1st thing... thanks to ALL who have contributed to BYC! This is an amazing source of info which I've used 100's of times (literally).
This is for those of you new to broody hens I thought I would share my experience up until now.
I'm going to speak to the mistakes I believe I have made and the fact animals are just animals and we can't always predict their behavior. Be flexible and adapt quickly.
1st Mistake: I let 2 broodies hatch at the same time (4 days apart). I realize some have no issues, but these 2 girls are currently straight up WWE in my coop if I don't keep them separate. This is obviously not the expectation I had or should I say, was hoping for. Thanks to all of you I knew exactly what I was observing and what to do about it. We are in for a few more weeks of musical chairs with kennels (LG dog crates & pens), separate runs, etc. This is mostly due to the personality of one the broodys, she is just plane nuts about those babies, a dominant hen and is a very good mama. The 2nd broody is a sister of the first and is not a dominant hen and barely can hold her own. She is an "ok" mom. She's not the brightest bulb in the pack. The 1st broody has 3 chicks - two weeks old and the 2nd hen has 4 chicks -1 week old.
They both are pretty good with the other hens in the flock and vice versa. The others give them wide birth. I have 17 hens and one rooster. My rooster has been great too and I actually wish he would engage a bit more with these 2 crazy's, but I think he's terrified of them, lol! Better that then him killing chicks (which I know is rare).
2nd Mistake: I did not mark their clutches as soon as I noticed they were broody. Meaning I had chicks hatch in both clutches up to 3 days apart. I had to candle more then one would like through all of this to try to guess ages and group the clutches the best I could by the age under each hen. I did OK for a 1st timer (I think). Again... thanks to ALL OF YOU! Next time they will sit on some golf balls and I will collect eggs for a week, then they will be given a marked clutch on one day.
What worked out well: I left the girls in the nesting boxes to sit and hatch, which at times was challenging with all the other hens. I do have 8 good sized boxes, so there was still plenty of space. The issue of course was if a broody got down, everybody wanted in her box. Which meant I did have 2 broken eggs. I left the girls in their boxes until hatching started. This got a bit hairy as these chicks hatched quite a few days apart. Staggered hatches are not fun! But we did learn to manage them. Once I had chicks and they were looking like they were restless (a day, two at the max) I moved each hen into small dog crates wrapped with hardy mesh and let them finish hatching. Moving them was a bit like playing tetris, hen, new baby chick tucked under and eggs hatching. I was extremely careful/gentle and got bit A LOT.
Between moving them out of the nesting boxes and into the small crates on the floor I did, for a period of a day or two for each of them, suspended/supported the small crate in front of the nesting box so in case she needed room to relieve herself and she could teach a curious chick to eat/drink right in front while she was still hatching in the box. In essence I extended the nesting box out. Looking back this is a step I would skip. I have a very good relationship with my girls and although they did get grumpy and upset with me a few times they were very trusting.
What I would do different next time (as this was my 1st time with broodies)>>>
1. I will still let them stay in in the nesting box to sit, but when they start hatching and it's time to move move momma, baby chicks and even an unhatched egg it will be directly into a larger crate on the floor with a nesting box in it. This hassle of having to keep upgrading separation pens/crates is silly. I created a lot more work for myself and the girls by just not starting with the larger footprint of space and having a box in it for them. The girls were and are troopers and I won't worry about them breaking broody next time, so I'll move them sooner if I feel it necessary. These girls SAT to the point I was worried about their health, but they knew best and are looking pretty good. A little under weight, but good.
2. NO MORE THAN ONE BROODY WITH CHICKS AT A TIME if I can help it
This is really what's been hard for me. I know they will eventually work it out, but until they do it's a quite a bit of taking turns out in the coop/runs and micro management while working fulltime. Lots of very early mornings and late evenings. Most of the time my flock is out free ranging so my "Fort Knox" safe run (7x15) is usually empty and my "quasi safe" large run (9x20) just has everyone kind of coming in and out from free range for water, to mess around in the straw, for shade or to evade a circling eagle. Which means they can stay away from each other safely with babies if they want, but as of now they would rather fight, lol.
I realize if I would have paid more attention in the 1st few days I would have avoided a staggered hatch and avoided much of the craziness when you have a hen with 2 day old chicks and still hatching more another. Then another hen in the same boat
Also, I went into this knowing I had ample space to play with. The coop is more of a barn - 8x16 w/ plenty of roosting/floor space for multiple feeders/waterers and separation pens/crates if needed. I already stated the size of the runs if they have to be locked up due to a predator threat (which does happen by us). Thank God I have the space, because if not, this would almost be unmanageable unless I separated hens/chicks from the flock and that's the last thing you want to do.
