broody hen

I mentioned in my last post that we have a broody hen on our hands.

You can't really tell from this photo, but she is hunkered low in her nesting box protecting all of our (unfertilized) eggs.  When we go to collect eggs she puffs up big like a turkey and lets out a low, long cluck.  She never pecks, because she is a sweetheart, but we know that she does not approve of us taking her eggs!

We do not have a rooster right now.  From our experience, roosters are hard to handle in a backyard flock where you are interacting daily with your chickens.  Our last rooster was very protective and continually attacked Buddy, drawing blood at times.  He had to go on to that great big pasture in the sky.  Because of our rooster-less situation, we have no fertilized eggs on hand for our girl to hatch.  We were at the feed store over the weekend and I asked if anyone knew someone local that I could get fertilized eggs from.  One of the employees told me that she would be happy to donate a dozen eggs for us to try and hatch.  We go after lunch today for pickup- we are very excited!

We spent some time this weekend setting up an area for our broody girl to be safe and alone.  We are using our smaller coop (with attached run) for her so she can sit undisturbed.  This morning she is practicing on fake eggs getting nice and cozy in her new spot.  We will trade out the eggs later today.  Once her body heat begins heating the eggs, the embryos will begin to form and grow.  It is so fascinating to me how they can be laid on different days, but all hatch at the same time, at the end of a 21 day incubation period.

This is our first go at hatching our own flock.  I know that Blackberry up there will be a good mama to her little brood!

gone broody

Blackberry, my australorp hen, has gone broody on me. This is common for a hen her age, and for her particular breed. I suspected something was up last week when I went out to spread scratch and she didn't come. Typically she is my most voracious eater and chirps happily at snack time. But she was nowhere to be found. And this has gone on for 4 or 5 days now. I began to worry and started forcing her out of the coop to eat and drink. Broody hens can sometimes starve or become dehydrated if they are not watched closely. I realized she had gone over the edge when I was holding her and realized all of her chest feathers were gone. GROSS! She looks like she could be wrapped up in cellophane and sold on the super market shelf!

So what to do with a broody hen? We don't have eggs to hatch and her hogging the coop is discouraging the other chickens to lay. Not to mention that she has stopped laying as well. The best way to discourage broodiness is to separate the hen from the rest of the flock into her own smallish pen. I've read that it's best to make the pen as uncomfortable as possible. John is going to rig up something tomorrow, so for the time being she has been banished- to glory land. Her punishment is free reign of the entire backyard.

Take that, Blackberry!

Signs you have a broody hen:

1. her comb has gone from red to pink

2. her chest feathers are gone (this is so the heat can be more easily transferred to the eggs)

3. she puffs up and pecks when you come near her while she's nesting (fortunately, Blackberry is extremely docile- not one peck!)

4. she doesn't leave the nest- even to eat- and when she does, she guards it fiercely

Those of you that are more chicken knowledgeable than I, please share your experiences and advice!