfully, actually. However, it took her several days to adjust and the hatch itself was not successful. I had moved her in the middle of incubation out of necessity as I had an egg-eater attacking the developing eggs when broody was on break.

The broody quarters is a great idea! I've thought of doing that myself if I had more room. Thanks!

I should be more persistent and wait longer, but I don't like to see them pacing and knocking over the water that I thought I securely wired to the side or stepping in the feed and tracking mess around from agitation. I caved after 2 days this time.

I peeked under the sheet into the darkness and Dusty was just...standing there doing nothing. The golf balls were spread all over the kennel, scratched out of the box--it needs a lip on the side. When I tried with the other hen, she had conflicting feelings: she got on the nest, got off the nest, got on, got off, and then decided it wasn't for her and spent the rest of her time trying to get out.


Mine are committed to brooding. There are always fresh eggs in my boxes and they are always sitting on them. I collect once or twice a day, but they are typically never devoid of eggs.

Blocking a nest is a great idea. My bantams are so small, though, I worry I might not be able to keep them from wriggling out. I wondered about that earlier...so I tried folding up the perches on the upper boxes. She came out immediately, so I'd have to somehow attach mesh across the whole front...and make it easy to remove. I think that is the method I'll have to go with. Thanks for sharing your successful experience with it!

I do like rebrascora does.... I partition off nests of broodies who don't want to leave their chosen spot. Many of my hens move with little fuss, but once in a while I get ones which just don't deal with it. Right now I have one box (about 15" off of floor level) which we created an extension for the front of. We call it the 'veranda'. It is against a wall, so one side is blocked by that, and we placed an upright board at the end and the top is covered by a pre-existing roost/ramp board. This has created a nice dark box with a shadowed veranda. It is very inviting for broodies and has often been the chosen box for new broodies. The way it is set up makes it simple to block off. DH made a frame out of scrap wood the size of the opening and covered it with chicken wire, a small cup hook placed to either side of the opening allows us to place the frame in the opening and then just run a bungee cord from cup hook to cup hook to anchor it in place.
The veranda allows us to place a small chick waterer and some peep seed in a dish near by so when hatch happens the chicks can run around safely on the veranda while waiting for later eggs to hatch. Since we avoid staggered hatches by placing all hatching eggs at the same time it is rarely more than 24 hours before all are hatched and once the broody has chicks she is easy to move to a floor location we set up for broodies.

Anyone should be able to create a simple picture frame from scrap wood and cover it with chicken wire and then do the cup hooks and bungee thing to keep it in place. This blocks off the nest but allows the broody to watch coop activity if she wants and it allows good air flow even in the warmest months.