Here's a pic for you all while we were they were finishing hatching in small crates on the floor and I hope this write up will help someone.
This is for those of you new to broody hens I thought I would share my experience up until now.
I'm going to speak to the mistakes I believe I have made and the fact animals are just animals and we can't always predict their behavior. Be flexible and adapt quickly.
1st Mistake: I let 2 broodies hatch at the same time (4 days apart). I realize some have no issues, but these 2 girls are currently straight up WWE in my coop if I don't keep them separate. This is obviously not the expectation I had or should I say, was hoping for. Thanks to all of you I knew exactly what I was observing and what to do about it. We are in for a few more weeks of musical chairs with kennels (LG dog crates & pens), separate runs, etc. This is mostly due to the personality of one the broodys, she is just plane nuts about those babies, a dominant hen and is a very good mama. The 2nd broody is a sister of the first and is not a dominant hen and barely can hold her own. She is an "ok" mom. She's not the brightest bulb in the pack. The 1st broody has 3 chicks - two weeks old and the 2nd hen has 4 chicks -1 week old.
They both are pretty good with the other hens in the flock and vice versa. The others give them wide birth. I have 17 hens and one rooster. My rooster has been great too and I actually wish he would engage a bit more with these 2 crazy's, but I think he's terrified of them, lol! Better that then him killing chicks (which I know is rare).
2nd Mistake: I did not mark their clutches as soon as I noticed they were broody. Meaning I had chicks hatch in both clutches up to 3 days apart. I had to candle more then one would like through all of this to try to guess ages and group the clutches the best I could by the age under each hen. I did OK for a 1st timer (I think). Again... thanks to ALL OF YOU! Next time they will sit on some golf balls and I will collect eggs for a week, then they will be given a marked clutch on one day.
What worked out well: I left the girls in the nesting boxes to sit and hatch, which at times was challenging with all the other hens. I do have 8 good sized boxes, so there was still plenty of space. The issue of course was if a broody got down, everybody wanted in her box. Which meant I did have 2 broken eggs. I left the girls in their boxes until hatching started. This got a bit hairy as these chicks hatched quite a few days apart. Staggered hatches are not fun! But we did learn to manage them. Once I had chicks and they were looking like they were restless (a day, two at the max) I moved each hen into small dog crates wrapped with hardy mesh and let them finish hatching. Moving them was a bit like playing tetris, hen, new baby chick tucked under and eggs hatching. I was extremely careful/gentle and got bit A LOT.
Between moving them out of the nesting boxes and into the small crates on the floor I did, for a period of a day or two for each of them, suspended/supported the small crate in front of the nesting box so in case she needed room to relieve herself and she could teach a curious chick to eat/drink right in front while she was still hatching in the box. In essence I extended the nesting box out. Looking back this is a step I would skip. I have a very good relationship with my girls and although they did get grumpy and upset with me a few times they were very trusting.
What I would do different next time (as this was my 1st time with broodies)>>>
1. I will still let them stay in in the nesting box to sit, but when they start hatching and it's time to move move momma, baby chicks and even an unhatched egg it will be directly into a larger crate on the floor with a nesting box in it. This hassle of having to keep upgrading separation pens/crates is silly. I created a lot more work for myself and the girls by just not starting with the larger footprint of space and having a box in it for them. The girls were and are troopers and I won't worry about them breaking broody next time, so I'll move them sooner if I feel it necessary. These girls SAT to the point I was worried about their health, but they knew best and are looking pretty good. A little under weight, but good.
2. NO MORE THAN ONE BROODY WITH CHICKS AT A TIME if I can help it
This is really what's been hard for me. I know they will eventually work it out, but until they do it's a quite a bit of taking turns out in the coop/runs and micro management while working fulltime. Lots of very early mornings and late evenings. Most of the time my flock is out free ranging so my "Fort Knox" safe run (7x15) is usually empty and my "quasi safe" large run (9x20) just has everyone kind of coming in and out from free range for water, to mess around in the straw, for shade or to evade a circling eagle. Which means they can stay away from each other safely with babies if they want, but as of now they would rather fight, lol.I realize if I would have paid more attention in the 1st few days I would have avoided a staggered hatch and avoided much of the craziness when you have a hen with 2 day old chicks and still hatching more another. Then another hen in the same boat
Also, I went into this knowing I had ample space to play with. The coop is more of a barn - 8x16 w/ plenty of roosting/floor space for multiple feeders/waterers and separation pens/crates if needed. I already stated the size of the runs if they have to be locked up due to a predator threat (which does happen by us). Thank God I have the space, because if not, this would almost be unmanageable unless I separated hens/chicks from the flock and that's the last thing you want to do.
Here's a pic for you all while we were they were finishing hatching in small crates on the floor and I hope this write up will help someone.
