Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[poodlechicks]

I keep coming to this thread to see pictures of cute chicks, hear the stories and learn a whole lot from all of you.
What do you know... I have another BO gone broody!!! This time I ran out of dog carriers and places to put chicks, so I am gently coaxing Haru out of the coop every day. She is not happy with me, but ends up going foraging with her flock mates.
Summer's chicks are doing well and growing fast. The flock sees them every day through the wire, but they aren't very receptive.
When I let one of the girls in with Summer and the chicks she pecked one chick and started chasing the others when Summer wasn't looking. That hen is Summer's buddy and the lowest in the pecking order. I guess I'll have to wait until the chicks are bigger and better able to defend themselves. Being second to last in the pecking order, I don't think Summer will be able to defend the chicks at this point.

 

[bumpercarr]

I keep coming to this thread to see pictures of cute chicks, hear the stories and learn a whole lot from all of you.
What do you know... I have another BO gone broody!!! This time I ran out of dog carriers and places to put chicks, so I am gently coaxing Haru out of the coop every day. She is not happy with me, but ends up going foraging with her flock mates.
Summer's chicks are doing well and growing fast. The flock sees them every day through the wire, but they aren't very receptive.
When I let one of the girls in with Summer and the chicks she pecked one chick and started chasing the others when Summer wasn't looking. That hen is Summer's buddy and the lowest in the pecking order. I guess I'll have to wait until the chicks are bigger and better able to defend themselves. Being second to last in the pecking order, I don't think Summer will be able to defend the chicks at this point.

I can tell you what I do. I don't currently have a broody, but when I did, I let her in with the flock as soon as she was ready to leave the nest with her chicks. She was low man on the totem pole until she had chicks, then she turned into a terror, so she took good care of them and I never lost any to the other chickens.

Now that I have to brood my own, I put the chicks in at 3 weeks with the rest of the flock. They are very fast and learn quickly which birds to get out of the way of when they are coming close to them. I still haven't lost one to the other birds.

It sort of depends on your situation and the rest of your flock. Mine will peck at the little ones to move them away from the feeder or waterer. I keep two of each in the run until I'm sure that the little ones have figured out how to get their food and water without getting beat up by the older ones. They only have to wait their turn. I haven't had a hen/pullet "guard" the food and water to keep the interlopers away yet, but it is something that you need to watch for. Occasionally, one of the chicks doesn't pay enough attention to what is going on in the group and will get a peck or a feather grabbed, but they live through it and learn from it.

Hope this helps you in your situation.

 

[poodlechicks]

Thanks, bumpercarr! They are 3 weeks old now and so ready to leave their enclosure.
Right now, their enclosure is inside a small fenced area where the coop is. When the hens have finished laying for the day, I close the gate and let Summer and her chicks into the fenced area to graze and stretch their wings. The others stay out in the large fenced area to free range. Water and food is provided for them in a shaded area.
The pecking did happen when they were eating, so maybe they would fair better if food isn't involved. Do you have them out for the whole day? I am wondering how to lure the chicks back to their enclosure when I need to leave. They are so active! Trying to fly all over the place. Definitely not like my BOs

The large fenced area I have is chain link, so the little ones can easily pass through.
Oh, I have to mention Summer is very mellow and not very authoritative, so the chicks don't listen to her all the time.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Help! I have two golden sex link hens that are about 1 and 1/2 yrs old. One of my girls has gone broody over the lat few days.We do not have a rooster so there is no chance of hatching chicks. In fact she is sitting in an empty nesting box. I really don't want to confine her to a wire cage to break her. My question is, if I just continue to remove her from the nesting box and close it off so she doesn't have access, and there aren't any other dark, warm places to brood, will this pass?

What it takes to break her brood depends on how strong her brooding hormones are, so sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it takes extreme measures.

Since I don't think Golden Sex Links often brood, she might be fairly easy to break. First, remove all eggs from the nest. If it's a communal nest, check it every hour (if possible) and remove eggs. Then put a different type of nesting material in (if a communal nest), or if possible remove all nesting material completely. If your setup allows it, prevent her access to her nesting site completely, and check on her as often as possible and pick her up off the nest and take to the food dish. Many hens will stop brooding just from one of more of those simple steps.

If that doesn't work, then here is a cut and paste of a technique to break a hen's brood that I have posted a few times before:


"The wire bottom cage is the best known gold standard for breaking a brood, but my main breed (Red Dorking) is a very heavy hen that broods frequently, so I didn't want them on wire. I tried many of the other well known techniques and nothing worked. Eventually I found a very reliable technique that doesn't require a wire bottom cage, but works just as well.

