Who's got a broody hen?

[BirdGirl2004]

Hey guys! Reply in the comments below and tell me about your broody hen!! I can't wait for my very own Australorp to hatch my eggs out!! I've still got 13 days left!! You can post here if you just can't wait for you eggs to hatch!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have tons of broodies, some on eggs, some being broke, some still sitting in the nestboxes waiting to be broke. I am overrun with broodies.

My bantams are currently hatching my Orpington eggs, a few are on my barnevelder eggs, a barnevelder is on my turkey eggs, and a duck is on 4 eggs. Whew.

 

[BirdGirl2004]

I have tons of broodies, some on eggs, some being broke, some still sitting in the nestboxes waiting to be broke. I am overrun with broodies.

My bantams are currently hatching my Orpington eggs, a few are on my barnevelder eggs, a barnevelder is on my turkey eggs, and a duck is on 4 eggs. Whew.

that's awesome!! I wish i had that many broody's!!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I just had a Buff Orpington/Dominique hen hatch a bunch of barnyard mutt eggs. She is the first hen we had go broody. I put 3 eggs from a leghorn/EE cross hen and 5 of the largest brown eggs we had from our barnyard mutt flock under her. The roo is a leghorn cross (not sure with what) and the brown eggs could be from leghorn crosses, Dominiques, a Dom/RIR, or Dom/Buffs.

This is the sight I saw when I went to check on the eggs around lunch time today. I went to move the hen and this little yellow head popped out.

When I picked up the hen, I saw that 5 of the 8 eggs had hatched. I took the nest box out and moved the chicks and the eggs that had not yet hatched into the tote and put the hen back with them.

One of the EE hen eggs had a very thick membrane and I helped the chick out and the third EE egg also hatched. The remaining egg is one of the brown eggs. I'm going to candle it tomorrow if it doesn't hatch. Mama hen is doing wonderful, she is eating and drinking well now and she hovers over her babies like a champ.

6 of the 7 chicks that hatched so far are yellow (as to be expected with a leghorn father) but the surprise is this little grey chick. So CUTE! I love the little yellow spot on the chick's head.

 

[BirdGirl2004]

I just had a Buff Orpington/Dominique hen hatch a bunch of barnyard mutt eggs. She is the first hen we had go broody. I put 3 eggs from a leghorn/EE cross hen and 5 of the largest brown eggs we had from our barnyard mutt flock under her. The roo is a leghorn cross (not sure with what) and the brown eggs could be from leghorn crosses, Dominiques, a Dom/RIR, or Dom/Buffs.

This is the sight I saw when I went to check on the eggs around lunch time today. I went to move the hen and this little yellow head popped out.
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When I picked up the hen, I saw that 5 of the 8 eggs had hatched. I took the nest box out and moved the chicks and the eggs that had not yet hatched into the tote and put the hen back with them.
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One of the EE hen eggs had a very thick membrane and I helped the chick out and the third EE egg also hatched. The remaining egg is one of the brown eggs. I'm going to candle it tomorrow if it doesn't hatch. Mama hen is doing wonderful, she is eating and drinking well now and she hovers over her babies like a champ.
View attachment 707789

6 of the 7 chicks that hatched so far are yellow (as to be expected with a leghorn father) but the surprise is this little grey chick. So CUTE! I love the little yellow spot on the chick's head.
View attachment 707710
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That's awesome!! Great post! Love the pics. My fertile eggs are also all mixed! But i love the different combinations that I can get!

 

[BirdGirl2004]

I have a black Jersey Giant as my rooster so hopefully there not ALL black! Ha!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I have a black Jersey Giant as my rooster so hopefully there not ALL black! Ha!

I have a 16 week old black cochin (a free rare chick with an order for Murray McMurray) I want to use with my barnyard mutts at some point. I also have purebred Buff Orpingtons (16 weeks old) and 4 week old purebred New Hampshires and Delawares I can play with. I'm going to be using the DE and NH birds to hatch Indian River Broilers next year. I hope more of my Buffs/Buff crosses go broody.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I also had one of my Dominiques go broody, but she would jump off the nest anytime I disturbed her and she would peck and bite. She also kept switching nests. The neighbor we got our Doms and Dom crosses from said Dominiques will go broody, but they aren't steady sitters. I broke her by picking her up any time I found her sitting in a nestbox and carried her around while I did chores for about 5 min before I put her back.

With the Dom/Buff I had hatch the eggs, she was determined to stay on the nest no matter how much I disturbed her and she never pecked or bit. I hope she stays around for a good long time. She's been so good with me looking at her chicks today.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I candled that remaining egg this morning. It looks like it stopped developing midway through. However, 7 out of 8 eggs is not a bad hatch ratio.

 

[AGmom]

We have a very small mixed chicken flock of 3 bantam and 6 full sized mix hens and 1 Americana? rooster that showed up and moved in with our hens, 5 ducks one is male, 2 Tom's and 2 Turkey hens. So far every bantam is broody (golden seabrite) just hatched 3 full size mix chicks yesterday and today. Our black silkie was "helping" the seabrite and now has the 3 eggs that are viable but not ready of the 6 clutch under her our (bantam sultan) took another nest box on which she has begun setting on 2 eggs just laid! After being kicked out by us 3 broody bantam were ALL setting together on the same 6 eggs! After the first chicks hatched we had to relieve the crowding of the ONE nest box! Our cuckoo Maran is setting on nothing for the last week and one of our Turkey hens has a setting "hobby" I'm not sure her eggs will hatch at all she gets up a lot and spends at least half the day off the nest. I guess it COULD happen but I'm not expecting anything.