# Really?.......Broody in January???



## Sheepshape (Jan 16, 2020)

I keep (quite) a few Brahma chickens....lovely to look at, but love to be broody.

So.....just started up laying again after the 'Winter shut down' and broody already.

Here she sits....











Do I really want chicks in February?  No, I don't think so.

Anybody else have broody hens right now?


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## Beekissed (Jan 16, 2020)

Nope, but that sure is a beautiful hen!  LOVE her feather pattern.  I don't want chicks this early either.   I cull all birds that start going broody at the wrong times so I don't have to deal with that issue much.


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## thistlebloom (Jan 16, 2020)

She's a pretty girl!
Mine aren't even laying, much less thinking about being broody.


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## Sheepshape (Jan 16, 2020)

Beekissed said:


> I cull all birds that start going broody at the wrong times so I don't have to deal with that issue much.


With these girls, I'd most likely have to cull the lot.........However, when I'm wanting chicks, these are big girls and excellent mums. I think this broody girl will be coming to the tiled outhouse for a few days as she is stealing and sitting on any eggs laid anywhere near her....the cold floor usually 'cures' them in a couple of days.
She's a Gold Brahma. The  Gold Brahma rooster has amazing feathers, but, as he has personality problems, he is likely to lose his head! He has a tendency to attack me from behind....and, given that I have a lovely Blue Partridge Brahma rooster who is a total sweetheart, I don't  want/need him for breeding.


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## WildBird (Jan 17, 2020)

Your hen is so pretty!

I want a broody but I am having to settle with an incubator. I'm going to set my first ever hatching eggs in monday!


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Jan 17, 2020)

Beekissed said:


> Nope, but that sure is a beautiful hen!  LOVE her feather pattern.  I don't want chicks this early either.   I cull all birds that start going broody at the wrong times so I don't have to deal with that issue much.


You can break them of going broody by using a broody breaker...it’s basically a dog crate on wood blocks..it just has to let air get underneath her bottom...there’sa Little more to it it,  ut I didn’t look into much, since I don’t need to yet


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Jan 17, 2020)

WildBird said:


> Your hen is so pretty!
> 
> I want a broody but I am having to settle with an incubator. I'm going to set my first ever hatching eggs in monday!


I’m going to try to see if I can make a hen go broody when the weather gets better by leaving A few eggs...they said on BYC, sometimes it’ll work...


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## Sheepshape (Jan 18, 2020)

My 'de-brooder' is just the cold outhouse floor.


Duckfarmerpa1 said:


> I’m going to try to see if I can make a hen go broody when the weather gets better by leaving A few eggs...they said on BYC, sometimes it’ll work...


I'd be inclined to leave fake eggs about rather than use good ones. Also the rule of broods is "One go broody, they all go broody!'


WildBird said:


> Your hen is so pretty!
> 
> I want a broody but I am having to settle with an incubator. I'm going to set my first ever hatching eggs in monday!


It's absolutely fascinating to watch eggs hatch. Eggs through the mail may not be as fertile as you hope, but I've had lots of good hatches from this source. Make sure you have cranked up the humidity at day 18 (I usually use 68-70%) and have the turner off at that time. Then sit on your hands when they have 'pipped' as the urge to go in there and try to help them hatch is almost overwhelming. Be sure to leave hatched chicks in the incubator until they are well and truly dried off before placing them in a brooder. 
The real beauty of the broody hen is that she'll look after the chicks when they have hatched. No need for provision of heat lamps etc. as momma hen is at just the right temperature. GOOD LUCK.


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## Mini Horses (Jan 18, 2020)

Sheepshape said:


> The real beauty of the broody hen is that she'll look after the chicks when they have hatched. No need for provision of heat lamps etc. as momma hen is at just the right temperature.




Absolutely!!  BUT I let mine sit on a fake or a golf ball for a few days to be sure she's serious -- I know some who are!! -- then one night move her to a private nest, set so she can do her once a day up & out...dog house & surrounding cage...and add a nest of eggs.   It keeps the other hens from adding eggs, her safe.   

I have several broodies who are aged but will always stay.  Not only do they know their job, they teach the chicks to forage & then integrate with others & roost.  I love to watch them.   

A few are truly "ninja moms"   do NOT mess with those chicks!


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Jan 18, 2020)

Mini Horses said:


> Absolutely!!  BUT I let mine sit on a fake or a golf ball for a few days to be sure she's serious -- I know some who are!! -- then one night move her to a private nest, set so she can do her once a day up & out...dog house & surrounding cage...and add a nest of eggs.   It keeps the other hens from adding eggs, her safe.
> 
> I have several broodies who are aged but will always stay.  Not only do they know their job, they teach the chicks to forage & then integrate with others & roost.  I love to watch them.
> 
> A few are truly "ninja moms"   do NOT mess with those chicks!


