Opinions wanted!! Broody hen integrated or separated?

[LizzzyJo]

I’ve allowed several broodys to hatch their eggs and raise their young while fully integrated, over the past few years. Our Oklahoma heat is the thing I have to watch out for. My broody hens will sit on that nest until they die. I was told they would get themselves up for water. I’ve tried putting water and feed beside them. This doesn’t work. So my routine, while being more work than usual, is as follows:

My chickens are truly free range, as they wander over about 10 of the acres closest to their very secure coop and pen. They are closed into the coop each night against predators. The broody hen selects her spot, usually in a laying box. The other hens seem to naturally just leave her alone. They lay in other boxes. Every afternoon, during the hottest part of the day, I go get the broody hen off her nest. I literally pick her up, gently, and carry her out into the yard near a waterer, and sit her on the ground. It takes her several minutes for her to fully wake up, then she shoots off like a bullet. She eats and gets water, then returns to her nest. Twice she was confused and set on a different laying box. I watch for this, and simply pick her up and move her to the correct box.
All my Mama Hens have raised their young, cooping, in the main coop, along with the rest of the flock. Thefree range, with the Mama Hen, who keeps them near the coop and separate from the rest for a couple weeks, gradually ranging farther and they slowly integrate to roosting right alongside the rest of the flock.
For me, this has been a very successful way of raising chicks.

But if we want to talk about the greatest percentage of adult hens being produced from eggs, I must admit that raising purchased chicks in a brooder, then keeping them enclosed until mature, and only then integrating and free ranging, has a higher percentage of chicks to maturity. And maybe I don’t know how to do it, but I’ve never raised a brood of chicks and had 100% live for a year. There are always a few losses. And throughout the year, free ranging causes a loss of, on average, 1-2 hens per year. I lose another 1-2 per year to health related issues. I keep an average of 20-24 chickens, for perspective.

Personally, I enjoy both ways of raising chicks. And I’ve never separated the Mama Hen from her flock. Wouldn’t have even considered it, as those are her peeps, and mamas need their peeps at a time like this. My personal opinion.

Thank you!

 

[LizzzyJo]

I agree with @aart you may not really have enough space....

What’s your free ranging situation? 3-4 hours a day? Have you lost any birds to free ranging? If so, you WILL lose babies, so I just want to throw that out there since you mention the expense of the eggs...

You may lose them even if you haven’t lost birds before. I only give fairly cheap eggs and birds to my broodies. Just two days ago a hawk went INTO my coop and ate all of my broody’s babies.

I’m so sorry about your recent loss. That’s so sad.

 

[jolenesdad]

I’m so sorry about your recent loss. That’s so sad.

Thank you!

the hawk lives here and I see it daily. It doesn’t go after my adults ever. It’s a red shouldered hawk, so it could easily kill them, maybe not fly off with them. It eats snakes all the time. I don’t want to bother it or make it uncomfortable to want to leave for fear that an adult killing hawk moves into its space. For now, no more broodies with babies free ranging at a minimum at the same time hawks are raising their own babies.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do not want the hen to be separated from the chicks. A broody hen protects her chicks if she can. When you separate a broody from her babies she isn't there to protect them. This is where I've had problems with trying to separate a broody and her chicks from the flock. If you do try to isolate them make sure the chicks can't get out and away from the broody.

If the broody can get out while incubating, other chickens can get in. If the others can get in, they are not separated. I don't see any benefit of the partial fence while incubating or hatching.

I let my hens incubate and hatch with the flock and raise the chicks with the flock from Day 1. In your case I would not do that, at least incubate and hatch. Those are expensive eggs, you want to minimize risks. Occasionally a broody hen will return from her daily constitutional and find another hen laying in her nest. She becomes confused and goes to the wrong nest. I've had that happen a few times and just put the hen back on her eggs when I notice. Even when the eggs were cold to the touch I've gotten good hatches. But you don't want that to happen too often.

It's pretty common for other hens to lay in with my broody hens. I mark which eggs I want to hatch and remove any others daily. No big deal, I'm collecting eggs anyway. I have had nest hogs that can get somewhat violent if another hen wants to lay with them. I've never had a problem with that with a broody hen but I can see a bit if risk. My problems have come when another hen goes broody and wants to take over the nest, especially as the eggs internal pip and start talking to Mama. That led to a fight where some eggs were destroyed. So when another hen goes broody I lock her up in the broody buster. All this happens so rarely it doesn't stop me from hatching in the coop with the other hens having full access. But my coop is much bigger than yours. I consider all this pretty minor for me.

I've seen hens get chicks out of a 10' high hay loft. She tells them to jump and they do, then they run to her. Some of my nests are 4' high. I've never had a problem with a broody getting her chicks down to the coop floor. At night they take them to bed on the coop floor. The chicks jumping or falling down a height doesn't worry me.

One time only I had a problem with chicks falling out of a nest. I let a hen hatch in a cat litter bucket with a top opening 7-1/2" x 11-1/2" about 4' from the coop floor. The first chicks that hatched would climb up on Mama's back while waiting for the later ones to hatch. Four different times I had to pick a chick up off the coop floor and put it back in the nest with Mama. Fell 4' and were not injured. I retired that nest, never again. I don't know what your nests look like or if this is an issue at all. If the hen is not sitting close to an open edge it probably is not an issue.

My problem is your tiny elevated coop. When the chicks hatch you need food and water on the coop floor where they can get to it when Mama brings them off the nest. You don't have much room for that.

