Gave my broody eggs tonight...first time for both of us...anyone else start some today, 4-4-12? - Page 3

 YAY! How exciting. My very first broody hatch is due this Thursday. My teenage daughter asked me how on earth was I going to put her in lockdown. I just looked at her the way she looks at me when I starting singing along with the 80s radio channel. I could picture poor 'Sissy' in lockdown with a laundry basket with a cinderblock on it over her head.... teenagers are so weird.

Sissy is a small girl. She's part Silkie and part Polish and she's frizzled. She's been very diligent on her nest. She has 7 eggs under her and I'm not sure if even one of them is hers. I candled 2 days ago and all look good. As soon as she went broody, my Showgirl went broody a week later and now my bantam Cochin Silkie mix who is only 6-8 months old has decided she wants to hatch her own single egg. That puts 3 of my girls out of commission as far as egg production goes. I just don't have the heart to try to break their broodiness. I'm very excited!

Quote:

Originally Posted by nurse_turtle 

 YAY! How exciting. My very first broody hatch is due this Thursday. My teenage daughter asked me how on earth was I going to put her in lockdown. I just looked at her the way she looks at me when I starting singing along with the 80s radio channel. I could picture poor 'Sissy' in lockdown with a laundry basket with a cinderblock on it over her head.... teenagers are so weird.

 

Sissy is a small girl. She's part Silkie and part Polish and she's frizzled. She's been very diligent on her nest. She has 7 eggs under her and I'm not sure if even one of them is hers. I candled 2 days ago and all look good. As soon as she went broody, my Showgirl went broody a week later and now my bantam Cochin Silkie mix who is only 6-8 months old has decided she wants to hatch her own single egg. That puts 3 of my girls out of commission as far as egg production goes. I just don't have the heart to try to break their broodiness. I'm very excited!

 

I feel the same way.  My silkie just hatched some chicks and I have a bunch in the bator.  Well my Bantam Frizzle Cochin just went broody...I just had to give her a couple eggs although she wont have to wait very long as they were already incubated for 17 days already.  They look so proud when they are a momma.
 

i started some that day and i cant wait
 

All of my games sit like clockwork. It seems every week I wake up and one of my ladies is sitting. If she broods once, she COULD potentially brood 4-6 times in a year. Raising up each batch to about 6 weeks and then she will start kicking them to the curb, rudely. A lot of pecking and fussing will happen when she starts weaning them.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by WyoChickenMamma 

OH....I can't wait to see pics of all the chicks.  How exciting for everyone.  I have always thought that my girl would be a good momma, I hope she stays on these eggs for the whole time.  :)  At one time I had three broody, at one time last fall, but no fertilized eggs to give them, and it was really bad timing to hatch them out here, in three feet of snow. 

 

So for those of you who have done this before, do you think hatching them out will not make her broody again for a while, or will it only reinforce that and she will want to sit again real soon?  I think she should spend some time taking care of these that she is hatching, but how long?  A month or 6 weeks? 

 

I am not even sure what breed she is, she has the body shape of an orpington, is blue and black and has a pea comb.  Perhaps an EE, although she does lay a brown egg. I know some breeds are more known for their broody tendencies than others. 

Our broodies have cared for the chicks 6-8 weeks and by then they were laying again.  If you have a broody on a common nest, think about covering the opening so the others don't go in there to chase her off.

So exciting!! When y'alls chicks hatch will you post pics?

I have a broody right now, she been sitting for about 6 days now, this is my first time and her first time as well. When do you start to candle? Whats the best light to use for a candle? And when do you start to see some kind of life in the eggs?

Set a dozen eggs with our first time broody this past Saturday.   She went broody in December and we broke her by tossing her out of the coop dozens of times a day!  We didn't want babies in the winter.   We started looking for some blue egg laying chicks a week or so ago and bingo she goes broody again!  Perfect timing, we bought a dozen blue eggs from a local farm and she is sitting on them as we speak.  A first time for both of us.  My only fear is the nest she choose sits up off the ground about a foot and I'm afraid to move her.  Should we wait until they hatch?

Ok so this is my first time with a broody hen and I am soooooo excited!  But I have no idea what I am doing!  So far from this post I have learned that I should feed my broody girl eggs and oats, away from everyone else, and candle the eggs to toss the bad ones. 

1. How do I candle and how do I know if an egg is bad?  I know that only a couple of the eggs that she is sitting on will hatch because we only have one roo to nine hens. 

2. Two of the eggs are from black copper marans, so will I be able to see anything? 

3.  How long does it take for the eggs to hatch?

4.  Today is the first day that I've let her sit.  If I take note of who my roo mounts tomorrow, and then make sure that her eggs make it under my broody by the day after tomorrow, will that be too much of a time lapse for the eggs to hatch?

THANK YOU!!  I'm so excited!!!

ok, i found a great article on what to do with broody hens!!  It answered all of my questions but left me with one new one.  how many eggs do i set under my broody hen? 8? 10?

link to article...  notice under the photograph that it has 5 parts, so you have to click on part 2 after you are done reading part 1, and so on...  ENJOY!!

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html