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No new attempts since the last successful one....been doing it with broodies since then. No, I didn't get around to writing the article...just got sidetracked and never got back.

It was definitely an interesting experiment and, if I had to incubate in that manner again, I'd surely do it....after refining the method it seemed to have excellent results, comparable with others using actual incubators.

I'd read the rest of the thread, as this method was tweaked a good bit before I was successful in a hatch and a lot of the fluff~literally~ was trimmed from the method.

Hey, girl!!!!! Where ya been? How's every little thing? How's your hand? Been missing you!!!! Leaving 5/10 and getting back 5/16. I can leave enough food and water for the chooks but Jake's a whole 'nother breed of cat....he'd eat 6 days of food in one setting and possibly kill...

Looks like I may be dusting off the ol' cardboard box again this year and doing a little heating pad incubation again, unless God sends me some broodies. I'll be incubating 20 eggs from my two WR breeders in the regular 'bator and then will do a dozen of the WR/BA mix hen's eggs in the nest...

Here are the pics of my up and coming breeding choices, the pullets from the fall hatch. They are not laying yet but are right on the cusp of POL and will soon be 6 mo. of age, here in the middle of this month. Beulah Mae # 1 breeder choice....already checking out the nest boxes...

I only HAVE one rooster...the Blosl. I'll post pics of the frame and such.....just 2x2 woven wire, heating pad suspended under it with bungee cords.... .....then I changed my tactics and placed a trash bag over the whole thing, then covered it with a flannel pillow case before using the...

You are such a good cheering section, you know that? I was just up to feed and was eyeballing my extra pen with an eye towards splitting it down the middle to make two separate breeding/brooding pens so I will only have to build one extra breeding/brooding hut out of pallets like I had...

It works for some breeds and some chickens, as they are more prone towards broodiness, and they don't even need an accumulation of eggs in the nest to spring broody on ya...just one day they want to sit on that egg...or no egg...they just want to sit. Stimulating a young bird that's newly POL...

Neal gave me a good idea, via PM, for another experiment I'd like to try. I think that, after I collect enough eggs from my breeding hens to fill my regular incubator, I may let them mount up in the breeding pen nests to see if it stimulates these young layers to kick into a broody mode...both...

Neal, if you could have read the whole thread you would have found I was turning 3 times a day on the final nests and had a respectable hatch or two at the end, so even though it's not as good as a broody hen, when one does not have one it's almost as good. Actually, my hatches near the end...

Hey!!! I missed you!! Where ya been so long? I'm doing some culling this spring too, though my flock be little. I've got a 6 yr old hen that has been a fantastic layer all her life but she's got arthritis in her ankles now and needs some mercy. I'm going to miss her as she is the last of...

Good for you, Miss LindaB!!! I'm hoping your XW birds are a marvel at laying and produce a line you want to keep going with. They are pretty birds, aren't they? Lay a good, big egg also. I'm ditching the XW genes, I'm thinking, as my one girl isn't too good of a winter layer(read no eggs...

Yes, you do and they say the late hatches do better anyway, so that's a thing to look forward to, isn't it? I'll be using the heating pad for a brooder also if I have no broody...it was just too successful last time not to use it and it even worked well for them as they transitioned to coop...

Welcome back!!! None of my chosen breeders have come to point of lay just yet but are on the cusp, so it's likely I won't be doing this hatch until March/April, but I just wanted to awaken the old thread and see if anyone else out there was going to try this method this year. If so, I hope...

We have the clay soils here as well, which is why I'm going to try the Back to Eden gardening in order to change the nature of these soils permanently. I've tried many different amendments and the clay just eats them like candy and never changes. You should watch that film if you think WE have...

I'm so sorry your PT hurts but so glad you are seeing more mobility and use of your hand. Did you tell him that your hands are strong because you are a country woman and are constantly using those hands? Can't keep a good woman down! We are doing great! Staying warm and planning spring...

Hey, Lisa Dear! How's the hand and every little thing?

This year's hatching will be interesting as I test the natural nest method side by side with a regular incubator. If I have any broodies at the time, they will be loaded with any eggs I can gather as well. Wouldn't it be neat to have all three methods going at once and getting to see the...

Excellent vids of broody self-sufficiency when it comes to raising a brood....don't the chicks look healthy, vigorous and active compared to chicks that don't have a mama teaching them. They're learning with every step about foraging, survival and flock social behavior. I agree.....it...