I waited a loooong time for my free-range Dominique hen to finally go broody. She's been proudly sitting on a nest of six eggs for over a week now. When she was off the nest for her afternoon "break", my little boy went into the hen house to admire the nest. He ran back into the house screaming "There's a big snake eating Squawkara's eggs!" Sure enough, there was a BIG black snake curled up in the nest with an egg in his mouth. I poked the snake with a stick, and he spat the egg out. Luckily, there were two plumbers in the house and they dispatched the snake. I examined the egg that he had in his mouth, and it appeared fine. I wiped it off and placed in back in the nest. Now, I'm wondering if I did the right thing by doing so. I wonder if I could have infected the nest with some sort of bacteria from the snake's mouth by leaving that egg in there. The snake had already eaten one of her eggs, so I couldn't make myself destroy another one. What do you all think?
Snake raiding my broody hen's eggs!
i think they will be fine but i am no expert tamara and ctscan would know more
you are very lucky your son spotted the snake other wise u wouldnt get any chicks at all have you candled them yet
josh
I agree with Josh--the egg is probably fine and if it isn't the hen will roll it out before it can contaminate the other eggs. A nest is hardly a sterile environment and I think eggs are pretty good at staying uncontaminated--but I suppose it is possible that with all the saliva and rubbing some bacteria made it inside--I would just watch what the hen does.
It must have been a heart stopping moment when you saw what was happening!
i wouldve got my shovel out and then say "bye bye mr snake"
Yes, Mr. Snake is in Snake Heaven. No, I haven't candled them yet. How do you get a very, VERY, V-E-R-Y grumpy, broody hen off the eggs so you can candle them? I tried to move her once and she broke blood vessels in my finger by pecking me! She gets off the nest in the afternoon, I think I'll grab them then and go into our dark basement and candle them then rather than trying to do it at night. I'll let you know what I see! Here's one of my little "biddies" from my last hatch from our incubator last week. Isn't she precious?!
So sweet! Is it a Dominique? I'm getting chick fever just looking at it.
She is a Silkie/Domique cross. We have some older chicks from the same parents, and they are a strange combination! They have the Silkie extra toes, black legs, black & white barred feathers (on their bodies), but they have a black & white fuzzy top-not, legs, and feet.
Well I candled the eggs successfully a few minutes ago when the hen was off the nest. Out of the 5 she had left, 3 were fertile and growing. I disposed of the other two. Will she miss the two eggs? I know one thing... that's one MEAN, NASTY broody hen!
This is too funny! My broody dominique hen is usually my tame, sweet, pet hen that jumps in my lap whenever I sit down. Out of habit, she just jumped in my lap, and then I guess she remembered she was broody, so she puffed up and screamed at me! I told her, "I didn't ask you to get up here!" and laughed. She puffed up a little more and returned to her nest.
That's funny crabbycat.....aren't they fun to watch? It's almost like you can read their minds most of the time. How to deal with broody hens.....when I was dealing with mine, I would put on one of my DH's thick leather work gloves in one hand, put that hand in front of the hens face and a little on the neck so she couldn't reach around to get my other hand, then use my other bare hand to lift and look. 10 of my broodys were Barred Rocks and never caused me any problems, so I got used to reaching under or around them bare handed. The only one I had a problem with was the Rhode Island Red....Big Red.....and oh boy was she a rip. Even if you weren't doing anything with her, if you were around her she would strike out. I always wore the glove with her....she struck it over and over and I didn't feel a thing.
That said, I got struck by a biddy for the first time the day before yesterday. I was gathering eggs and reached my hand in under a Barred Rock pullet to see if she was sitting on any eggs and wham.....she nailed me. She broke skin and everything....youch. I would hate to see what she does if she goes broody on us......YIKES!
Your broody shouldn't miss the eggs you tossed. At least mine never did at any rate. I hope you have 3 little chicks soon!
Christy
u caught a broody hen acting nice wow that is an achievment
Josh, all of my broodies are nice. They might scream at me and raise their feathers but they don't even try to peck me. They are all Black Australorps. So, I think you should feel good that Australians are gentle.
GG
^_^
lol were lover not fighter and my black sex link pecks me when i touch her she is a very nasty piece of work lol