We let our son’s chicken, Fluffy Fluffy Policechick, go broody. Broody means that the hen wants to be a mom and will sit on eggs without moving for 21 days. Fluffy became very snippy and wouldn’t let us pick her up. Did you know chickens growl? I didn’t until she growled at me. She was determined to be a mama and nothing, not even the humans was going to stop her, so we decided to let her try. Here is what we learned.
1. The difference between a protective hen and a broody hen.
A protective hen seems to daydream after laying an egg but if you make her get off the nest and leave to collect eggs she will make a ruckus and leave. It is almost like she is tattling to the rooster that the human stole her eggs. A broody hen will not move and will peck at you, hard! She will also poof up and growl. A broody hen will go for 21 days in a type of trance where she doesn’t need as much food or water, it is almost like they are hibernating. We had to stir Fluffy a little to get her to drink water on some very high-heat days as we were concerned for her safety and provided a food dish so that she could stay sitting and still eat if she wanted to.
2. Some broody hens will steal others’ eggs.
Fluffy kept stealing other’s eggs and adding them to her clutch (a pile of eggs). On several occasions, I had to candle the eggs to see if they were the ones she had been sitting on. I eventually wised up and had my husband put a Sharpie X on the ones that were fertilized so we would just be able to check for the mark instead of having to go through the whole process every day. At this point, we also separated Fluffy from the other chickens. The other chickens got used to laying in the other nesting boxes and adjusted fairly quickly.
3. If a baby chick gets away from Mama, other hens will attack it.
The first chick that hatched out, got away from Mama and another hen got ahold of it. We are not sure if the hen was trying to help or harm as she placed it in the other clutch of eggs. When I collected eggs I found it, but sadly it did not survive the situation. As it was injured in the leg, I think another hen grabbed it and took off with it. The world of chickens can be a little scary sometimes! We ended up covering the area that the chick escaped from with chicken wire which left more ventilation and protection from the other hens.
4. It is totally worth having a broody hen!
This was our first time with a broody hen but honestly it added a lot of fun to caring for the chickens. We got to see the development of the chickens in the egg, we saw how a rooster interacts with a mama hen (she rules when she is brooding), but the best part is finding the new chicks peeking out from under Mama.
We are looking forward to watching her with her three chicks when they are ready to come out of the brooding coop. Right now they are learning how to eat and play with Fluffy and we peek in to watch them as they play. We snuggle them and Fluffy gets a little upset, but she calms down when we return them to her.
I know you want to see them, let me introduce Taffy, Marshmellow, and Pickles.
