Broody Hens Everywhere....

Hey everyone,

Last year I was thrilled, over joyed that Big Mama went broody and hatched out a nice little batch of fuzzy butts. It was a nice and new experience for not only myself but my niece Emily as well.
This year i wasn't surprised when Big Mama decided she'd reclaim her title and position back upon the nest.
She became a very determined hen, I tried breaking her a few times as she was interfering with my egg collection, I wanted to hatch out a few fuzzy butts for the upcoming sale, well I thought I had won the battle, I collected a weeks worth of eggs, and set them in the bator. All good. Here is where it gets interesting.

So I neglected to stay on top of egg collecting for a few days, something like 4 i think it was, I was laid up and dealing with so much I skipped out on that part of the routine... Big Mistake

I wasn't Surprised to see big Mama back on 16 eggs, but I was surprised to also see that she wasn't the only hen that had gone broody.... a few other gals also took the plunge. At this point dealing with one broody I thought was hard... lol After a day or so I gave up.... I decided ok fine you win hatch your hearts out.


Well the rest of the birds must have taken a note from Big Mama as I now have Broody hens everywhere..... Now I'm not complaining one bit......for me this is fantastic, as fertility has been great this year... a little shaky in the orps, mind you and I much prefer to continue my lines with natural hatched birds. Personally find them much more vigorous.

I now have the following....

2 Broody Ridley Bronze hens
1 Narragansett hen
5 Orp hens, ( Three in it for the long haul, 2 just starting)
1 Coro Hen
1 Buff Sussex hen
1 Buff Orp hen ( on/off)
2 Duck hens
1 Red Golden Pheasant hen.

I don't even know when half of these hen's hatches are due anymore... All I know is I have some Baby Proofing to do...


So in a funny way my attempts to hatch out Orps in the bator are being contested with Big Mama and a natural hatch, I think she wins this battle, or we will see when the hatch is complete... when ever that is............ but I am fine with that.

Here is to many healthy little fuzzy butts all around!



Cheers!

Jonny, I have broodies everywhere too. I find them a bit frustrating. I don't want to hatch any more this year!!!!!!!!

I am with you on that coopslave.
I have never had luck with broody chickens, ducks yes but not chickens.
Well I have quite a few wanting to be broody, only a couple I am letting have a go at it. Right now it is hardest because we are heading away to Wetaskiwin so will have a farm sitter and that never goes well when I have broodies, generally what happens is their eggs get collected and I spend my next day from holiday candling all my eating eggs to see which are not etable...
So I have let one determined Ameraucana set, I have moved her to a "broody hutch" so her and her eggs will be safe, and free's up the rest of the birds that were in her house to keep laying and not keep adding to her nest.
I have one Buff Orp that is very persistant, have been trying to break her all spring (KathyS this is your girl!) and so I am currently setting up a broody hutch for her and will move her tonight and let her have a go.
I have 2 Broody buff ducks, 2 broody Muscovy ducks, 1 Black turkey hen, 2 Blue slate hens (maybe 3 one is MIA). I have a bourbon red hen that I don't think is going to do well, she keep smushing her eggs, a rouen hen and a Cochin hen sharing a nest (never turns out well), and 3 more cochins on duck eggs. I have an australian spotted and guinea hen sharing a nest (not sure how that will turn out) and this am just found a little call hen nestled in under their ramp with a nest. SO could be an interesting summer if all these girls hatch stuff out!

I find it frustrating to keep food and water available for mama and chicks, never mind several clutches. She always spills food and tips over watered, because containers small. I have been letting her days and nights under the shade of our saskatoon bush, with poultry wire wrapped around to keep her there. Before I did this she would wander all over yard and it would worry me that chicks hadn't had water/food all day. So, confinement seems best until they can eat / drink out of adult sized containers. And I have three more hatches on the go to. One is a wonderful splash jersey from chickeesmom sitting on an embden goose egg! This should be quite the sight!

I have one Black Cochin that's broody. She took a long time to start laying and then laid well for 2 months. I have 7 BC that hatched in the incubator, but she is now broody and sitting rather than laying. The youngest gkid removed the 2 eggs that were under her so she was sitting on an empty nest. I've given her 5 GLW eggs, but her laying season was certainly shorter than I had hoped. I'm not sure of the due date. She was in a small section of the coop with a rooster so she actually is in a good environment for chicks.

I miss my broody hens, you are all going to have to post some pics for us.

