Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bumpercarr]

yeah I'm just worried about the space to "get away" i wanted to open the new run by now but the hard wire cloth i ordered isn't here yet despite me putting a two-day rush order on it

the older chicks can't get though the chicken wire but the youngest chicks can and i don't want to lose any more baby's today

but i do have odds and ends pieces of hard wire cloth left so maybe i can out something together with that because my grams sick rooster is taking up the old dog crate with the run i was going to use for the baby's after i broke my rooster of his mean streak.

I'm lucky, I have lots of room to separate and introduce new chicks. Each of us has to make the decisions that are best for our situations, chickens are definitely not a one size fits all proposition!

I've also used the plastic garden fencing as a temporary solution in the past. It is readily available, but it isn't very predator proof. I only use it where I know I have a place to put the chicks away at night and I usually only use it for a few weeks just until they are large enough to not pop through the regular fencing. But, I raise brahmas and by 8 weeks old, they are huge!! If I tried to wait until 8 weeks to integrate them into the flock, I don't think I'd have enough space for them in a brooder. My 12 week olds are about 24 inches tall at the top of their heads, my 8 week olds are as large as a Barred Rock hen. My 5 week olds are probably the size of a pigeon. So, there is no way that I could leave them in a brooder beyond the 3-4 week mark, I'd have them crammed in there like production chickens at an egg factory!

I've actually built a separate apartment in my coop that I use for chick integration, for broodies with their clutches (before I lost mine to dogs this spring), injured birds or anything else that I need to separate for anything. My husband thought that I was wasting my time when I built it, but boy, it sure has come in handy. It is 3x10, so it has enough room for quite a few birds. I'm getting ready to build another one to start separating out my breeding cocks when they are old enough to breed. I've read that once you take them out of the boy flock for breeding, it is difficult to put them back in with the other boys. So, if things get a little crazy, I'll put the breeders into their own apartments until I have enough hens built back into my flock to be able to keep a male with them all of the time.

 

[Sydney Acres]

My broody is still not moving from her nest. I placed her water just outside the carrier, but she won't go near it to drink and now looks a bit dehydrated. She will eat some of the moistened food I place in front of her, though. I have now started giving her water in a syringe once a day. I was thinking of taking her from the carrier once a day, but I'm afraid to break her broodiness. I don't have an incubator.

It's a hard decision, as there are some broodies that won't hold their brood after they've been disturbed. But if she's not moving at all, here are a few things to consider:

1) If her brood trance is soooo strong that she's not taking care of herself, then her hormones are probably "set in place" well enough that she'll go back to brooding after a short break.
2) If you don't have an incubator and she breaks her brood after you remove her from the nest, then the eggs die. If you don't have an incubator and she dies on the nest, then the eggs die AND she dies.
3) A bird that doesn't move around at all is more likely to get pneumonia than one that moves around regularly. A bird that doesn't move around AND gets dehydrated is at severe risk of pneumonia.
4) Brinsea (one of the major incubator companies) is now marketing one of their top of the line incubators to have a cooling cycle in it. Research has shown that chicks that hatch out of eggs that were allowed to cool some every day are measurably more vigorous than those that are hatched out of eggs incubated at a constant temperature (cooled up to three hours a day, but I don't know how cold, and I don't know if that's all at once, or cumulative over the day, as I haven't read the full article yet, only the abstract). So nature does best when the hen has the instincts to take care of herself too, not just the babies.
5) There are several posts on the internet (although I've never seen any on this thread) of broodies starving themselves to death on the nest. I have one hen who's trance is so deep that I have to tube feed her everything that she needs to survive every day to keep her alive (which is easy when she doesn't respond at all!!), and can only wake her up to poop, stretch, and flap her wings by rubbing ice cubes on her face. I would never let this hen brood a clutch, but this has to be done during the 5-6 days that it takes to break her brood.

What breed is your broody? Some breeds are so broody that there is a lot less risk of her breaking her brood if disturbed.
Is she tame? If so, then she is much less likely to be upset by you handling her.

