Broody Hen Nightmares

I was so looking forward to the day we had broody hens.  Well, that bubble is more than burst.  We had four this year.  First one hatched 3 successfully, smothered one, then stepped on another, also killing it.  But she has been a good mother and is very friendly.  Second one smothered two, didn't give her a chance with the last two.  Incubated them ourselves and have two happy, healthy three week old chicks.  Third one did OK, but won't let us near her - even changing her food and water risks the loss of a finger.  She has three chicks, and we did have to help with a couple, but all are fine now.  One is absolutely adorable - silver rooster over bluff hen - chipmunk markings on soft yellow - so cute.  We had so hoped that would be the end of problem broodies, but not so.  The fourth is in process, and what a nasty.  She is good with people, but terrible with chicks.  The first she pecked hard on the head and back and sent it out into the run.  We rescued it, bleeding and miserable, and it is recovering in the brooder.  The next she just booted out without any damage fresh from the egg, also rescued and fluffing up.  There are four more to go, and we are keeping a very close eye on things.  There is no way she is getting her chicks back, so more in the brooder than I had anticipated when I started this journey.  Will next year be any better?  I am happy for the nine chicks so far, but it is so sad and discouraging.  All were separate, so I had really not anticipated the problems another poster had between broodies and chicks.  That was horrible.

Wow! I have had bad mothers who didn't get to hatch, but never had a hen that was mean to her chicks. Had a Silkie once that abandoned her chicks after a few days and they died of chilling before I found them, but never a mean one. I would be replacing any mean hens. Not something you want passed on to offspring if you want hens hatching your chicks for you. What breed are they?

Got lots of Broody hens this year as well ! First chick was killed by two hens fighting over it ? second chick I managed to take away ,but it had a lot of damage so it died as well , now there is another one that I have and so far it's doing okay with the four week old's that I hatched ...................thinking of taking away all there eggs and shutting them out of the coop so that this insanity goes away !

I can relate to your broody hen blues.

It has taken me many, many years to get to the this point, but I am proud to say I did not let any hens set on eggs this year. and I will stay strong and NOT GIVE IN!

Every year, for the past 15 or so I would see those determined hens setting and clucking quietly on the their nest for weeks. I would say to myself, I will not let them set! But they so badly wanted to raise babies! They would give me the evil eye as I grabbed the eggs from their nest and a half-hearted peck at my hand. Then softly cluck and sigh with disappointment as I removed the warm eggs. So eventually I would give in and let them keep some eggs. It was almost never a good outcome.

If I managed to move her successfully to a secluded spot, she might stay on her eggs, or might decide to leave with all those poor, partly-developed chicks dying in their shells while she tried to make her way back to her regular pen and the nest she first chose for brooding.

If she did stay put and hatch them, that big heavy hen would often step on a hatching chick while it was struggling to emerge from the shell and squish it. The others that did hatch would do well for a few days or a week, then manage to sneak out of some tiny hole in the enclosure and be eaten by other chickens that thought it looked like a mouse and was fair game. I am not properly set up for broodies, so I don't intend to ever hatch with broodies again. It seems cruel to the babies that don't survive.

Now when I tell the people who come to visit that I do all of my hatching in incubators they gasp and exclaim "that seems so cruel! The poor babies never get to have a mother to care for them!"
I just shrug and say my chicks all survive and thrive. They are safe and they have each other for companionship. It is what works for me.

I've had similar problems with certain hens, certain breeds. The Cochin bantams were great mothers but either they or their friends pecked every newly hatched chick in the skull - drilled holes in their skulls and most died unless rescued early enough. Nasty!

My Buff Orpington and Buckeye hens are great BUT for best survival I had to take hen and eggs out early and put them in a separate pen or big pet carrier. The stress of being with other chickens seems to be bad for broodies and their chicks. The thing is it can be difficult moving a broody hen and nest. At night, really quietly, helps but also I have found I can move them too early before the hen is "fully committed" - then she just gives up.

Broody hens are a risk but nothing beats a good mother with healthy active chicks. I'll always do some of each - incubating most eggs but leaving some eggs with a broody if she is truly committed.

I've had constant broody hens for months now!

Before I even consider giving a broody hen eggs to hatch, I test her commitment. I move her to a new location. A PRIVATE location. If I move her, give her one egg and she gets on that egg and stays clucky, then and only then will she get eggs to hatch.

If I move her and she flaps around her new enclosure in a panic, ignoring the egg, I decide she is not truly broody, but too damn lazy to be laying eggs and thus she finds herself and her broodiness no longer being tolerated. Either set when given the chance or get over it! Pick one. I figure a TRULY broody hen is impervious to moving and a bird that is upset due to a move is not a good bet for hatching with. Too fickle.