Build a small wire run. Mine is about 30" wide, 30" high, and 5' long. It is made out of 1X2" welded wire, just four side panels held together by cable ties (it could be made out of other materials, but this is very stable because of the frequent welds, and has lasted for almost 10 years). The top is divided into two parts. Half is attached by cable ties on the sides and one end. The other half is about 4" longer than the remaining opening on top. One end is cable tied onto the first half (the only remaining unattached edge of the top's first half, spanning across the center of the run), so that it can open and close like a hatch. The other end has the extra length bent down over the end side panel so that the hatch doesn't fall down into the run. I prevent the hatch from opening with a simple latch, which isn't usually necessary, but one hen years ago figured out that she could get out of the run by repeatedly flying up into the hatch until it opened. There is no bottom on the run. It is very lightweight, very secure, and easy to move. It was easy and cheap to build, and can be disassembled and stored flat when not in use, if desired.

My birds free range. I put the run somewhere on the property where the broody cannot see her nest, or anything near her nest. I chose an area that is protected from the weather so she won't get too hot, too cold, or wet, and is very safe from predators and harassment. There should ideally be some dirt to dustbathe, and some grass to graze, but that's not essential. What is absolutely necessary is that there not be anything on the ground that can be used to build a nest -- no leaves, no straw, no shavings, no dry grass, no bedding of any kind. Just food, water, plain ground or lawn to sit on, enough room to pace a little as the brood starts to transition out, and no reminder or sight of her nest or eggs. At night I put her in a pet carrier with cardboard on the bottom, covered with a towel, and put her in the garage (or barn, or coop, or spare bedroom -- just somewhere that is no where near her nest, and is 100% predator proof). I've had 100% success at breaking broods with this method, with 90% of hens taking 3-4 days, and the remaining hens taking either 2 or 5-6 days. And no wire pressed into the plucked, bare brood spot on their chest."

After that post, I got several PM's and one post on the thread saying that it worked perfectly. But it does take typically 3-4 days, and once up to 6 days, so don't give up too early. I once had a bird that had always taken 3 days to break her brood, but that time seemed to be done after the second day. So on day three I let her back with the flock instead of putting her in the run. She foraged and flocked with the other birds for almost the entire day, but by the evening she was back on her nest again. I put her back in the coop for the evening, and back in the broody breaking run the next day, expecting that one more day would do it. But apparently the clock gets reset the moment they see their nest, and she took 4 additional days in the run. So now I'm not anxious to get them out of the run. If there's even a hint of broodiness, they stay in. But it's a nice place for them, and it's not forever, so it's definitely worth making sure they're finished

I have been told that dipping them in water works, but I suspect that it only works in the birds that would be easy to break anyway, and when you use very cold water. I have not found it to work in any of my birds after 5-6 tries, and will no longer try it. However, my birds are Red Dorkings, so they either stop brooding when you remove their eggs, or are going to be very stubborn to break. They have no middle ground when it comes to brooding.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I don't think it's TMI at all. Even though this is the broody thread and not a professional breeding thread, if you have broodies you're either breeding birds, or you're getting eggs from someone else who is breeding birds. Some people aren't concerned about the details -- they just want barnyard mixes that are fun birds and don't care about specific characteristics. In that case the eggs they buy shouldn't be very expensive -- just a little more than free range eggs to compensate for the trouble of keeping a rooster (and believe me, it can be a lot of trouble). But other people are paying high prices for purebred eggs that they're putting under their broodies, and it's important for people to understand that it takes a lot of work and record keeping and preplanned management to consistently create good quality stock, as opposed to just happy accidents. So while it may seem outrageous to have to pay $2-10 per egg from a breeder, depending on the breed and the line, it's important to realize that you're not just buying that little egg. You're also buying some of the work that went into creating that egg. The amount of work that you described to eliminate an undesirable characteristic from your breeding birds may seem like a lot to go through, but it's minimal compared to what breeders have to do to either eliminate or create some traits in some lines. Sometimes it takes several generations, which is challenging when you're trying to concentrate on one specific feature while maintaining or improving the quality of 10-20-30 other features in the bird. It can be a lot of work and head-spinning nights trying to figure out how to manage everything for the best outcome. It's important for people to see what it takes so that they understand that those expensive eggs aren't just randomly priced, but reflect the management skills needed to create them.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Decided to bump the chick shipment a week so I could add olive eggers to the order (like I need more chicks). They are due the week of 7/14.

So now I have 6 WL eggs potentially hatching Tuesday July 8th. Then 4 Easter Eggers and 4 Olive Eggers arriving probably July 16th.

I think I will give the WL eggs to Bunny, the Maran, to finish hatching and let the other two sit on some nonfertile eggs until the eggers get here the following week. Hopefully they will hold out the extra week. I don't want to brood chicks myself. The chicks will be close enough in age that they shouldn't have too much problem getting along.

