Broody hen

[Trying2keepitReal]

so thinking about alternate options in case I don't have a hen go broody.

I have never done chicks, what would be the minimum sized brooder needed for 5-7 standard sized chickens (Buff Orpington, Sapphire Gem, Cream Legbar or similar)

 

[Hinotori]

I have a brooder plate if I need to raise chicks. It uses very little electricity and is fire safe. I use totes with wire tops to keep the brats in. Can just use any light source and turn it off at dusk then. Ive seen all sorts of containers used to contain them.

Usually I use a hen even if I incubate the eggs. But I have a lot of silkies so always a few broody.

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm with @frustratedearthmother ... when your hen gets up once a day to eat/drink and poop, the others just can't seem to NOT add to that nest. I've used dog crate in the coop, like small dog size. When left open, more eggs happen. An option would be to mark the eggs you bring in and every couple days, toss any others. Since you have no roo, not an issue.

Last spring a regular broody had a clutch of 9, Which became larger and larger! When she had hatched 12 she got off the nest. I saw her and chicks, gathered the other 7 and put in incubator. They all hatched over the next week. We both did a fine job raising chicks! . She was infinitely better at teaching them to forage and scratch.

Because of the fertile eggs, I like to put my hens in separate pens while they incubate.

 

[tortoise]

I used a cardboard box and an incandescent light bulb with my last chicks. I had 4

 

[Medicine Woman]

I only like to be able to manage a broody by herself for several reasons. I don’t trust myself to remember to pick her up and remove all the eggs every afternoon for one thing and not all hens will accept me doing that the same way. Some will peck and start fighting. Then you might get a helper and that could be great if you catch it early because together they can each cover maybe 30 eggs if they full size hens but it could be very bad because once the hatching starts in a coop, the custody battles begin and babies can be killed in the hen fights. Ideally I like to have something that I can place in front of the nesting box the hen chose, like a movable extension cage that I can have some water and a small amount of feed for her and later the chicks. If a hen in one of my smaller stalls gets broody I just chase everything else out. Maybe I can put started pullets in there to finish out because they won’t interfere but no laying hens. If a hen finds a spot outside, hidden I might be able to drop a chicken tractor over her for safety but I have to watch the weather for flash floods.
So I read the other comments as well as yours. Even if your eggs aren’t fertile you still need to mark the eggs. The other hens will lay eggs with a broody. They don’t know their eggs aren’t fertile. You will have wasted eggs with runny yolks if they stay warm too long.
I don’t want it to sound like what all I have said is cast in stone. I have had success as well as failures. Also broodiness is kinda contagious. But there too it will be a problem when you have multiple hatch dates. You can have a hen abandon her nest and fight for hatched chicks. Sometimes if I have a hen two weeks into brooding and suddenly she has a helper plus 5 other hens are showing me they want babies as well, I might open the coop and make all other hens forage and warm up the incubator, close all broody hens in the coop and kidnap the partially set eggs and start everyone fresh with as many eggs as they can each cover. All evicted hens and roosters can follow me to an alternate stall temporary.
I guess that’s a lot.

 

[Hinotori]

Ive only ever had co-broodies in silkies. They seem to prefer mass brooding. The ameraucana and easter eggers want nothing to do with that.

Had 5 silkie hens raising a batch of chicks once. I couldn't get near the babies. One hen would be designated to hide the chicks and the others attacked.

Silkies have a different mentality and it's noticeable in the half breeds what parent they inherited theirs from.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Oh I have had ducks and chickens brood together. Now that’s really wild.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I used a cardboard box and an incandescent light bulb with my last chicks. I had 4

Like an appliance box?

Did you keep them in the house? I am thinking either basement or garage, but not the main .

Or I was thinking rubber totes too but read not to integrate with older hens til.10-12 weeks and a tub seems small for that and I dont have a separate coop to move them to. I could do a dog crate in the run and coop but for 4-6 weeks that seems small too, and not a lot of fun for them.