Picking on the broody hen

[RosanneH]

I have a sweet flock of 6 hens. One is broody and has been on her clutch for a week and a half. When she gets off for food, etc., the other girls pick on her terribly. Is this normal? She was not the one at the bottom of the order before.

 

[nchls school]

I have a sweet flock of 6 hens. One is broody and has been on her clutch for a week and a half. When she gets off for food, etc., the other girls pick on her terribly. Is this normal? She was not the one at the bottom of the order before.

Unfortunately it happens. When I have a hen that gets too aggressive, I lock her away until the broody hatches. With my serama I put food and water on a ledge out of reach of the bigger hens. Chickens bullying is normal.

 

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

We're having the same problem with our first-ever broody hen. She was in the middle of the pecking order prior to going broody. The first time we saw her get off the nest, around Day 7, and join the other chickens outside, several hens ganged up on her and unfortunately our rooster didn't seem to know to intervene and break it up. She spent about an hour outside but was mostly off to the side scratching around by herself; when she got too close to the other chickens, they pecked her. She climbed back into the nest box eventually.

Since then I only saw her get off the nest once, to eat from the feeder in the coop. She didn't go outside that time, just ate and got back on the nest. I've heard that a chicken that was separated from the flock can be the target of aggression once they are reintroduced, but she is sitting right there in everyone else's plain view, with other chickens laying in the adjacent nest box, so why are they doing this? Also, does aggression now mean that it's going to be the same, or worse, once she (hopefully) hatches her chicks and try to rejoin the flock with them?

 

[rotagen]

I know this is an old thread but I'm getting the same thing happening right now. My sweet faverolle hen insists on going broody, 3rd time we let her go for it because we have a nice rooster. Anyways, I probably should have isolated her in our little tent with a box but I've heard that doesn't always go well.. When she comes off the box one of the reds (sometimes I hate the reds, jeeze they are bullies but good layers)...then the rest of the flock including the roo pick on her even pulling out feathers... I got her back in the box but later in the day I noticed everyone is laying eggs under her and no eggs anywhere else, she's probably sitting on 15 of them. I've got some hopefully hatching today or tomorrow maybe I should just put some chicks (if I get enough) under her and throw away the eggs. Any experiences or advice appreciated ! Poor timid faverolles.

 

[nchls school]

If eggs are close to hatching I'd candle the eggs and remove those that are fresh or later in development. Next time consider having her lay in a movable nest so that when she starts brooding she can be moved more easily.

 

[rotagen]

Yep, learned my lesson...next time I will put the broody hen in my portable nest box in my little brooder tent...it's about 3feet x 3feet.
It's only about the 4th or 5th day of her brooding...it's crazy how they only seem to lay in her box...I put some plastic eggs in other boxes but no dice.
I bought a candler and did my eggs that are in the incubator, the roo is only 5 1/2 mos old ...I candled them on day 4 and 8, but saw nothing obvious...the eggs are brown or brownish... I could see a yolk area but no veins and couldn't see air sac... BUT...they looked different from a control egg which sat in fridge...so I cracked open one of the red's eggs and there was an embryo well developed day 8...today is day 21 not counting first day and no pips yet... a little worried but I've had them all come in on day 22... hoping they mostly hatch so I can put a couple chicks under her.

 

[nchls school]

A hen needs to be broody at least a week before trying to give her chicks. Less than a week the hen is likely to kill chicks as intruders. This happens even with experienced hens. When you put the chicks under the hen it's best to do so at night, in the dark, and put the hatched shells under her too. Remove the other eggs.

 

[rotagen]

Thanks very useful info. I'm starting to lose a bit of hope for my eggs in the incubator. Like I said I had a nice embryo at day 8 looked the right size (depending on which chart you look at) so I was pretty confident. Incubator settings temp/humid are pretty much the same as my last mostly successful hatch.
But my rooster is quite young, he was about 5 mos old, hens at about 10 mos old, when I gathered the eggs. It's day 22 (if you call the first 24 hrs in incubator day 0, as some people do?) or day 23, and no pips or activity, I guess on tues. day 25? if they don't hatch I will have to cure the hen of broodiness, jeeze, I think they're still laying in her box. Do young roos often give developement problems in the eggs?

 

[nchls school]

I have used very young cockerels for breeding with mixed results, so I am unsure this would be your problem. Also, some breeds mature more slowly than others so it's a possibility.

If you wanted, you could try to move your broody hen to a safer location and give her a fresh clutch of eggs. Hens move best after dark.