Broody Business Gone Bad
- beaky80
- Apr 3
- 5 min read
Not all my chickens have names. Coming up with 70 chicken names, especially when several of my chickens look alike, is challenging (and yes, I've added a bit more chickens to the coop). Chickens are named according to their unusual stories, things they have done to stand out from the crowd, or in their case, their flock.
I have one broody chicken right now that I want to give a really, really bad name. She is one of the chickens that give all other birds the title of "Bird Brain"....ooooo, that might be a good name for her!
Broody chickens sit on about 10 eggs at a time for at least 21 days without taking too many daily food and water breaks with the intent to hatch chicks. They only take one or two bathroom breaks a day, walking far away from their nest so as not to dirty their eggs. Broody mamas keep their eggs toasty warm by sitting on them and gently moving them around to help develop the chicks. They are very protective over their eggs and will peck the heck out of anyone who tries to harm them. Broody hens stay obsessed over the eggs until one, two, three or more hatch, then they become "Mama Bear Ninjas" protecting their chicks until they are full grown.
I've had two awesome broody mamas, and two pretty bad broody mamas...my broody mama right now is quite terrible.
Blonde was my first broody girl (Blonde's story can be read at A Gift From The Amish). She made the entire process simple and easy and memorable. This past year she hatched nine chicks for me, and she was the best mama. No one was able to touch her babies without her "mama bear ninja mode" coming out...she protected them like she was the biggest hen in the flock even though she was the smallest. She walked her chicks around the yard showing them how to search for bugs by scratching with their feet in the dirt. They all slept together every night. I miss Blonde's love for her chicks so much!
Delila was my second broody hen, and just like her namesake, she was beautiful but selfish. She sat on 20 eggs, which is WAY more than what she needed, but the other chickens kept laying eggs next to her in the nesting box, and she snuck every egg underneath her wings. She kept "stealing eggs" from me, which I desparately needed for my weekly egg deliveries in my neighborhood, so I put her inside my separate coop designated for sick birds and baby chicks.
Twenty-one days later, one chick hatched out of 20 eggs, and that's when Delila decided she was done being a mama. She left the hatched chick and the 19 other eggs to their own survival instincts while she walked around trying to find a way to escape the coop so she could free range. She abandoned all her babies. I took care of the hatched chick, and put the other eggs inside my incubator....but none of them were able to hatch, she let them get too cold when she abandoned them. Child welfare wouldn't like Delila as a mama, and neither did I.
Mama Cass (I LOVE the Mamas and the Papas!) was my third mama hen who was broody for 30+ days with seven eggs. She sat faithfully on her eggs, her eyes full of motherly love waiting, waiting, waiting for the chance to have babies. I kept watching and waiting, excited to see Mama Cass become a mama. After 30 days, I was pretty sure that the eggs were not going to hatch, but she still would not budge from her babies. She as determined to be a mom no matter how rotten those eggs were becoming. It broke my heart! My daughter and I decided to go to Rural King to pick up four already hatched chicks. We snuck the chicks underneath Mama Cass' wings, hoping she would accept the babies as her own and not eat them.
It was love at first sight. After sitting still for 30+ days, Mama Cass saw her adopted chicks and started mothering them and taking care of them. She loved being a mommy! I would so enjoy seeing Mama Cass have another set of babies. Like Blonde, she was the best mom, and she took excellent care of her babies.
Now onto my "Bird Brain" mama I started this post with. She has sat on three different groups of eggs for a week at a time before abandoning her eggs and starting the process all over again with a new clutch of eggs. I've had to throw out so many eggs this month, because she sat on them long enough to develop the eggs into chicks before moving onto the next clutch.
In my post called "The Chicken Hoarder", I discussed some chicken habits that are disgusting including chickens eating their own babies. Knowing my family couldn't eat eggs that "Bird Brain" sat on for a week, I cracked them open for the rest of the flock to eat. The yolks looked normal except there were two little eyes attached to them as well as some blood vessels. Protein is an important part of my chickens' diet, so even though I was thoroughly disguested with them eating minorly formed chicks, those eggs didn't go to waste and helped me to feed the girls.
"Bird Brain" has now been placed inside the baby coop, keeping her far away from the other nesting boxes where she kept stealing eggs. I'm forcing her to sit on one set of eggs for 21 days instead of constantly having her change her mind. So far she is fighting her isolation, but I'm hoping she will finally commit to the eggs I left for her so she gets out of this bad broody business. If she wants to become a mama, this is the way to do it.
Interesting fact: A fertilized egg can be turned into a chick weeks after being laid. So, "Bird Brain" has a couple weeks to decide to sit on the eggs inside her secluded chicken prison before they go to waste. Otherwise, she is going to have to decide to stop being broody.
I'll keep you updated on "Bird Brain's" progress....by the way, I think her new name might stick.
Thanks for reading my Country Squawk,
Kelly
This is amazing. I had no idea that some chickens steal eggs from other chickens, or that some might sit on eggs for a little while but not long enough for them to hatch.