Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Faraday40]

It even depends on the day! Last fall 2 hens went broody at the same time. I kept them separated during incubation & put them together in a divided chicken tractor after their chicks hatched. The chicks were small enough to slip through to either mama. After a few days, I removed the divider & they were fine. It was so cute to see the mamas share their responsibilities. They free-ranged together as a group during the day and all piled into one nest box every night.

The same 2 hens went broody together again. However, this time not only will they attack each other - but they attack each other's chicks! They kept tearing the divider down, so I now have them in 2 diff chicken tractors.

 

[Faraday40]

Have a big broody craze going on over here. I currently have 2 broody bantam hens (Cookie & Trouble) that both have some 6 week old chicks. (They would not share space this time, so I had to keep multiple cages.) Tonight is the 1st night that both hens & ALL their chicks will be sleeping in the coop.

I set my last batch of eggs in the incubator 2 weeks ago & AGAIN I got 2 more broodies. This time 2 LF orps.
Oopsie- went broody for 1st time in May & did a great job
Darth Layer- a very large 4 yr old orp that never went broody before

I left them alone but they stole every fake egg to sit on & they're both still going. Because the 2 bantam broodies are bringing their chicks into the coop at night, I decided to make more space by moving the incubating broodies out. I tried setting up a big broody apartment in the garage with one of DD's old school posters as a divider. I thought it was great! The back of the large dog cage looked like 2 nest boxes & the front had a communal water, feed, & space to poop. Of course, both decided to cram into the left side. They were not fighting, so I removed the divider.

So my questions are for everyone who has done communal broodies....
If they are not fighting now, is that a good indicator that they will become co-broodies?
There are no real eggs in with them now. When they are added tomorrow, would that be a cause to fight? What kind of warning signs do I need to look out for?

My plan is to give each hen only 1-2 eggs. Then I'll slip the remainder of the chicks under them after they hatch & get their leg bands. That way if tragedy strikes, I will not lose my entire hatch. I know that Oopsie can take care of whatever hatches all by herself, but I feel I should give my sweet Darth Layer a chance at motherhood.

 

[fisherlady]

I have had cobroodies sit and hatch together and raise chicks with no problem but our flock seems to take the old saying 'it takes a village to raise a child' to a whole new level. If they seem content together and have plenty of space I think your plan should work out well. Watch them closely the first day and give them plenty of room to retreat to 'neutral corners' to cool off when the inevitable spat or two occur the first day. One of the hens will establish herself as the Alpha within the first day or two and you will see the flock dynamic shaping up. I have some hens who like to share the same nest after hatch and some who sit slightly apart from each other at night but stay together for chick raising duty all day. Just give them room to figure out their comfort zones...

 

[fisherlady]

Our broodies are in full summer mood right now. We have one sitting, 8 with chicks ranging from 1 week to 6 weeks and a couple of hens still dragging around older chicks who actually are old enough to have the apron strings cut but are still clingy little buggers. Our hens are all in the coops with the flocks and we often see the chicks with the 'wrong broodies' or hanging with 'aunties' instead of their actual broody mama...but seems to work with our flock so we just sit back and watch.

 

[Faraday40]

Our broodies are in full summer mood right now. We have one sitting, 8 with chicks ranging from 1 week to 6 weeks and a couple of hens still dragging around older chicks who actually are old enough to have the apron strings cut but are still clingy little buggers. Our hens are all in the coops with the flocks and we often see the chicks with the 'wrong broodies' or hanging with 'aunties' instead of their actual broody mama...but seems to work with our flock so we just sit back and watch.

Yes, the 6 wk old chicks were split between 2 bantam broodies. There are also a couple 8wk old chicks that were adopted by one of them. Basically ALL the young orp pullets are 2 - 3xs the size of their mamas. It's quite a sight to see mama leading them around & we laugh as she tries to cover them at night.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Love reading about the broodies!

For those of you who have grafted newly hatched chicks onto broodies, if they don't accept them, does it usually happen right away?

I just snuck some freshly hatched chicks from my incubator under my two hens. One has been a successful broody before, and the other is an old Silkie who never got the opportunity before. They both seem to have accepted them, and one of the, chicks popped out from underneath the Silkie. She didn't seem to mind at all and didn't peck it or anything.

Am I in the clear? I will check on them a few times today, thankfully I am home from work.


This pic is of the new chicks being carried out to their new adopted Mamas.

 

[fisherlady]

We have grafted quite a few and normally any sign of trouble was within a short time, sometimes the hen just needed a while to adjust so we 'ran interference' until they got used to each other and once it was an outright rejection with the hen being aggressive so babies were removed immediately. Frequent checks should work once the first foray out from under the hen and back under has been observed.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

We have grafted quite a few and normally any sign of trouble was within a short time, sometimes the hen just needed a while to adjust so we 'ran interference' until they got used to each other and once it was an outright rejection with the hen being aggressive so babies were removed immediately. Frequent checks should work once the first foray out from under the hen and back under has been observed.

Thanks! I just went out and checked again and all is good in the hood! The Mamas are both now clucking to the chicks ad they have popped out and climbed on top of th girls etc.

It's so funny because the Silkie is probably 8 years old and she had been broody before but never given chicks. I figured I had to let her cross it off her bucket list!

Broodies are sooo much fun!

 

[Faraday40]

My broodies don't seem to realize that it's fall! I sold all but one of Oopsie's chicks. They are doing fine & the last chick will join her siblings when Oopsie decides it's time. That was supposed to be my last hatch of the year.

Oopsie & her last chick:

My BIG Blue orp (hatched March 4, 2017) laid less than a doz eggs & then went broody. I then decided to do one more last orp hatch of the year since we rehomed my beautiful choc cuckoo orp roo. I didn't encourage or discourage her, and put some eggs into an incubator. The big hen could probably fit 3 doz eggs under her, but she's clumsy & my other hens keep laying eggs on top of her. I gave her a decorative polished marble egg to incubate. There's no way that will get broken & if she stops being broody, no loss of life. I swear she's as big as a turkey when puffed up. Here she is when on a quick bio break.

About a week ago, Cookie decided to go broody - AGAIN. Well, I suppose having a back- up broody isn't a bad thing. (My last 1st time broody did fine sitting on the eggs but was very confused when they hatched. She kept pecking at them, so I put that hen back with the flock and gave her chicks to Oopsie.)

To top it off, a little silkie (also hatched March 4th) is acting "pre-broody." She's taking a long time to lay her eggs & sticking around in the nest a little longer than needed.

On the bright side, I did just finish building a "time out" box for breaking broodies. I really didn't think I'd need one until spring, but I simply can't have 3 hens taking over 3/4 of the nest boxes.

 

[Citychick11]

My Golden Laced Wyandotte went broody last year in May and hatched 3 chicks. This year, I was disappointed when May came and went with no broody hen. However, she DID go broody in August!! I just happened to have a carton of fertile eggs from the local farm that I put under her. She started with 12 eggs, but 4 ended up breaking. Two have hatched (day 21 was Thursday) and I'm about to lose hope that the others will hatch. I don't know if I should wait till she stops sitting on them or if I should candle them to see if they are duds. Is there any hope at day 25?