Winter time broody hen

[jopheso]

One of our Lavender Marans hens has gone broody in the dead of winter of course. Luckily it doesnt get too frigid here in South Louisiana. She was sitting the eggs in the laying box so we had to move her and it was a bit of an adventure enjoy.

 

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

Great video I loved it I got a little stressed but then it was great Yay how did you get her to sit on the eggs or even lay this time of year? And send pics when they hatch

 

[jopheso]

Great video I loved it I got a little stressed but then it was great Yay how did you get her to sit on the eggs or even lay this time of year? And send pics when they hatch

I got a little stressed myself No real tricks that I know of to get them to sit eggs. I think just certain breeds tend to go broody and others dont. I guess Marans go broody.

As far as getting them to them lay, we dont typically feed our birds very much. they get 90% of their diet from free ranging. So they stopped laying a couple of weeks ago, well we went and found a high protein mix of chick starter. like 26% and gave it to them and it "shocked" them into laying again. Obviously we wont do this for very long maybe a couple of sacks, but it is nice to not have to buy eggs from the store in the winter

P.S. we will definitely have some follow up footage to see how many(if any) of them hatch.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

There has been some research done on wood duck chicks in the wild and it seems that the wood duck chicks who jump from a nest in a hollow tree over 60 feet high have a better survival rate than those chicks who only jump from 6 or 8 feet. If you would have provided a nest on the ground all the stress of moving a hen could have been avoided and momma would have proven that you didn't even need a heat lamp. Especially not in Southern Louisiana.

Warning, extreme warning, by opening this video you are about to watch a chick jump from maybe 1,000s of feet in the air, bounce down a mountain side like a tennis ball and walk away. Do not watch the following video if you like happy endings.

 

[jopheso]

Thanks chickengeorge. I think our biggest take away is that once we decide to let a girl do her broody thing, we will move her early on in the incubation process, instead of waiting so late. Also we havent run the heat lamp out there for several days, hopefully it all turns out the way it should

 

[Ridgerunner]

In south Louisiana throw away that heat lamp. That hen does not need it.

I gave a hen eggs in November and she hatched them about two weeks ago. We had temps in the low 20's and the eggs hatched and the chicks did OK. Trust your broody hen.

 

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

Dare devil chick IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT THATS SO CRAZY

 

[jopheso]

Update yall!

 

[chuckachucka]

Great video I loved it I got a little stressed but then it was great Yay how did you get her to sit on the eggs or even lay this time of year? And send pics when they hatch

I have a silkie who is currently sitting on a single egg, through the snow and minus temps of late. There's no stopping her!

 

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

Aww that's great you should join our crazy chicken story chat