Excellent to read since I have never done it but want to. Now I can have a better idea of what to do


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## Beekissed (Jan 19, 2020)

Duckfarmerpa1 said:


> You can break them of going broody by using a broody breaker...it’s basically a dog crate on wood blocks..it just has to let air get underneath her bottom...there’sa Little more to it it,  ut I didn’t look into much, since I don’t need to yet



I know how to break a broody after doing this chicken thing for 44 yrs now.     My post was about culling hens that go broody at the wrong times of the year....those are usually the hens that are no longer laying regularly~if they ever even started~and their hormones are not cycling normally.  

Any hen that used to lay normally but suddenly starts going broody out of season is marked for the cull list later on.   I don't mind a bit when a broody goes to sitting in the months that this is a normal occurrence.   I only allow mine to actually sit and hatch chicks from Mar.-May....anyone going broody beyond the month of May gets the broody buster treatment up until Aug.   Any going broody from Aug.-Mar are on the cull list.


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## WildBird (Jan 20, 2020)

Duckfarmerpa1 said:


> I’m going to try to see if I can make a hen go broody when the weather gets better by leaving A few eggs...they said on BYC, sometimes it’ll work...


Too late! I have almost thirty in there! Probably to many for a first timer but oh well



Sheepshape said:


> My 'de-brooder' is just the cold outhouse floor.
> 
> I'd be inclined to leave fake eggs about rather than use good ones. Also the rule of broods is "One go broody, they all go broody!'
> 
> ...


I just set them this morning. We'll see how it goes! Thanks for the advice @Sheepshape!


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## Mini Horses (Jan 20, 2020)

Mine generally start the "great set" right at March..  Not unusual to have several within a week or two.   For me, I like more than one so long a I have them separated.  It gives me access to another warm bod if 1st hen hatches all but one egg when she decides to get up with chicks.  So long as I am using the "let her commit, move her to a nest of eggs, keep others away", then I rarely have an issue with hatchings.   Most hens will stay on hatching nests about 36-48 hrs after first chick.     You are in trouble is another hen can get on the nest and add eggs a week into a set.   Separate her for best results.

remember there are some differences in average dates for beginning predicated on where you live!


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## BSue (Jan 20, 2020)

I just had five hens hatch their chicks. I guess that's a bonus for living on the equator, same temp all year long. I'll take a broody hen any day.


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## Sheepshape (Jan 21, 2020)

BSue said:


> I just had five hens hatch their chicks


Wow....how many chicks do you have? Could be quite a few.... Pics.????


WildBird said:


> I just set them this morning.


Fingers crossed......what type of eggs are you setting?
 Be sure to candle them after about a week.....if you don't have an egg candler, then they are easy enough to make from rolled up paper and light bulbs. Throw out any which are not fertile or are found to have cracks etc as they may go rotten and explode or infect the good eggs.There are very good internet pics. of what you can expect to see when candling. If you are unsure as to whether you have a living embryo put the egg back in the incubator, but candle it again a couple of days later to ensure that you have something living in there.
I even candle those under hens. Brahmas are gentle broodies who will puff up and 'Squark' when I put my hand under them to retrieve the eggs, but don't peck and do remain sitting. After candling I return all the good eggs to the hen whilst throwing out the infertile etc.
Thirty isn't too many....some will be infertile, some won't hatch, some will be cockerels...


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## WildBird (Jan 21, 2020)

Sheepshape said:


> Wow....how many chicks do you have? Could be quite a few.... Pics.????
> 
> Fingers crossed......what type of eggs are you setting?
> Be sure to candle them after about a week.....if you don't have an egg candler, then they are easy enough to make from rolled up paper and light bulbs. Throw out any which are not fertile or are found to have cracks etc as they may go rotten and explode or infect the good eggs.There are very good internet pics. of what you can expect to see when candling. If you are unsure as to whether you have a living embryo put the egg back in the incubator, but candle it again a couple of days later to ensure that you have something living in there.
> ...


Most are mix-colored bantam orpington eggs, but I also have some mix-colored silkie eggs from my own flock that I don't really think are fertile.

Can I just use a flashlight with my fingers curled around the egg so no extra light escapes? Thanks for the candling advice!


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## Sheepshape (Jan 21, 2020)

WildBird said:


> Most are mix-colored bantam orpington eggs, but I also have some mix-colored silkie eggs from my own flock that I don't really think are fertile.
> 
> Can I just use a flashlight with my fingers curled around the egg so no extra light escapes? Thanks for the candling advice!


Probably, but a paper tube would work better.

Good Luck.


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## BSue (Jan 25, 2020)

Sheepshape said:


> Wow....how many chicks do you have? Could be quite a few.... Pics.????
> 
> Sorry I don't have any pictures of them yet but this go around the five hens gave me 17 chicks. Not great numbers but I'm still happy with them.  It seems like after the first two or three chicks hatch, then the rest start hatching with some kind of bacterial infection and the yolk isn't all absorbed. I'm still working on figuring that mystery out yet. 🤔


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Jan 25, 2020)

I have a hen, that, likes to go back in the nest box after she’s done laying...but, she’s not mean, and I can scoot her out easy enough to retrieve the eggs.  Is she trying to go broody?  If so, where do I go set her and the eggs so she can do this and not be in the way on my girls...they have 8 nest boxes...and only like two...go figure.


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