Of Broody Hens and Conflicting Info

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Marian

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My second broody hen has just declared herself as such, what a cranky-pants. I've read not to house broody hens in the same area for several reasons. I've also heard you can, really depends on the hens involved. What do the chicken people here do?

Marian
 
I've always just left the broodies in the coop. They take over a nest, steal eggs from the other nests, and generally just do their thing. Now...they do have problems when left in the coop. For one thing, after the chicks hatch, they go running around, and until Broody gives up on the remaining eggs, the chicks can be killed by the other hens. After I had that happen, I started fencing in the broody and her eggs. I put water and feed over next to her. Even tho I used just a 2ft high poultry wire, the other hens in the coop didn't jump over it..they just left Ms. Broody alone.

I think Cyngbaeld, from HT Poultry, houses her broodies in a separate coop.
 
I used to use a broody pen with a wooden nest box attached... much like a chicken tractor. It worked great except the year the rats were so bad. Whatever you use, making it rat and weasel proof is important. Young chicks are very vulnerable to such attacks and the hen can't save them.
 
Anntann":9o3prf4y said:
Even tho I used just a 2ft high poultry wire, the other hens in the coop didn't jump over it..they just left Ms. Broody alone.
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Whoa, your chicken raising skills are eons ahead of mine. My hens aren't that well behaved at all. I tried that last year and the poor broody ended up with 17 eggs! The other hens were hopping in and laying in her nest.

MaggieJ":9o3prf4y said:
I used to use a broody pen with a wooden nest box attached... much like a chicken tractor. It worked great except the year the rats were so bad. Whatever you use, making it rat and weasel proof is important. Young chicks are very vulnerable to such attacks and the hen can't save them.
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[/quote]

Ultimately that's exactly what I'd like to do. Do you have more than one broody hen in the pen? I'm with you with the rats. When I built the coop, I lined the floor with 1 x 1/2 wire then put the wood over it. I even lined the bottom two feet of the walls. Expensive, yes; but the peace of mind is priceless. Not only do I have to worry about rats, I've seen mink around, too.
 
I've rarely had more than one hen go broody at a time, so I don't know how well they would share space. I think if each had its own little house with a shared pen, that might work... but I'd be ready with a partition in case of squabbles.
 
I think it depends on the hens. We had 2 hens who co-parented a nest and the resultant chicks. They were funny to watch. A sussex and a BIG black cochin. Between them, they managed to steal 37 eggs into the nest. I saw the cochin actually taking an egg one day...Then they both just sat in there. All day All night. Usually the Sussex sat ONTOP of the cochin. I have a picture of them over in the gallery here.

anyway. Another time we had 5 hens go broody almost simultaneously. 3 of the 5 got along okay all in the same coop. The other 2 were NOT friendly to any chick that wasn't their own. I eventually just grabbed those two biddies and put them in a separate area. NOT together...each had her own mini coop.

If I remember correctly, Cyngbaeld from HT poultry forum puts her broodies in a separate house. Each one has her own "pen" until the chicks hatch.
 
Thanks ladies, for the great info. I will keep them seperate. This weekend we're building coldframes so I'm hoping to build broody pens next weekend.
 

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