Broody hens and cold weather

It seems almost hilarious to me that I have a Chantecler hen consistently trying to set on any clutch of eggs (or single egg) she can find, she's in the nesting box every night when I close them up, and gets right ornery when I move her, puffy and clucky (you know the deal).

I would like to do some broody-hatched eggs this year, preferably 3 clutches of 10ish eggs or so if they'll set on them. My question is, what should the ambient temperature be in the coop before you let them settle in and try to hatch? I've been blessed with warmer weather here recently, and I wonder if that's not what's triggering it, however the 40 below streak should return here, right quick-like too.

Any experience on this?

I'd be surprised if a hen was successful in winter temperatures, and if she was would be surprised if the chicks survived. Unless you permanently heated your coop.

I had a Cochin go broody last December. She was a pain in the butt every time I went in the coop. Finally I had it and said to her, "You want to hatch? Well, then, here!" And I shoved three eggs under her. She hatched them in the coldest part of the month and yes, my coop is unheated. I took them from her and raised them in the class until they could go outside.

So, I guess the question is, do you want chicks right now?

Ok we are not cold as you guys but I had one hatch one lone chick in middle of december. They have been living in a crate in my dog room ever since.....shaving all through the house! And the little bugger is a boy...better be a good one!

For me the first concern would be, is she serious?

I do not let hen's set eggs in a nest box mixed in with general population. Other hens will kill chicks. Before I embark on hen hatching, I make sure mom has a seperate place to be by herself, undisturbed, with enough room after hatch to move around a bit with the kids. SO for me, hen must have hen hotel.

Next, put her in hen hotel with one sacrificial egg. Does she set on it? Then she is serious. Does she run around her hotel room squawking and flapping and trying to find a way out? She is NOT serious. Sometimes just moving a hen un-broodies them. This is a good way to find out how determined they are.

Oh..I have also built a little low sided wooden box with plywood bottom that I use as nesting box. I make sure it is sitting on lots of shavings too, with more shavings inside. Once the chicks hatch, I remove the nest box. Otherwise sometimes mom gts back in the box, but the kids can't. If the box is gone, they will huddle under mom and she won't be in a box, out of reach.

I do heat my hen house and we sure as heck do not get down to Sask temps, but the coop is on skids and the floor gets very cold! My hen hotel is a 3x4 foot fenced off area inside the hen house, and I put a couple layers of cardboard on the floor and shavings over top. The cardboard has somewhat of an insulative quality, and one lone hen will not make that much poop to saturate it. It should remain dry.

If you have a private place to put her, some cardboard to protect her from creeping cold floors and she is serious...what have you got to lose?

I don't want her to set right now, it just got me thinking about broodies and when to start them. I wouldn't mind if I could get them to set the second week of March, but was wondering the experiences with that. My first broody set first week of april and her chicks did wonderfully.

Our coop is set up with 2 breeding pens where girls or injured birds can be separated, however remain in the flock.

Thanks for the input!

I hear you can make them un broody by putting them in a nest box with a wire bottom and a fan blowing air up their broody little bottoms.

Schipperkesue wrote:I hear you can make them un broody by putting them in a nest box with a wire bottom and a fan blowing air up their broody little bottoms.

I just throw them off the nest every day. They eventually get over themselves, OR they're still broody when I want to hatch eggs

Oh the broody hen questions. They are rather stubborn when they get their mind set. I have had many a cochin begin to sit on eggs in January and hatch out chicks perfectly fine. Not sure if it is breed? I say this because.

I had a buff orpington that was broody for about 10 days, when I finally gave up and gave her a dozen eggs. I had checked the eggs to see if the bullseye mark was on the yolk, yep. The eggs I tested were fertile.

Put the gal with the eggs below her great and beautiful belly into the broody area. The hen almost filled the entire nest box, she flattened herself down so flat and hunkered down on those eggs. Twenty two days later she hatched chicks. Twenty third day, at the end of the day, I removed 8 eggs that had not hatched. Left that gal alone for the next two days. Went out those two days later to see how many chicks actually there were. One chick. One lone chick? Huh? OK, shoulda been three more. Where are they. Could not find two of them, gone, maybe died and are in the hay in her area somewhere, dehydrated or frozen. The other one was dead and it was stuck to the underside of her belly . what happened here, no clue, but I pulled that dead chick off. It was really stuck hard and pulled out two belly feathers from the mother. Sigh and blah....off to the burning pile it went. The little chick with its mom are happy as happy can be.

I don't know what happened. I do know that there were 8 eggs I removed that clearly had not developed. I don't really care enough to crack open a 21 day or older chick.

I cannot attribute it to the weather. Sure it is cold, but not freezy deep and hard cold, where I have had other hens hatch out, like last winter. No clue. It doesn't matter.

I have another broody buff orpington that is due eggs on Friday. She also has a dozen, in the same area to brood them, except separated from the other hen by poultry wire. Those pictures are here, I'm sure you have seen them.

If she hatches only one chick, then I don't know what. Really, I don't know what I will do. If she hatches out a dozen chicks. I do know that I will give the other mamma a couple. Although I do know that in no time at all, both mothers will be melded anyways in the coop and share mothering duties. Have that happen frequently, and they share. Last year when 2 buff orpington mammas brooded at the same time they shared, totally. After some time one of the mammas just wanted to get back to normal life, and the other one took over all the chicks. Weird how that one went.

I have another buff orpington that is making the broody sounds. If there is awful hatch, as such that I have had with the one gal, then she is going into broody break up. I really don't need mothers raising babies right now. It really is a pain in the butt more than anything. But I don't know. I sit on that fence. I am making longer days for the chickens, so they lay eggs, and they must think it is springtime. This is my fault. I would say let nature take its course and let the broody mammas set eggs, but then on the other hand, I sit on that fence. Friday (or it could be Saturday, the other hen was 22 days sitting) will be the determining factor if I break up the broody that is coming up.

for surely, spring is the time when life gets going. Those warm days, sunshine, no white ground. That is the time when hens should be working on babies. Not these cold deep days of winter. I sit on the fence with allowing brooding to continue on and it is a very difficult thing to think about. Hope that you will find better answers to your questions Sweetened than what I have provided to you. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

In case the picture was not seen, this is the set up, right beside where the orpingtons live. It has changed slightly since this picture, but you get the idea. With the cochins, I have to use dog kennel fences in the coop for that separation, but that works too. I like to keep the breeds in the same breed part. After about 10 days the chicks and mammas roam with the adult flock.

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Miss Cynthia, your answer is lovely!

I think I don't mind them clucking around and don't try to break them (even though I now know it won't discourage their future broodiness) because it's an insurance for the day. My coop is unheated (why I wouldn't let them settle in right now), so I've been losing many eggs to splitting open from freezing. If a broody sits on them all day, they stay warm and don't break.

We had our second 17 egg day on the farm, and I appreciate not having to discard broken ones when numbers are nice like that.