I had a bird kill its chicks as they hatched, little bodies everywhere. Her head was chopped off.

""Her head was chopped off.""
.............ouch !

All the broody hens have been chanteclers - one white, and 3 partridge. This last one is improving, but there is no way she is keeping the chicks. As I don't have an incubator, she does the hatching, then we take. Chick number three got a peck on the wing, but was hiding under her, and chick number four was safely under her, but neither were there for long before we rescued them. One more egg to go. There sure is a great variation between breeds for fertility and hatchability. The white chanteclers are the stars of the show, hatching on time and up and running quickly (except when beaten on the head - but still recovered surprisingly fast). Ameraucana crosses are a day or two late, and tend to have less leg strength, moving a little, then flopping back down, but oh, so cute with the little beards! I didn't think, after what I had read, that mixed hatches would have such variation. All the eggs placed were from the same days lay for each hen. Maybe, if I do this next year, I will focus on one breed per broody hen and see if they hatch better at the same time. My children are happy that so many chicks have landed in a brooder in the house!

We've hatched more batches of eggs under hens than I can count - at least four/year for the past 10 years or so, and I've only had one mum “go bad”; she killed two chicks. I removed the other two and gave them to another hen who hatched at the same time.

Move her in the dark, and give her privacy and quiet; don't upset her, and she'll almost invariably reward you with the most charming sight in the world, a proud mother and her perfect, clever babies.

I have 8 fully dedicated broodies, inlcluding one turkey who smushes any egg set under her. By fully dedicated, I mean are staying in their nests set on NOTHING and will fight you over checking. I have given a couple of them guinea eggs since they're laying up a storm, however my egg numbers have sure fallen.

This is bizarre to me. I love my broodies. I have had the best hatched with them and if I have special eggs, give them to one of a few moms I know will do the job. Don't give up on finding a good broodie. They are out there and they make life so much easier.

Susan wrote:This is bizarre to me. I love my broodies. I have had the best hatched with them and if I have special eggs, give them to one of a few moms I know will do the job. Don't give up on finding a good broodie. They are out there and they make life so much easier.

I had banties hatch all my eggs last year. No problems at all, great mom. I sold all my banties =/

Finally, we are done. The last egg pipped Sunday (I think a white chantecler snuck one in that I missed), and she pecked the egg, leaving a little mark next to the eye which isn't visible now that it has fluffed up, and rolled the egg out of the next. We brought it in and let it finish hatching in the house, and it is now happy and getting acquainted with all its similarly treated nest mates. The mother is back in the coop. I think two of the four ex-broodies I would let raise chicks next year, as they did OK in their own ways, considering they and I were first-timers, and are terrific mothers. The second time around they should know better what they are doing? And I have learned a lot, and that will hopefully help for next year, as well. Happy Canada Day to all!!!

Most of my broodies have done well with their chicks. I always separate them into a small pen by themselves when I set them and keep food and water very close by for the first while after hatching. I've had some that will only hatch a few chicks and others that have hatched 100%. One of my black-tailed, buff Japanese set in an empty feeder that was lying on its side. She pulled in a little rockwool that had fallen down from the ceiling and hatched 5 chicks. I didn't think the eggs were still fertile so I wasn't paying much attention to her. Things have been really busy this spring so I've just been giving them feed and water and not spending a lot of extra time with them but when we discovered five little babies peeking out of a tin can (LOL) I took the Momma and babies in put them in a pen by themselves and they are doing great. Perhaps it depends on the breed?? Not sure what makes the difference between a good setter and a poor one. Mine are silkies, Japs and BCM's that have hatched chicks this spring.

I do think size matters when it comes to broodies, and bigger is not better. Back when I was a kid we had small mixed-breed chickens (part bantam) and they would easily hatch 8 or more chicks. I dont' remember ever encountering any of the problems I have had with mine. But they were totally free ranging and more like wild birds in many ways. The little hen would go off by herself and find a sheltered spot to make a secret nest. We often had no idea where she was, but sometimes we'd find her nest. Then we would make sure not to bother her and just leave her completely alone.

One day she would proudly re-appear in the yard with her clutch of multi-colored chicks. The rest of the flock would respect her family and not bother the babies at all.
I think my Orpingtons and Cochins are just too big and heavy to be really good at hatching. all it takes is one wrong step and a chick is flattened!
A good broody has great value - to the right person... (Just not me!)