post your chicken coop pictures here!

[LeslieDJoyce]

What's the best thing to do about a broody hen? Nudge her off and take the egg or just let her keep sitting on it?

Maybe ask about this over in the Raising Chickens part of the forum? Here is a link to that general area ... lots of threads to choose from over there.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/64/raising-backyard-chickens

 

[Bowleggedcowboy]

Thanks for the info and links

 

[perchie.girl]

Thanks for the info and links

@bruceha2000 gave you good advice... some broodies wont break easily...

Is there a chance to just give her a couple of fertile eggs and separate her to her own little broody pen... I just used a little chicken wire and a freestanding nest box. made my broody a space of about three feet long inside the coop. That way the rest of the hens can use the next boxes and the broody will not worry about having extra eggs added to her clutch.

Moving brodies is pretty easy if you know they are firmly decided. at worst youd break her.

deb

 

[Bowleggedcowboy]

@bruceha2000
gave you good advice...  some broodies wont break easily... 

Is there a chance to just give her a couple of fertile eggs and separate her to her own little broody pen...   I just used a little chicken wire and a freestanding nest box.  made my broody a space of about three feet long inside the coop.  That way the rest of the hens can use the next boxes and the broody will not worry about having extra eggs added to her clutch.

Moving brodies is pretty easy if you know they are firmly decided.  at worst youd break her.

deb

I'll give that a try. Thanks

 

[tntchix]

Holy cow. 700 posts behind. Awesome looking coops.

@WthrLady I am so in love with the teal color.

@TJordan as for raising a nice roo - my 2 cents: I think it's hit or miss. We culled our first roo. A bantam Sebright that would attack me and my daughter at every turn. I tried everything. Bye bye birdie.

I picked up 2 juvie roos that needed homes and they are the best.Well behaved, mind their own beeswax, and protect their girls. I adore them. The submissive stays in the coop and supports the layers and the dominant one watches out while free ranging.

 

[jmama5]

Added a door

 

[Sylvester017]

What's the best thing to do about a broody hen? Nudge her off and take the egg or just let her keep sitting on it?

We have Silkies and had a couple Leghorns that went broody. Yes - a Leghorn that actually went broody! We don't leave eggs in the nest but we let the broody hens sit on their empty nests - we just make sure to get them out 2 or 3x a day to eat/drink/dust-bathe/exercise. We take the broody to the far end of the yard so she has to forage, eat, drink, and walk/run for exercise back to her empty nest. Then she'll immediately go back to her empty nest to "brood". I let them because it gives their body cycle a "rest" from laying so many eggs the rest of the year. Silkies lay 4 to 6 eggs per week so when they go broody I let them. Nature takes its course and when they're ready they'll stop sitting on the empty nest (about 3 or 4 weeks) - just have to make sure they eat/drink/etc.

Now if you have fertilized eggs that you want to hatch then let the broody have a little clutch of 5 or 6 eggs to sit on. Again make sure to take the hen off the nest a couple times a day to eat/drink/etc. And isolate the nest box with a screen over the entrance so the other hens don't lay their eggs in the broody's hatching nest.

 

[Bowleggedcowboy]

We have Silkies and had a couple Leghorns that went broody.  Yes - a Leghorn that actually went broody!  We don't leave eggs in the nest but we let the broody hens sit on their empty nests - we just make sure to get them out 2 or 3x a day to eat/drink/dust-bathe/exercise.  We take the broody to the far end of the yard so she has to forage, eat, drink, and walk/run for exercise back to her empty nest.  Then she'll immediately go back to her empty nest to "brood".  I let them because it gives their body cycle a "rest" from laying so many eggs the rest of the year.  Silkies lay 4 to 6 eggs per week so when they go broody I let them.  Nature takes its course and when they're ready they'll stop sitting on the empty nest (about 3 or 4 weeks) - just have to make sure they eat/drink/etc.

Now if you have fertilized eggs that you want to hatch then let the broody have a little clutch of 5 or 6 eggs to sit on.  Again make sure to take the hen off the nest a couple times a day to eat/drink/etc.  And isolate the nest box with a screen over the entrance so the other hens don't lay their eggs in the broody's hatching nest.

that sounds like a good idea. That's what I did today when I got home from work, I nudged her out and got the eggs. Then I let all the chickens out into the yard to free range. I guess she heard the other chickens getting excited about being out of the run she came on out. It was the first time I let them out..

 

[Sylvester017]

that sounds like a good idea. That's what I did today when I got home from work, I nudged her out and got the eggs. Then I let all the chickens out into the yard to free range. I guess she heard the other chickens getting excited about being out of the run she came on out. It was the first time I let them out..

Chickens LOVE to be let out of the coop/pen. If you do it the same time every day they get used to it and will be excited when they see you coming to open their door. By dark they'll wander back to the coop to roost for the night. Just don't forget to lock them up for the night. Chickens are absolutely the best pets we've ever had. And their poop is recyclable -- unlike dog/cat poops!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi all - just wanted to share our experience with the BriteTap nipple waterer from chickenwaterers.com. We got tired of finding wild bird poops in our open chicken waterers so we switched to a couple of BriteTap nipple valve waterers with a Rubbermaid 2-gal jug. The wild bird population in our yard has cut down to half since there's no more open water bowls. We have a couple chicken treadle feeders on order so that should eliminate any wild birds eating our chicken food as well.

Our older hens are free-range and never used nipple valve waterers before. We managed to train one smart hen how to use the valves but the other 2 hens didn't quite understand how to hit the valves. They knew there was water but didn't know exactly how to get it to come out. We went out several times every day tapping the valves but only the smart hen would use it. BriteTap told us not to set out any of the old water bowls to get the chickens thirsty enough to use the nipple valves. Well, it took a week before the 2nd hen got the hang of it and 8 days later the last hen caught on. We tried to pen the girls up in the coop with the BriteTap but they were too frantic to be released out of the coop to notice the BriteTap. So, by afternoon we took the BriteTap out of the coop and released the girls and the smart hen went to the BriteTap's new location to drink. We had 90 degree heat so we gave the hens cantaloupe, grapes, fresh corn, etc. to get moisture so they didn't dehydrate. At last all 3 of our girls are having fun using the BriteTap like it was a new toy - hurray! I discovered that old free-range hens CAN learn new tricks but require more patience than training little chicks to the nipple waterers.

Now I hope our girls will be smart enough to eventually use the treadle feeders on order with the new Barn Coop so we can be completely free of the wild bird hoards that keep swooping in to eat our organic feed and pollute the old water bowls. Just ridding the yard of available water bowls has greatly decreased wild bird visits!

P.S. Having the BriteTap has eliminated cleaning old water bowls 2 and 3x a day with floating pieces of feed, grass, dirt, or wild bird poops in them. Also, with the Rubbermaid jug we don't have any pvc piping, or hoses, or having to leave a water spigot running all day. It's just a dream to use and if we want to add electrolytes during the heatwaves we just put it inside the Rubbermaid jug water with some ice cubes and it stays cool throughout the day. No algae build-up in the clear see-through BriteTap plus we got a Sun Cover for the BriteTap to keep the UV rays out. It's not the cheapest way to water our birds but certainly has been the cleanest, easiest way. We liked it so much we ordered two more.