I am also having fun with Broodies I have 2 black australorps, 1 cross breed, 1 ameracauna, 2 bourbon red turkey hens and 1 Muscovy hen wanting to set. I am okay with the turkeys and muscovies, but don't want my chickens sitting!! I keep trying to break them, but the one Aussie is so determined to be a momma she stole some baby mice from their momma and had them very carefully tucked under her. It looked kind of funny as momma mouse was jumping at the hen the hen was trying to peck her but still keep the babies tucked safely under herself

broodies have been the "in thing" around here this spring as well. I have one bantam on her third brood of chicks - she hatched 4 out of 4 Ameracauna eggs/chicks. One buff rock hatched out 5 bc marans and 1 buff rock chick. Another buff rock went broody and I broke her up then later sold her to a friend who is hoping she'll come around broody again. Even have an Isa Brown broody with 8 chicks. Now I have a black copper marans hen who is brooding. I keep trying to break her and keep taking away the eggs but she won't give up. I don't want any more chicks this year and we have a respiratory disease going around our flocks now too, so this is NOT the time for more babies- but try to convince my BCM of that!!

smokyriver wrote:I am also having fun with Broodies I have 2 black australorps, 1 cross breed, 1 ameracauna, 2 bourbon red turkey hens and 1 Muscovy hen wanting to set. I am okay with the turkeys and muscovies, but don't want my chickens sitting!! I keep trying to break them, but the one Aussie is so determined to be a momma she stole some baby mice from their momma and had them very carefully tucked under her. It looked kind of funny as momma mouse was jumping at the hen the hen was trying to peck her but still keep the babies tucked safely under herself

Oh my gosh! That's amazing ... and funny! I feel sorry for the mouse momma, even though she's a mouse. ;-)

I'm a new chicken mom, and I've got my fingers crossed that one of my girls will go broody ... anything I can do to encourage them?

Hi Everyone,
One of my silkies has been sitting for a couple of weeks,.... and I got a brilliant idea. Since I only have 3 runner ducks ( 1 drake only), I thought it would be a good idea to have more females to keep everyone happy. So I am attempting to have my hen hatch my 2 ferilized runner duck eggs that I will be purchasing tomorrow! I'm very excited!!! This is my first time raising chickens and ducks on my own, Hopefully all goes well!!
Wish me luck, and happy hatching!!!

Thanks mom for getting me hooked on ducks/chickens I am my mother's daughter!!

KendraG wrote:

smokyriver wrote:I am also having fun with Broodies I have 2 black australorps, 1 cross breed, 1 ameracauna, 2 bourbon red turkey hens and 1 Muscovy hen wanting to set. I am okay with the turkeys and muscovies, but don't want my chickens sitting!! I keep trying to break them, but the one Aussie is so determined to be a momma she stole some baby mice from their momma and had them very carefully tucked under her. It looked kind of funny as momma mouse was jumping at the hen the hen was trying to peck her but still keep the babies tucked safely under herself

Oh my gosh! That's amazing ... and funny! I feel sorry for the mouse momma, even though she's a mouse. ;-)

I'm a new chicken mom, and I've got my fingers crossed that one of my girls will go broody ... anything I can do to encourage them?

come get one of mine!! LOL I find all I usually have to do is leave an egg or two and someone will decide they want to be a momma. Momma mouse either got eaten by the other chickens or found out a way to get her babies away from the hen as all are gone. I gave up and give the one aussie a dozen muscovy eggs, and the other aussie has 3 royal palm eggs. Will see how things go with these guys. Hopefully they don't decide now to quite being broodie. I wish I had thought to video the mouse deal as it was pretty neat to see!

And I thought we had lots. A dominique pullet, rhode island red bantam pullet, silkie hen and a silkie pullet are either setting or taking care of chicks.

I have never seen so many broody girls in one place....hey! where are the eggs? I have too many girls on the nests. Puddles, a seven month old Cuckoo Maran,broody; her sister Lejeune, broody, Charlotte, an ISA Brown, broody, Dot, an Auracana? I think, broody also; and Arizona, who had just started laying, broody and last but not least, Shadow, a small black banty is doing her 2nd tour...broody, broody, broody. Is it a virus...hey girls...where are the eggs?

Over here I have 4 muscovy hens, 3 Chanteclers and one Australorp all broody!
Now if only my Peahen will start soon. She now has 6 eggs in the corner of their shed.