Post by twistedtimbershomest on May 30, 2023 9:43:56 GMT -5
It's me again. I'm just looking for a bit of insight with my hens. I currently have 6 very annoying broodies. I hatched out 8 chicks a couple weeks ago and one particular broody was SO excited when she heard me bringing the peeping chicks into the coop.
I have my large coop divided into 3 sections. One for layers and one with a brooder and storage and the middle section was currently empty. So I thought maybe I would give that excited broody her own little clutch of eggs. My daughter excitedly collected eggs that day and we gave her 11 eggs in her new nesting area.
She sat on them beautifully for 2 weeks. Then on Saturday morning when I went to feed her I saw an egg shell that was broken open and a 2 week developed chick a few feet away. Eww 🤢. Lupine was sitting on the rest of the eggs as if nothing had happened. I checked on her frequently throughout the day and she always seemed to be sitting nicely on the eggs.
The next morning there was another chick ripped out if it's shell and two others that were cracked. I immediately took the remaining eggs to my incubator and kicked Lupine back into the main coop. She's still brooding in an empty nesting box.
I cleaned out that middle section and moved my two week old chicks into there, in preparation for the new batch in my incubator. As soon as Lupine heard those chicks in the area she had been in, she was beside herself running back and forth clucking and trying to get to them. Maybe she thought her eggs had hatched?
I'm wondering if she thought it was time for her eggs to hatch and was trying to help the chicks out on the weekend... I definitely have trust issues with broodies because I had one abandon her chicks last year when they were a couple weeks old and another killed two of her chicks after she decided she was done raising them (she had laid an egg and that was it for her brooding).
Long story short, I have a chicken tractor I used for broilers last year so I've moved one broody into that jail. Anyone know how long it takes to break a broody? I would stick them all in there at once, but I'm sure they'd kill each other. I'm also slightly curious as to whether I could give the newly hatched chicks to Lupine because she still seems so excited about babies and is still broody. I really wasn't planning on brooding more chicks and only put those under the hen because she seemed the most motherly. Until she ripped open eggs. 🤦🏻♀️ I'm tired of broodies!
I have my large coop divided into 3 sections. One for layers and one with a brooder and storage and the middle section was currently empty. So I thought maybe I would give that excited broody her own little clutch of eggs. My daughter excitedly collected eggs that day and we gave her 11 eggs in her new nesting area.
She sat on them beautifully for 2 weeks. Then on Saturday morning when I went to feed her I saw an egg shell that was broken open and a 2 week developed chick a few feet away. Eww 🤢. Lupine was sitting on the rest of the eggs as if nothing had happened. I checked on her frequently throughout the day and she always seemed to be sitting nicely on the eggs.
The next morning there was another chick ripped out if it's shell and two others that were cracked. I immediately took the remaining eggs to my incubator and kicked Lupine back into the main coop. She's still brooding in an empty nesting box.
I cleaned out that middle section and moved my two week old chicks into there, in preparation for the new batch in my incubator. As soon as Lupine heard those chicks in the area she had been in, she was beside herself running back and forth clucking and trying to get to them. Maybe she thought her eggs had hatched?
I'm wondering if she thought it was time for her eggs to hatch and was trying to help the chicks out on the weekend... I definitely have trust issues with broodies because I had one abandon her chicks last year when they were a couple weeks old and another killed two of her chicks after she decided she was done raising them (she had laid an egg and that was it for her brooding).
Long story short, I have a chicken tractor I used for broilers last year so I've moved one broody into that jail. Anyone know how long it takes to break a broody? I would stick them all in there at once, but I'm sure they'd kill each other. I'm also slightly curious as to whether I could give the newly hatched chicks to Lupine because she still seems so excited about babies and is still broody. I really wasn't planning on brooding more chicks and only put those under the hen because she seemed the most motherly. Until she ripped open eggs. 🤦🏻♀️ I'm tired of broodies!