Author Topic: Broody hen (Read 2842 times)

lindaball1961@gmail.com · « **on:** April 14, 2014, 05:36:05 pm »

Hi there. I hope someone can give me some advice. I've got a buff Orpington that's gone broody. She's in a house with 12 others hogging a nest box! I was wondering whether to move her to her own house and put some fertile eggs under her or whether it would be best to leave her be to come out of it in her own time. I don't. Want all the others going broody too if I leave her where she is!! Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!! Thanks

suziequeue · « **Reply #1 on:** April 14, 2014, 05:49:38 pm »

My advice would be to move her to a quiet solitary place where she can sit on eggs fairly undisturbed until they hatch.

Prepare a broody coop and then wait until it's dark and move her gently to the new place. Make sure she's going to sit tight after you've moved her before you put your cherished eggs under her.

Orpingtons have got such big feathery bottoms, you could probably hatch a house under there.

We have moved a broody hen this morning but she doesn't seem to be sitting tight in the new place so I have put a few eggs in the box to tempt her back to broodyness before I get the "proper eggs" that I want her to hatch.

Good luck

lindaball1961@gmail.com · « **Reply #2 on:** April 14, 2014, 06:08:08 pm »

Thanks suziequeue for the advice. Since I wrote my query I had prepared a spare house with an attached run for her. I put her in and closed the door ( with food and water inside) as she seemed a little bemused at the house change. I have also popped 6 eggs into the box to tempt her to sit and removed the central divider so the box should be plenty big enough for her. Fingers crossed!!!

suziequeue · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2014, 08:59:57 pm »

Yes - our broody was tempted by the eggs and is back sitting tight making chirruping noises and puffing her tail up whenever I try and touch her.

Time for some "proper" eggs now. We have enough layers so this year we want to focus on a free ranging meat breed.

Good luck with your girl. Orps are very broody.

HesterF · « **Reply #4 on:** April 14, 2014, 11:01:29 pm »

I've got Orps and last year my first went broody in Feb (in the snow). Fortunately they've held off a bit longer this year and I think I've just got my first broody now - although I forgot to check when I shut them up whether she was still there. This particular one was a great broody/mum last year and sat tight through one set of failure to hatch duck eggs followed by fertile chicken eggs so best part of two months - and then raised her chicks beautifully - so I'm toying with trying her on goose eggs. I did have a couple of broodies last year who were completely rubbish - one who annoyingly lost the joy at the time of hatching leaving several dead chicks behind her.

But, yes, give her somewhere quite to sit - the separate run sounds perfect. Try her on fake eggs to begin with. There is debate about whether to lift them off or not every day but I do - I read something (I think on here) about Orps getting so into it they forgot to move and then being so big they can suffer physically. I just pick them up, shift them towards the food and they tend to eat like crazy, drink a bit, poo like nothing on earth and then go back onto the eggs.

chrismahon · « **Reply #5 on:** April 15, 2014, 04:58:00 am »

As HesterF says Orpingtons need to be lifted every day as they are known to sit tight and cripple themselves.

One going broody shouldn't affect the others, but you may get more simply because of the time of year. I'm not sure from your post if you want a broody for hatching, or if you are just giving her eggs to keep her happy. She can be 'broken' out of her broodiness, which avoids losing too many eggs and avoids risking the health of the broody. If you want to hatch she needs to be in perfect health, free of lice and mites and over two years old. Younger and there is a risk she won't go the course and she may, as ours did, panic and eat the chicks as they hatch.