Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[nchls school]

OK - I'll play. First time chicken owner with 3 hens. The younger of the two Olive-Eggers (both laying consistently) is just about a year old and went broody last week. The Marans part of the cross musta kicked in. Tried removing her from the nest/coop for several days unsuccessfully. Checked BYC, since it has all the answers, and contemplated going out to buy a wire bottom crate to break her. What I did already have is a medium size plastic dog crate. Got two fertile eggs from a friend and set her up in the garage with a nice nest in the back half of the crate, crate door propped open leading to a kinda closed off entry area with pine shavings with food and water. She's been sitting tight for 3 days. I'm almost afraid too tight as I don't think she's left the nest at all. She did take dried meal worms that I fed her by hand, but I'm worried about her getting dehydrated.The water is about a foot away and she doesn't attempt to drink when I offer the little waterer to her. Feedback?

You need not worry. The hen will take a break from her nest when she needs to; usually when no one is watching.

 

[nchls school]

Our first broody! Hopefully our first hatch!  We set 10 eggs under out Cuckoo Marans broody hen on the 16th.   She has a mixed clutch of Easter Egger (blue & green), Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Red, and maybe a Light Brahma egg under her.  Our flock has 4 roosters.  1 Cuckoo Marans (the head man), 1 Silver Spangled Spitzhauben, and 2 Whte Sultans.  I can't wait to see wait to see what we might get if all were fertile and she finishes the task.  

She is in a metal dog cage inside the main chicken house.  Her nest box is now a plastic wash tub with hay that sits inside a box turned on it side for privacy.  I've been reading as much as I can trying to decide whether to leave the cage inside the coop or move to our smaller coop that I can easily close off from the rest of the flock.  We have about 40 chickens that all live together.  We do not free range, but they have access to the two coops and a chicken yard approx. 20 x 40 that I can easily section into separate areas if need be.

Please feel free to chime in. I separate new mothers and chicks for a few days until the chicks are quite mobile and can get out of the way of other flock members.

Also, if she hatches the chicks and they fall/crawl out of the wash tub nest...will they be able to get back in?  Does she help them somehow?  No. The chicks will not be able to jump seven inches for a few days. The hen will not be able to help them. Consider removing the tub after the chicks have hatched.It has approximately 7 inch high sides.

Good luck.

 

[horselover1999]

I have a broody silkie that is on 2 eggs. She started off on 3 but at about four days in someone cracked it with their foot. She is on day 10. The eggs she is on are Cochin x Red Sex-link and either Cochin x Silkie or Cochin. She is in a nest box in the coop. Last time I had a broody I moved her and she quit. I am hoping to block the nest box from the other hens for the hatch. I am so excited!e

 

[Catandherchicks]

I have a broody silkie that is on 2 eggs. She started off on 3 but at about four days in someone cracked it with their foot. She is on day 10. The eggs she is on are Cochin x Red Sex-link and either Cochin x Silkie or Cochin. She is in a nest box in the coop. Last time I had a broody I moved her and she quit. I am hoping to block the nest box from the other hens for the hatch. I am so excited!e

Good luck! Post the results.

 

[Catandherchicks]

You need not worry. The hen will take a break from her nest when she needs to; usually when no one is watching.

Thanks, nchls school. I'll TRY not to worry. Since we're both new at this I hope it will all work out. However, she fouled her nest the other day and got poop on both eggs. I wiped them off and changed out the hay. She settled back in. So yesterday and today I took her outside to be a chicken and do her thing. Today she groomed for about an hour and didn't show any interest in the crate. She eventually went into the chicken tractor coop nest (where she was originally sitting on nothing). I put her back on her eggs in the crate and she settled right in again.

BTW, any idea why the matron hen, who has been like a mother to her and her half sister since they were young pullets, attacking her now when she tries to take a dust bath? All three ate mealworms side-by-side with no problem. I really appreciate all you chicken folks who share their knowledge with us newbies.

 

[PD-Riverman]

she fouled her nest the other day and got poop on both eggs.

Are you feeding her while she is in her nest?

 

[fisherlady]

Any idea why the matron hen, who has been like a mother to her and her half sister since they were young pullets, attacking her now when she tries to take a dust bath? All three ate mealworms side-by-side with no problem. I really appreciate all you chicken folks who share their knowledge with us newbies.

A broody hen is removed from the daily activities of the coop and the roosting jostling and routine...therefore her position in the pecking order is comprised. The harassing you see from the other flock members is because of this...hens like things orderly, a broody messes with their preferred sense of order.

 

[Catandherchicks]

Are you feeding her while she is in her nest?

No. Outside the dog crate within two feet are both the waterer and feeder plus a little treat dish to lure her out. However, when it appeared she hadn't left the nest for the first three days, I did give her about a dozen mealworms by hand. I hope she wasn't expecting room service every day. We're at day 8 now. I'm watching the waterer for change and not seeing any. I know she's moving around on the nest from the direction she's facing each morning and once saw her move an egg. She did eat nice new clover when I let her out yesterday and today plus mealworms for all 3 hens. But she didn't run to the waterer like she was dying of thirst. They normally free-range in the day and put themselves into the tractor-coop in the evening, then I close them up. Everything was fine until she went broody and I decided to give her fertilized eggs to hatch. I thought what a fun thing that would be. Aaargggh.

 

[Catandherchicks]

A broody hen is removed from the daily activities of the coop and the roosting jostling and routine...therefore her position in the pecking order is comprised. The harassing you see from the other flock members is because of this...hens like things orderly, a broody messes with their preferred sense of order.

Thanks, fisherlady. I guess I'll just play guard until after hatch (that's positive thinking) and it'll sort out eventually.

 

[PD-Riverman]

No. Outside the dog crate within two feet are both the waterer and feeder plus a little treat dish to lure her out. However, when it appeared she hadn't left the nest for the first three days, I did give her about a dozen mealworms by hand. I hope she wasn't expecting room service every day. We're at day 8 now. I'm watching the waterer for change and not seeing any. I know she's moving around on the nest from the direction she's facing each morning and once saw her move an egg. She did eat nice new clover when I let her out yesterday and today plus mealworms for all 3 hens. But she didn't run to the waterer like she was dying of thirst. They normally free-range in the day and put themselves into the tractor-coop in the evening, then I close them up. Everything was fine until she went broody and I decided to give her fertilized eggs to hatch. I thought what a fun thing that would be. Aaargggh.

Are you keeping the door on this dog crate open all the time? Or you let her out? Lets do this----lets go back about 5000 years, before you and I there was a chicken setting on some eggs, and she survived without our help---LOL. I set 67 broodies just last year---only thing I did was move them to a hatching pen----had food and water(not close to her nest) and a place for her to stretch her legs and dust bath. I Never try to coach her off her nest, never hand feed her in her nest----she knows what she is doing----I never look under them, but I do look at their eggs if I see them off the nest. Everyone of them hatched their eggs without my help. Good Luck!