Using a broody hen

[Andy Carson]

Mid november of last year, I had a hen that went broody. It was a weird time of the year to go brooder (I thought) and it was one of the last hens I would have suspected would go broody (she is a red star), but I thought I would see what happens none-the-less. I set her up in my basement and gave her 13 eggs to sit on. 2 eggs candled clear mid incubation and were removed. From the remaining 11 eggs, 10 chicks hatched at 20 days and one got stepped on and killed. Altogether, I got a hatching rate of about 70%. The best I got with my incubator was about 50%, and that was with alot of fussing with humidity and temperature and turning. The broody is almost zero effort on my part. I also don’t have to use a heat lamp as they go under the hen to warm up and she shows them the food and water and makes sure they eat. If I didn’t have a basement area that I can keep a small number of chicken in until they are feathered out, I don’t think I would have tried this in the middle of winter, but I am glad I did. I think this is how I’m going to do most of my hatches in the future. A couple downsides I see if you seem to have to wait for a hens to be in “the mood” to brood and you also don’t get that many chicks… Also, for anyone who has done this before, when do I separate the hen from the chicks. I am guessing when they stop sleeping under her?

[dominiquer60]

Andy,
In my grade school years I raised a good number of Dominiques and Old English bantams. I too started with an incubator, some years were better than others. The last two years before I sold the flock for college books, I used one broody hen for all of my hatching needs. The last year she hatched 5 clutches and over 60 chicks. I would leave the chicks with her for a few days and then move them to a brooder once they were eating and drinking well. If she accepted them I gave her another clutch of eggs, and the cycle would just continue. She constantly had food and clean water in front of her and I would let her out of her cage twice a day if she chose to. I kept her in a cage to protect her from the menagerie of sexes and ages in the rest of the coop, plus it was where she chose to start nesting, all I had to do was shut the door. The only thing that I would have done differently is to put a fresh piece of sod under her for every clutch to give the eggs enough moisture. Certain breeds are more prone to broodiness, my hen was a Dominique, but I have had some good banties and a Buff Rock as broody hens.

[katmoore]

We have bantys and I always have someone going broody in January… We usually have snow until end of march… and they are locked in the coop for those months. I have done both let the hen take care of them.. and pull her from the nest and hope she gets broody later… and “cool”her in a wire cage for a week to get off of brooding. Doesn’t seem to hurt either way… definitely easier to raise chicks with a hen thats broody…. I Have also had a hen set in the coop for a couple of weeks…… I gather eggs like normal but if I know she is committed… and the feedstore has chicks… I will go buy 6 or so for her to mother… and put them under her… that works well too but you have to do that when the chicks are available in the spring. We usually leave the chicks with her.. until she leaves them…. they all roost with her up on the poles about 2 weeks of age… and I Have had the hens walk away from them usually once they are fully feathered… and roosting on their own…. about 3 mos of age…
I always take the roos and put them in another pen once they start crowing and run an ad to give them away. the hens all stay together and free range with our chosen roo. I do love having them around the yard. they eat alot of bugs!

[Author]

Posts