Kerala, India
When a female bird sits on her eggs in a nest to incubate them, this is called brooding. Natural incubation or brooding is the simplest method of hatching small numbers of eggs. A broody hen (chicken) will incubate her own eggs or those from another hen or duck. Broody hens may refuse to leave the eggs to eat or drink. They can suffer from external parasites such as mites and fleas. Care must be taken to provide feed to the hen and treat her for parasites.
The Broody Hen: New breeds (types) of chickens may not be good brooders. A good test to check the broodiness of a bird is to place some white balls, or a few hard-boiled eggs, in its nest for a day or two. If the bird stays in the nest and will not easily move off, replace the eggs with 10 to 15 fertile eggs which have been checked. Natural incubation is the simplest way to hatch small numbers of eggs, and the broody hen can be used to incubate and hatch her own eggs or those from another bird. A hen can incubate 12 to 15 chicken eggs.
The broody hen is kept in a nesting box. Remove her from the nest for 20 minutes each day to give her feed and water. If a hen is used to incubate duck eggs, you will need to sprinkle them with water for the last 14 days of the incubation period. Turkey eggs can also be incubated by a hen. A female turkey will lay up to 15 eggs, but a brooding hen can only incubate up to 9 turkey eggs.
Coccidia in Chickens: Coccidia cannot be seen without a microscope. Many different coccidia infect different parts of the digestive tract in both chickens and ducks. Birds are normally infected with several different coccidia. Birds become infected through contaminated soil, feed or water and will experience few problems if the infection level is low. Young birds, especially those under a month old, can be severely affected. Diarrhea occurs and the droppings may contain blood. Coccidia can kill young birds within 2 weeks of the disease appearing.
Interesting Information About Chicken Digestion: The pattern of food intake and its passage through the digestive system are the main factors influencing secretory and digestive activity. Probably because of the high metabolic rate of fowl, a more or less continuous supply of food is required by the digestive system. This is provided by the crop, which acts as a reservoir for food storage prior to digestion and consequently permits the fowl to eat its food as periodic meals. There is quite wide variability between birds in eating behavior, even among those in the same flock. Some eat small amounts at short intervals while others eat larger amounts at wider intervals.
Food Storage: The food is delivered into the crop for storage after the first few boluses have passed into the proventriculus. The crop is quite distensible and will hold a large amount of undigested food that is then moved on as required by the proventriculus. This function of the crop is less important when there is a plentiful food supply available. Because of the crop’s ability to hold a food supply, when applying a food control (restriction) program, it is necessary to compensate by providing a long period of food deprivation to achieve the required degree of control. There is no relationship between the length of time of food deprivation and the amount of food consumed.
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