 

[bumpercarr]

Thanks, bumpercarr! They are 3 weeks old now and so ready to leave their enclosure.
Right now, their enclosure is inside a small fenced area where the coop is. When the hens have finished laying for the day, I close the gate and let Summer and her chicks into the fenced area to graze and stretch their wings. The others stay out in the large fenced area to free range. Water and food is provided for them in a shaded area.
The pecking did happen when they were eating, so maybe they would fair better if food isn't involved. Do you have them out for the whole day? I am wondering how to lure the chicks back to their enclosure when I need to leave. They are so active! Trying to fly all over the place. Definitely not like my BOs

The large fenced area I have is chain link, so the little ones can easily pass through.
Oh, I have to mention Summer is very mellow and not very authoritative, so the chicks don't listen to her all the time.

It has always been a problem for me too that the chain link is big enough (of course, not everywhere) for them to get out, but then they can't seem to get back in which leaves them open to predators. One of the things that I've done is buy the fairly cheap plastic garden fence with the 1 in holes and put it put at the bottom of the chain link. It helps keep the chicks in, although if you miss one itty bitty spot, they'll find it.

I leave mine out for the whole day. Once they go into the run (I'm not free ranging right now, too many losses this year) they stay there from then on with the rest of the flock. I check them at about dusk to make sure that they made it into the coop for the night (I have automatic doors), usually they just follow everyone else in but sometimes I have to put them in there for the first night or two. Of course, they really don't want me to catch them, but it is a lot easier when it is close to bedtime to catch them as they usually huddle right next to the door....I guess they're afraid to go in with the big ones who sometimes give them a hard time. I have a lot of room in my coop, so there is always somewhere that they can go to be safe from the big monsters. I've also made a small wood box with an opening in it. They can run into that and sleep if they really feel threatened, although they usually only do that the first night. Keep in mind, mine don't have a broody to sleep under....yours will provided she hasn't weaned them yet. I think that is why it is important to get them with the rest while they still have momma for night time security and warmth.

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

My little Welsh Harlequin duck just went broody, and since I didn't have any fertile eggs and I didn't want to break her up, I had to go hunt some eggs down. All I could find on such short notice are chicken, but that's ok. They are due to hatch the 22nd.

 

[bumpercarr]

I don't think it's TMI at all. Even though this is the broody thread and not a professional breeding thread, if you have broodies you're either breeding birds, or you're getting eggs from someone else who is breeding birds. Some people aren't concerned about the details -- they just want barnyard mixes that are fun birds and don't care about specific characteristics. In that case the eggs they buy shouldn't be very expensive -- just a little more than free range eggs to compensate for the trouble of keeping a rooster (and believe me, it can be a lot of trouble). But other people are paying high prices for purebred eggs that they're putting under their broodies, and it's important for people to understand that it takes a lot of work and record keeping and preplanned management to consistently create good quality stock, as opposed to just happy accidents. So while it may seem outrageous to have to pay $2-10 per egg from a breeder, depending on the breed and the line, it's important to realize that you're not just buying that little egg. You're also buying some of the work that went into creating that egg. The amount of work that you described to eliminate an undesirable characteristic from your breeding birds may seem like a lot to go through, but it's minimal compared to what breeders have to do to either eliminate or create some traits in some lines. Sometimes it takes several generations, which is challenging when you're trying to concentrate on one specific feature while maintaining or improving the quality of 10-20-30 other features in the bird. It can be a lot of work and head-spinning nights trying to figure out how to manage everything for the best outcome. It's important for people to see what it takes so that they understand that those expensive eggs aren't just randomly priced, but reflect the management skills needed to create them.

Thanks for the support! It takes at least 6 months for each generation from being laid to hopefully laying and fertile. Six months minimum, sometimes 8 months, sometimes a year. Brahmas are notoriously slow to mature, so I'm always crossing my fingers looking for that first sign of sexual maturity. Each chick needs to get to 3-4 months of age before you can really determine whether it fits what you are working towards, and even then you think you have what you want and then it turns out when they get older that they aren't what you are looking for. Of course, that doesn't even include the months and months that you spend trying to find eggs/chicks/juveniles/adults of the breed and suitable type for what you are trying to do. Then you get a couple of dogs that come in and destroy the whole flock, and therefore the whole project. It is easily 2 years of work to "set" a trait, provided that your initial breeding actually gives the desired results. And then the records and figuring out how to separate for specific breedings! I try to keep my breeding stock in a smaller flock, so it is a little easier for what I'm trying to do, but still, figuring out who laid what and then making sure that when they hatch you know who is from whom....makes my head spin.

Nothing wrong with mixed flocks, I had them for years before I decided to get really serious about breeding what I wanted. I love chickens, all chickens, just happen to be scientifically minded enough to want to leave a mark on my chosen breed. Anyway, thanks for the kind words and encouragement!

 

[ChickyChickens]

I went to the Broody Coop this morning to feed my broody 'gals when all of a sudden I heard a faint growl. I searched for the source of the growl and quickly found out it was coming from under the old rabbit hutch! When I checked who it was I noticed that it was Sparkle, a hen that has only been laying for 2 weeks.
So do you guys think she will be fine at going broody at such a young age???