What I learned about using a Broody Hen

[AngieChick]

My first broody hen just hatched out her 10 chicks and did an amazing job. This was her first hatch.

-It's a good idea to separate her out early. We lost 2 eggs early on due to other hens stepping on them. This made her such a nervous nelly that she refused to leave her nest for any reason, even after we secluded her.

-I should have forced her to get up and eat/drink daily. She did have food and water right by her, and I brought her scrambled eggs daily. However, her rear end was a mess by the end of hatch.

-It pays off to have a broody hen that is used to being handled, it makes it much easier to tend to her and to move her and her chicks.

- Eggs can hatch out earlier, our first chick was at 19 days, the last one was at the end of day 21.

-If an egg cools off for a bit, it will likely still be fine.

-She is much better at incubating than I am. Out of the 10 eggs that didn't get stepped on, every single one hatched.

-A good doting broody hen and mama hen are worth their weight in eggs. She will get to hatch out again, whenever she gets the urge.

-A hen that is fairly bossy and aggressive with the other chickens can still make a wonderful broody.

-Buff orpington chicks are ridiculously amazingingly cute.

My EE, ChickenHawk, with her babies.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Its so wonderful to watch nature do what its meant to. Great mama and cute babies

 

[TXmom]

Awwwwwwww...that is awesome! Those babies are adorable

I can't wait for one of my hens to go broody, umm, when I have eggs

(18 weeks now, not-so-patiently waiting for eggs)

 

[Goose and Fig]

Well said!

When you start with hatchery hens that have the broodiness bred out of them- a broody is worth their weight in gold- and then some!

Sweet babies!

 

[Laura78]

I have a hen that went broody on Saturday. I haven't been giving her any special treatment as of yet. Working on building her and the eggs/babies their own space. I waiting to move her incase she leaves the eggs. Right now I've got eggs in the bator and would rather wait untill those hatch just incase I need to put the broody's eggs in there. But I don't think I'll have a problem. When I put her in the coop I had eleven 8 wk olds in there and she went a broody with them on the first day! She'd put them in a nesting box all together and would stand at the opening with her wings spread. If she wasn't sitting on eggs and I had a sperate place for her I would give her my turkey that hatched yesterday. Maybe I can get another chicken broody and give them the eggs in the bator.

BTW, great looking momma and babies! I've got 2 EE that look like your's and we named one Hawk and the other Chipmonk.

 

[Blisskat]

I may be a little crazy, but that hen has a pretty gentle look to her eyes that I normally don't see in pictures of hens with her chicks. They normally look so aggressively protective. It must be her regular handling?

She's very pretty, by the way, and congrats on the chicks and the successful hatch!

 

[PaintedMeadows]

Awww, what sweet pictures. She looks like my hen, Hermione, that I lost to a broken leg a month ago. I really miss her. We have one of her eggs in with the others under our Buff orpington hen, Scrunchie. They will be 21 days on saturday. How much earlier do you suggest removing the hen? Was she on the ground when she hatched them? Conratulations!!

 

[walkswithdog]

She's GORGEOUS! I didn't separate my girls, they did okay anyway. And they're hatchery stock so anything is sometimes possible.

Hmm Daddy George is in there too...

 

[AngieChick]

Quote:
She was in a nest box, but as soon as the other hens saw her sitting in it, it became the "in" place to lay. I should have moved her when we put the real eggs under her.

Happy - I was pretty surprised when she went broody, especially at just under a year old, she is a hatchery bird. I hatched out silkies in part due to their broodiness, so this was a happy shock to see her become such a good broody.

Bliss- oh, don't worry, she gets pretty ticked if it's anyone other than myself, my husband or my oldest son - her "roos". I can handle her chicks, she doesn't like it, but she puts up with it.

Walks - those are great pictures! what cutie pies. If you didn't need to separate them, that's great. I am a firm believer in doing whatever works for you. I know now how my birds are, so I will always separate early. Oh, and Daddy George is so pretty he should be able to be wherever the heck he wants to be!

If I had a rooster, I would be favoring her eggs to hatch out. She has been a great all around bird, but her broodiness and good mama tendencies set her apart. It's a trait so important to keep in the chicken population.

 

[walkswithdog]

I got lucky with these girls they're both protective of the eggs and social enough to keep on the nesting shelf. Other than I had to fish other hens eggs out from under them I had little trouble. And they're both lap pets, so they let me handle them and the eggs and babies without actually getting mad about it.

I have to get them down from the nesting shelf here shortly but I thought I'd give them a day or two. Since mine are free range, I'm letting nature sort out who makes it through the mixing with the flock process. It's hard but it makes for a stronger flock in the long run. Fortunately the flock has had some exposure to mom's and babies before. Even now some of the hens are back to laying up there with the broody mommas.

She's beautiful, I would hatch eggs from her too.