Step by Step Broody Hen Instructions

[lolotsung]

One hen has been in a nest all day.

Do I take the probably 2 eggs under her away and put them in the garage in an egg carton with the other egg?
If they have been under her, have they started developing and will they die if I put them in the garage with the other egg I found in the empty nest box?
Do I leave her in the nest until I have eg. 10 eggs for her to hatch?
Should I wait for a eg. 1 week to make sure she is "ready" to be a broody hen?
I am thinking of putting her in the garage but can leave her in the coop in a dog crate if that is better.
Should I get chick starter tomorrow and give it to her?

[Happy]

They have to be sitting on the eggs for a day before they start to develop. So fine to take those eggs. I wouldn't keep them in my garage but maybe yours is warmer they need to be kept cool-ish but not fridge cold. Around 15 degrees.and turn the eggs a few times a day.
I wouldn't move the hen at all. They need to sit for a few days before you know for sure they are broody. And anytime I tried moving one she refused to stay on her eggs and just wanted back to her original nest.

[lolotsung]

False alarm. She is not in the nest now. Maybe she realized it is still a bit cold to start a family Thanks @Happy We don't have a basement. Right now the garage is 68% humidity, 9 deg C. I'll heat up the garage or take the eggs in if it gets colder. One thing I noticed the last week is I have been getting 2 eggs instead of 3. I don't see any obvious moult. Will a hen produce fewer eggs right before she is ready to go broody? I put the Chick Cam in the coop and will see what she does the next few days. Let them sit for a few days then move the nest she is in to a dog crate in the coop.

[Killerbunny]

I have 3/4 turkey hens wanting babies right now. WHat is with that???

[Kbr42]

I have 3/4 turkey hens wanting babies right now. WHat is with that???

And this is the first time in a year I DON'T have a broody silkie

[lolotsung]

If I want a hen to be broody should I leave fake eggs in the nest? How many? 3 fake eggs? Should I be picking up the real eggs every day? Or leaving them in the nest eg. For a day? If I don't get any broody hens then when should I give up on getting a broody hen and put eggs in the incubator? Thank you for your help!

[Killerbunny]

You can't make a hen go broody. SHe will go broody depending on her hormones. SOme breeds go broody more than others. @windwalkingwolf selects for broodiness in her lines and so do I with the turkeys. You are an engineer and deal with predictable systems a lot. A hen is a biological system and will do anything she can to confuse you!
Also why are you not incubating AS WELL?????? I find this confusing LOL. If you start incubating and then have a hen go broody when she is solid after a few days pop some started eggs under her. As long as they aren't too far along they'll be fine, I do this sometimes. I know @Kbr42 pops hatchlings under her Silkies.
DO it all!!!!

[Kbr42]

@lolotsung if you want broodies, get silkies and showgirls. They are broody all the time. I had 3 girls raise my January hatch. I have 1 girl rasing my latest chicks. And I have 3 broodies lined up for the eggs that are cooking in the incubator. I do it all the time. I incubate and put them under a broody. In fact, all the chicks I sell, have spend at least 4 days under a broody. I have nice healthy chicks that adjust well to a new brooder.

I haven't raised chicks in years. I have 2 standards that go broody around May each year. I try and time my standard chicks for that time. It has worked for me so

[lolotsung]

I have read that if you don't pick up your eggs every day your hen might go broody. So I thought that if I want a hen to go broody I should leave eggs in the nest. I gave away my incubator to a local farmer because I read that chanteclers were broody. I could by a new one... I was only going to have one hatch because I only want enough chickens to feed my family and 3 hens is all I need to feed my family. I think that it would be so wonderful to see a mom walking around with chicks in the yard. So April might be early for them to go broody. May is a good time to raise kids I also didn't want a chicken (silkie) that is broody all the time because I would have the hassle of putting her in a wire cage every time she went broody which is all year long from what I've heard

Also I have the added complication of finding out that the sample turned out positive for mycoplasma synoviae and "M synoviaeinfection can be transmitted vertically and horizontally. Once infected, individuals and flocks become chronic carriers (reservoirs)."
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/ ... in-poultry. I asked the vet to take a sample because the rooster seemed sick right after I got home and it was -23 that day. He was better when the vet visited 2 weeks later. What I read on the net was depopulate which I'm guessing means cull the flock and I asked our vet and she said it is so widespread that she would not cull. She said we happened to find it because we tested for it. So I'm not sure if I should have chicks or wait till the flock gets older and get a new flock that does not have M synoviae. I also read this "M synoviae is egg transmitted (transovarian), but the infection rate in breeder hens is low, and some hatches of progeny may be free of infection." Also I usually give my chickens to a local farmer but I can't give her thsese chickens if they have mycoplasma-synoviae

[Killerbunny]

You really have 2 options. Retest - PCR (which I assume they used) does have a false positive rate so before taking any action you need to confirm via choanal slit. 1. Cull and clean and disinfect 2. CLose your flock and live with it. Where did you get the rooster from as they need to know they have a problem. Sorry. You know that you can't sell or give eggs or chickens. Is your vet familiar with poultry?
Here is some info.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/ ... 20synoviae
University of Guelph are very useful.
Note you can also do pooled samples in groups of birds to check if they all have it.