Hey Sherrill, I know it's a little early for chicks, but I don't know about you, but I'm getting antsy for spring! Happens every year. The days start getting a bit longer... a few days in January feel almost spring-like... my thoughts start wandering to crocuses and daffodils, garden soil and baby chicks. It's a big tease, of course. It will be cold and wet for at least a few more months... and then just wet for a couple more, but it's not too early to start planning, and I thought now might be a good time to share the steps to tricking a broody hen into raising your feed store chicks for you!
A year ago last summer we found ourselves with some new pullets. One of them was a beautiful
Golden Laced Wyandotte:
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| Such a pretty girl |
But by the next spring, our pretty girl had transformed into this!!!
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| Yikes! Beware of the Broody! |
So, how do you know if your hen has gone broody? Here are the signs:
- She sits in a nest box all day without getting out.
- She "hoards" eggs underneath her, sometimes ever stealing the other hens' eggs to sit on!
- She will puff up, spread out her wings and growl and cluck loudly in an attempt to protect her eggs when you approach her. Be careful! She might even try to peck you!
- She refuses to move off of her eggs, and even if you take her off her nest, she'll return the minute you leave.
- She will also stop laying eggs as her body goes further into "brood" mode.
Not all hens are prone to broodiness; many of the more modern, hybridized "layer hens" have had this trait bred out of them, since broody hens are not really a bonus if all you're interested in is a chicken who spit out an egg every 26 hours without fail. If you want to add new chickens to your flock, though, and you don't want to deal with raising chicks under a heat lamp -- a fun, but also messy & kind of smelly project, once the chicks start to feather out and get larger -- a broody hen can be a real asset!
- Plymouth Rocks
- Delawares
- Wyandottes
- Brahmas
- Orpingtons
- Bantams
So, if you think you might have a broody hen & you would like her to
do the dirty work of raising some new chicks for your flock,
here are the steps to follow for a more than likely successful outcome:
Step One: Watch her for a week
If you think you have a broody hen and you're considering trying to convince her to foster some chicks, you'll want to give her some time and watch her to see if the broodiness is going to "stick". On a calendar, mark the day she starts exhibiting broody behavior, and make a note each day that it continues. She should be encouraged to get off the nest once a day to eat & drink, but if she's truly serious about setting, she will hop right back on the nest once she's had a bite & a sip. If she continues to brood for a full week, it's time to try moving her to a secure location.
Step Two: Move her to a "brooding pen"
In our case, Mama Hen (as we now refer to her), removed herself from the coop after a week or so of setting. Where did she choose to brood? The wood shed! This girl was so committed to brooding, that she sat on an empty nest for another week before we finally decided to move her and purchase some chicks for her to, hopefully, foster and raise. Before you run out and buy those adorable puff balls, though, be sure you have a secure area for your mama to raise her babies. We already had a small fenced area near the chicken yard to use; all we had to do was block any gaps in the fence the chicks might squeeze through & put straw in the old unused dog house we use for temporary quarters when we're transitioning new hens into the flock.
Your brooding pen should have the following elements:
- A fence to keep the mama & chicks in a secure area away from the other hens! This is very important! It is quite likely that your other chickens will try to kill the babies. They need to be kept away from the other grown hens until they are fully feathered out and large enough to protect themselves.
- A small dog house, wooden crate, or other small "house" that will keep mama and her babies dry and warm. Fill the bottom of this container with straw or wood shavings.
- Food and water-- for mama until the chicks "hatch", and then for all of them! You can go ahead and purchase a bag of "chick grow" feed and give it to mama before the chicks arrive. It won't hurt her any at all.
- Some way to secure the box at night. For us, this meant putting a piece of plywood in front of the dog house opening and placing a large rock in front of the plywood at night so mama and chicks were safe from the unlikely prospect of a neighborhood dog or a stray raccoon getting in to our fenced yard. If you live in an open rural area where predators are more of a danger, you'll need to construct some type of latching door or other system to truly protect your little feathered family at night. You might even consider housing your whole brooding pen in a garage, out building or barn that can be shut up at night. Mama will do her best to protect her babies, (and it's quite a sight to see!), but keep in mind that she's only a chicken & she can only do so much! It's truly up to you to make sure those babies don't become some random animal's lunch!
Step Three: Continue to count days & watch mama
In general, it takes three weeks for chicks to hatch, so you'll want your hen to sit for at least that long. You can place real eggs under her or fake ones such as
Wooden Eggs, golf balls, or even plastic easter eggs stuffed with tissue! In our case, we put some real eggs under her, and she continued to sit for the full three weeks, so we knew it was time to smuggle in some chicks!
Step Four: Acquire some day old chicks & wait for the dark of night
It's important that you buy the youngest chicks you can find. I wouldn't recommend ordering them through the mail, as they may already have feathers growing in by the time they arrive! Your local feed store is really the your best bet for brand new chicks that you can hand pick. Find out from your store when their chicks are delivered and go that day! What you're looking for are balls of fluff with no wing feathers growing in yet. It matters not at all the color or breed of the chick, in fact some people have their chicken mamas raise turkey poults!
You will, of course, need to have
all of the materials on hand for raising the chicks yourself, just in case mama decides she doesn't really want to raise babies. This can happen & it's vitally important to the survival of the chicks that you are prepared for this possibility!
Okay, so you have your chicks & you are understandably very excited about putting then in with their new "mama"! Wait, though. Keep your babies warm in their box until a couple of hours (or more) after the sun has set. Then, sneak out as quietly as you can and gently remove the eggs from under your sleeping hen, replacing them with the chicks, making sure they are tucked snuggly under her wing for warmth. The chicks are naturally attracted to warmth & should snuggle right in. Secure mama & chicks in their box and wait with your finger's firmly crossed until morning!
When you go out the next day, if all has gone well you will be welcomed by
the adorable sight of your proud mama hen and her new fuzz butt:
Unfortunately, even if you've followed all of the steps above, your hen may not take to mamahood, and you may have to rescue your chicks and bring them inside to raise; there's just no telling. This was the first time we'd ever tried to have a hen raise purchased chicks, though, and it worked like a charm for us! I think the most important step is making absolutely sure that your hen is truly committed to brooding. This takes weeks of observation on your part, and no amount of hoping and wishful thinking is going to turn a fickle brooder into a dedicated mama.
If this process does work for you, though, you now have an invaluable treasure in your flock: a reliable mama hen to do the hard work of raising chicks for you! Yay! You can say goodbye to heat lamps, chicken dust is the dining room... and random chickens jumping out of the brood box and wandering around the house!
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| This one turned out to be a boy! |
So, Sherrill, I'll let you know if mama hen gets broody again soon...
maybe she can raise your new chicken tractor tenants for you!