When the hen takes them outside they often have trouble getting back up the coop. It often takes them days to learn to use the ramp. What I've seen is the hen goes to the top of the ramp and calls her chicks. They run under her and can't jump up that high. They do not know to go to the base of the ramp and walk up. The broody does not know to go to the base and lead them up. This means you need to be there at bedtime to take care of any problems they are having. You can do this but it's just another thing that can get complicated.

Basically a broody hen needs a certain amount of room to work and you are tight. With the coop small and it being elevated it adds to the risk of those expensive eggs. If I were doing this I'd build a predator proof shelter at ground level inside your run to move the broody to. It doesn't have to be big, just room for a nest, food, and water. Maybe a bit of room to go poop or dust bathe. Broody hens instinctively know to not poop in their nests and mess their eggs but that does not carry over to food and water. Give yourself access.

You are right, the biggest risk in moving a broody hen is that she will break from being broody. It's best to do this before you give her the real eggs. The method that I think works best is to make the nest you are moving her to pretty dark. Make it so you can lock her in there in pretty complete darkness. You will need some ventilation so not airtight. You do not want it to become an oven in the sun. Move her at night with fake or real eggs and leave her locked in that nest all the next day. Don't open that door and let her out until just before bedtime. Leave her locked in that pen until the chicks hatch and she brings them off the nest. Then you can open that pen and let her roam with the others. She should take them back to that predator proof shelter at night instead of trying to get them up into the coop.

Some hens are really easy to move, some pretty challenging. This is all just my opinion, others obviously have different opinions. But in my opinion this gives you the best chance of success with what you are trying to do and what you have to work with.

Good luck!

 

[LizzzyJo]

Update! So the breeder gave me 10 eggs. I gave them to my broody and she is super happy with them

If I decide to keep one baby how do I vaccinate against mereks and cocciodosis?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hatch in an incubator. Both those vaccinations need a few weeks to become effective before the chick is exposed. With a broody hen hatching them the chicks are exposed as soon as they are hatched. Vaccinations don't do any real good if either disease is in your flock.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Hatch in an incubator. Both those vaccinations need a few weeks to become effective before the chick is exposed. With a broody hen hatching them the chicks are exposed as soon as they are hatched. Vaccinations don't do any real good if either disease is in your flock.

I’ve never had either illness in my flock they’re all vaccinated. It just seems safer to have everyone vaccinated in case we get a wondering rooster over here or something.
I don’t even own an incubator. This is just a one-off experimental hatch for my broody hen.

 

[Coreenelane]

I know there are multiple opinions on this subject, but I want to hear them all!

I am putting fertilized eggs under my 7-day broody hen on Wednesday. She is already a mean girl. THE mean girl (white French marans). She is in the corner of the henhouse (elevated 3 feet off the ground). I have 5 other hens. They have stopped laying eggs anywhere near her.

I want to let her raise her babies fully integrated. It will take a heck of a lot of work to build anything for her to separate her, but I can do it if I HAVE to for success. I’m giving her -not cheap- jubilee Orpington eggs, so I am not willing to throw all caution to the wind. I want to hear your risk assessments before I do this.

Alright guys, I would love to hear your thoughts.

I use cat litter boxes with tops for nests for eggs and I missed collecting for 2 days and found a hen sitting on the eggs so I let her alone. A several days later there were 2 hens and by the 14th day 3 hens were sitting on over 2 dozen eggs. They were crowded but got along. I was worried that the hatchlings would get trampled so when they started hatching I tried to dived the eggs. The 2 original hens went to the new box and the 3rd hen stayed in the original box. On the 3rd day of hatching I removed the litter boxes and put in a med/lg dog carrier. I was worried that the baby chicks wouldn't be able to get back in the litter boxes. The chicks are 10 days old and get about 6 hours of free range time a day. All are doing great around the 2 roos and another hen. I lost3 chicks and 20 are living. After the 25th day the hens would not sit on the 6 unhatched eggs. The chicks know the hens clucking and go back to them when they call. I am fortunate to say I have never had a problem with chicks and other hens or problems between hens.

 

[Phoenixxx]

I never move my broodies. Where they decide to set is where they stay until the chicks are ready to explore for the first time, and then if they were brooded in any nests that can't be accessed by the addition of a small ramp, I then move the new family to floor level and block the access to the nest they hatched in (mom sometimes wants to go back, but babies can't fly yet).

 

[fawnda]

I had a broody hen with eggs just mixed in with the flock of 5 other hens plus ducks.....it worked ok, until it didn't. Even though I had fake eggs in the other nesting boxes, one hen or another would always climb right on top of broody hen to lay here I watched one do it! I would remove the infertile eggs the other hens laid (easy as they were a different color). Then disaster struck on day 19. One of the fertile, about-to-hatch eggs got stepped on but either mom or another hen, probably when the interloper wanted to lay her damned egg in the prized nesting box, and the egg got a big bash into one side. I took the egg out and put it in the incubator and rubbed coconut oil over the broken area where membranes were showing. I then closed off the broody hen/eggs (my coop has a door there to the nesting boxes) and put a wooden nest box below with fake eggs in it. Everyone hatched out ok, even the broken one! I was lucky. For the future, I would separate her from the get-go though next time. I bought a small rabbit/animal pen from amazon, I think it was about $60, and beefed it up to make it predator-proof and they're all in that for now with a small fenced off yard. Mama hen is very aggressive towards her hen sisters, so keeping her fenced off for now, but they can see each other as the little pen is right in where they free-range. Babies are 2.5 weeks old now.