While I wouldn't recommended it for most hens in most circumstances, I personally do take all my broody hens off their nests 1-2 times a day. I do it because my hens are all very tame and handled daily, they are of a breed that holds its brood very well (Red Dorkings), and they are very large birds which are more prone to medical problems if they don't get up to stretch their legs and flap their wings regularly. Because my birds are pets as well as breeding stock, each hen is more important to me than any chick that she might hatch out, so my primary goal is to maintain her health, and the chicks are secondary. I currently have my third hen that I'm allowing to brood for the full incubation, and have had no problems taking any of them off the nest. (Also, I have probably had 30-50 broods that I have had to break over the last 3 years, and none were affected by me taking them off the nest daily.) I have the nest in an area where the eggs can't be disturbed, and I take the hen into a quiet area of the yard, or into a separate room of the barn, completely away from the nest. Before I lift her up, I extend the wings out just a little to be sure she doesn't have any eggs up in her "wingpits," as those eggs can be dropped and break if not removed before she is lifted. I put one hand on each side of her body, extending under her breast, so that my grip is supportive, secure, and gentle to prevent her from flailing or falling. I set her on a towel and pet her and talk to her as I sprinkle scratch grains on the ground in front of her (much more stimulating than just a bowl set in front of her). Usually she wakes up from her trance within 1-3 minutes. If not, I stand her on her feet and rub under her wings, or gently extend out her wings multiple times (I wouldn't do that on a bird that hasn't been extensively handled, as it could make a hen panic if she suddenly woke up with her wings held extended out). Slowly giving water with an oral syringe, or rubbing a moistened finger on her face, can also wake up some of the stubborn ones, but you do have to be careful not to drown them at first. Once the hen wakes up she is usually frantically hungry, thirsty, then hungry again, then needs to stretch, then flap her wings, poop, then suddenly there's a grooming emergency and there's lots of preening to do. Eventually she notices that I'm there with her and she jumps on my lap or shoulder and coos and talks and plays with my clothes and all sorts of other social interaction, like there's a desperation to make up for all the time she's missed. After 20-40 minutes she winds down and starts clucking and looking for her eggs. At that point I carry her back to her nestbox and put her down just outside of it (don't put her directly back in, as she might accidentally break the eggs). She will gently get back in and settle back down on the nest. If you do this at night and the nest is in a dark area, bring a flashlight and shine it directly on the eggs so she will focus on them only, but don't shine it in her eyes. (Things I learned not to do: 1) Don't carry the flashlight in your pocket if it can fall out and hit the hen, or the eggs. 2) Don't shine the light off to the side in a dark room, as the hen wants to get to the eggs NOW, and may become quite upset if she can't see them because she is looking where the light is shined.)

So overall, yes, it is a risk when you take a broody off her nest, but it may be a greater risk to leave her alone. You have to decide which risk is highest in your specific circumstances. If you do take her off her nest, doing so in a pre-planned manner, in a quiet and controlled environment, where nothing scary happens, can greatly increase your odds of her doing well and still maintaining her brood.

Please keep us posted. I hope everything goes well for her.

 

[Sydney Acres]

One of 9

That is tooooo cute. That baby's well hidden. It took me a minute to notice it.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Our broody is still doing well.....

Great picture!!

 

[chickenlisa]

We moved my 21 young chicks- 4-6 week olds, out to a big pen this afternoon, and took "Meanie" the Broody hen out with her eggs and put her into the portable chicken tractor right outside our back door. She had a few min off of her eggs, pooed a big pile, ate and drank for maybe the 1st time in a long while, and then she hopped right back onto those 11 eggs. They are on Day 12 today. Hope she hatches a few chicks at least...she is so committed to those eggs!

 

[LisaLouHoo]

awww so cute do you know what breed that little blue\grey chick is? i have one and it would be awesome to get an idea of what breed it is the chick is sooo sweet its the only one that doesn't run from me when i'm changing their food and water

It's a blue silkie.

 

[Tabatha]

I think my silkie mutt has went on lock down a little early (think she should still have another week to go...but not sure due to the shuffling of eggs we went through in the begining). Is this ok even if another hen sat on the eggs for a week and then I switched to this girl to care for them? Is it the broody's internal clock that causes lock down or is movement/sound inside the eggs? She's acting different too. Usually, she bites and shakes and puffs up and growls...now she still pecks a little, but keeps her eyes closed and doesn't poof or growl. This is her first brood. My buff orpie broody has a predictable pattern of behavior throughout...nothing like this silkie demon. Well...She's a lot nicer NOW. Should I be worried or am I just being paranoid chicken momma?

 

[bumpercarr]

I think my silkie mutt has went on lock down a little early (think she should still have another week to go...but not sure due to the shuffling of eggs we went through in the begining). Is this ok even if another hen sat on the eggs for a week and then I switched to this girl to care for them? Is it the broody's internal clock that causes lock down or is movement/sound inside the eggs? She's acting different too. Usually, she bites and shakes and puffs up and growls...now she still pecks a little, but keeps her eyes closed and doesn't poof or growl. This is her first brood. My buff orpie broody has a predictable pattern of behavior throughout...nothing like this silkie demon. Well...She's a lot nicer NOW. Should I be worried or am I just being paranoid chicken momma?

The great thing about broodies is that they can't tell time and can't count.

She may be either feeling some movement or hearing something from the eggs. Or, maybe she's tired and ready for it to be over just like we get when we are about 8 1/2 month along. All I know is that every hen acts differently and just when you think you understand what is going on, they turn around and surprise you with something new.

 

[Tabatha]

The great thing about broodies is that they can't tell time and can't count. 

She may be either feeling some movement or hearing something from the eggs.  Or, maybe she's tired and ready for it to be over just like we get when we are about 8 1/2 month along.  All I know is that every hen acts differently and just when you think you understand what is going on, they turn around and surprise you with something new.

ok...so I can relax...A little...lol

 

[winteree]

It's a blue silkie.

really? can silkies have clean legs? or could this be another breed of chick?