Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[ochochicas]

Just my personal preference, but I take my broody off every afternoon so I can check the eggs. A couple of times I found new eggs in there that weren't supposed to be there. She takes a 10 minute break to use the bathroom and get something to eat. If the weather is warm she'll be gone for 20 - 30 minutes. I'd rather know she's out doing her business when I'm home than have her do it when I'm not home and then somehow end up in the wrong nest box. I've also heard of broodies holding it too long and then they go all over the eggs.

 

[bumpercarr]

so I have an open question(s) one of my bantams went broody in my bigger coop. But the thing is she isn't taking care of her self I have been going out to the coop several times a day to check on her and to my knowledge she hasn't eaten etc in almost 5 days. when my grams hens would go broody they would get up and eat etc 2 or 3 times a day but mine haven't is she being sneaky or should I put some food and water next to her.

Question 2
normally my grams would kill all her aggressive roosters when her hens when broody but I don't have that option should I would her from the coop into her own enclosure or risk a family fight and kill those roosters?

Question 1: She's probably being sneaky, but it wouldn't hurt to give her some high protein food right in front of her, i.e. scrambled eggs, meal worms, etc. along with some water. Some will worry about other hens "stealing" their nest and won't get off for fear of losing the nest.

Question 2: Never heard of that before. I leave my broodies with the males, most of the males are very proud of their babies and don't bother them or the broody. If others seem to be bothering her, you can move her, but that makes it harder for her to reintegrate herself and her babies back into the flock.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

No one will believe this but I know the last time she pooped because she pooped in the sink! Ha! lil thing is sink trained! I just scooped it up, tossed it in the toilet and bleached the sink.. (Ps we have too many bathrooms, this is my basement one, I'm not that crazy lol)

Haha! I do believe that. I like the shower stall idea! How lucky you are to hav an extra bathroom.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Just my personal preference, but I take my broody off every afternoon so I can check the eggs.  A couple of times I found new eggs in there that weren't supposed to be there.  She takes a 10 minute break to use the bathroom and get something to eat.  If the weather is warm she'll be gone for 20 - 30 minutes.  I'd rather know she's out doing her business when I'm home than have her do it when I'm not home and then somehow end up in the wrong nest box.  I've also heard of broodies holding it too long and then they go all over the eggs.  

That makes sense definitely, but I'm afraid to disturb my broody now that she has fertile eggs. Before I gave her eggs, I would toss her off about once a day to make sure she ate and relieved herself. I would probably still do that if it wasn't so cold out. Also, this is my first time and these are very special eggs, so I want to be very careful.

I did do a "feel around" under her today to check for new eggs; the fertile eggs are a bit smaller than the other eggs my girls lay. The other hens have acquiesced and are laying their eggs on the other side of the coop.

Is this your first time with a broody? Or the first time with this hen being broody?

 

[ChickyChickens]

Day 18 for my broody today!!!

 

[ochochicas]

Quote: The broody I have has hatched eggs before (in July). She is the best broody anyone could hope for. She takes great care of the eggs and chicks. She is extremely protective, but not overly aggressive. I have no doubts that she is going to go back to her nest when I take her off. I had another broody that was not a good mom and I had to watch her all the time. One time the good broody stole all the chicks from the bad broody and I had to separate them all. LOL Each case is different so you have to do what works for you. In my flock I have one older hen that can get rather pushy. She is the only one that will peck at the broody until she gets off the nest. Pushy hen then lays her egg in the nest while the broody stands outside the box and waits. At least the eggs are being covered by someone when the broody is kicked off. I candled the eggs on Saturday and they are all developing normally to date.

 

[CandylandRanch]

Day 18 for my broody today!!!

Yay!! Keep us posted please

 

[CandylandRanch]

Anne,
 I would use a sharpie or other similar permanent marker to draw a circle the whole way around the center of the egg.  This will allow you to tell at a glance if there any intruder eggs in there. 
Candling is basically just a preference thing, as already said it can allow you to pull clears or sloshy eggs, but I usually only do it on around day 10 or so when the clears or quitters are more obvious and I try to do it when the hen is off of the nest for a break.

I have had hens do well with nests in the main coop and other hens who have had trouble with nest confusion (getting back onto the wrong nest) or trouble with other hens pushing them out to lay in the nest (which can cause broken eggs).  If your hen is higher on the pecking order then she will probably have fewer problems than a low ranked hen but watch for problems and have an alternative plan figured out ahead of time.

Good luck... looking forward to the pics!

Sloshy eggs.. I haven't heard this term and when i candled a few days back I found it a little odd how one kind of sloshed about as I rotated the egg.. This means the baby is dead? I thought something was wrong..

 

[vpatt]

I couldn't move my broody much without the risk of becoming fingerless! I was told that if you place the food and water too close to her nest she will eat and most likely poop in the nest. I guess if you are certain she is not eating you could put the feed where she can reach it from the nest....better poop in the nest than a starved to death hen. But I did this and sure enough she pooped in the nest!

 

[A6chickenhome]

That makes sense definitely, but I'm afraid to disturb my broody now that she has fertile eggs. Before I gave her eggs, I would toss her off about once a day to make sure she ate and relieved herself. I would probably still do that if it wasn't so cold out. Also, this is my first time and these are very special eggs, so I want to be very careful.

I did do a "feel around" under her today to check for new eggs; the fertile eggs are a bit smaller than the other eggs my girls lay. The other hens have acquiesced and are laying their eggs on the other side of the coop.

Is this your first time with a broody? Or the first time with this hen being broody?

What breed are you hatching?