Broody Hen Thread!

[Lady of McCamley]

Touching base after not being on this thread for awhile....

@fisherlady and my other broody friends,

I finally have a co-brooding situation...the two Cochin sisters are on day 18 of 5 eggs which they have shared fairly equally.

4 of these will be Barnevelder roo over Gold Star hen (who lays a lovely terra cotta egg) and should be nice red laced utility layers...with I'm hoping a lovely deeper red egg (Barnie with the GS' color)

The other egg is a test run on my Splash Marans girl with Barnie roo...it should be a blue laced dark layer (if hen). This Splash Marans does not lay a deep color like she was supposed to (parents 7 on the scale), but it is a pretty deep red egg...hoping with Barnie genes to create another possible road for a deep cordovan brown/red egg

Hatch day, if all goes well, is Wednesday March 9th...and all looked to be developed last candling at day 16.

I think these Cochin girls will be nice about co-brooding chicks...we'll see. I'll also see how well this little banty flock functions with the new chicks.

The Silkie's latest baby (Barnie/Cal grey backyard black sex link) is almost a strapping teen at 10 weeks of age...doing very nicely. Silkie raised 2 babies (lost one earlier on due to dumb chick escape) in the pen with the Cochins aunties nicely, so I have every expectation that the Cochin mommas will do well with Auntie Silkie and "sibling" BSL in pen too.

Countdown approaching

LofMc

 

[Honora]

Touching base after not being on this thread for awhile....

@fisherlady and my other broody friends,

I finally have a co-brooding situation...the two Cochin sisters are on day 18 of 5 eggs which they have shared fairly equally.

4 of these will be Barnevelder roo over Gold Star hen (who lays a lovely terra cotta egg) and should be nice red laced utility layers...with I'm hoping a lovely deeper red egg (Barnie with the GS' color)

The other egg is a test run on my Splash Marans girl with Barnie roo...it should be a blue laced dark layer (if hen). This Splash Marans does not lay a deep color like she was supposed to (parents 7 on the scale), but it is a pretty deep red egg...hoping with Barnie genes to create another possible road for a deep cordovan brown/red egg

Hatch day, if all goes well, is Wednesday March 9th...and all looked to be developed last candling at day 16.

I think these Cochin girls will be nice about co-brooding chicks...we'll see. I'll also see how well this little banty flock functions with the new chicks.

The Silkie's latest baby (Barnie/Cal grey backyard black sex link) is almost a strapping teen at 10 weeks of age...doing very nicely. Silkie raised 2 babies (lost one earlier on due to dumb chick escape) in the pen with the Cochins aunties nicely, so I have every expectation that the Cochin mommas will do well with Auntie Silkie and "sibling" BSL in pen too.

Countdown approaching

LofMc

That is a great pic of your broody! She is a real pancake, lol.

 

[n3kms]

I have a hen who brooded 3 sets of chicks last year and was hoping she would do the same this year. So far nothing. Do you think she will or does it sometimes happen that way?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I have a hen who brooded 3 sets of chicks last year and was hoping she would do the same this year. So far nothing. Do you think she will or does it sometimes happen that way?

You never know when the mood will strike. I have had two girls, at separate times, who only ever went broody once. Go figure.

 

[Tayten B]

I had 5 chiness ring neck pheasants go broody and hatch chick last year

one had one to a about 6 weeks but it got and we never found it
the next one had five and this time we did take them away and hand raised them
different pen

we had another one hatch 4 and we were going to let her raise them but it rained and the chicks didn't want to stay by mom so we again brought these ones in

then the nest two nested a day apart and the chick hatched a day part and we got a chicken tractor ad the two hens went in there with there shared 13 babies these hens and chicks went to a zoo the poults needed a home but they where to young to go by them selves and and we learned from the last time the hen get really depressed if there babies are taken away

I have the 3 hen still and got a green and melinistic hen hoping for some more broodies this year

it has been almost 9 months for the ones at the zoo

and the first two hens well sadly one was killed by a coon and the other we released with a rooster on a couple hundred acres of prime pheasant habitat

 

[coopbuilder82]

Good, I do not know how much info you have collected so I will ask----If she is with other hens----did you mark the eggs so you can remove fresh added/layed eggs daily? Make sure you mark your calender. You can check her on her 18th day, but "I" would not bother her at all----hands-off on the 19/20/21/ day---let her hatch. In my opinion if you tilt her or raise her a little to see the eggs during those days---It causes the moisture to escape that she might need to have a good hatch. Good Luck!!u

Keep us posted..

She's doing okay, her eggs are marked, but yes the others still try to lay in her box even though there's like six empty ones. She gets off the nest very briefly every morning. She doesn't eat much, but she's still pooping when she leaves the nest. So far, so good. Very helpful thread!

 

[Puddin Fluff]

She's doing okay, her eggs are marked, but yes the others still try to lay in her box even though there's like six empty ones. She gets off the nest very briefly every morning. She doesn't eat much, but she's still pooping when she leaves the nest. So far, so good. Very helpful thread!

Sounds like things are going good. That is about the same with my girl. Friday is day 18 and I will be putting a cage around her nest to keep the other birds out. We will see how she does.

 

[RubyNala97]

I really need some advice. My first broody hen successfully hatched all 4 of the eggs she had on Monday. I don't know if they all hatched on Monday but at least one hatched Monday and all 4 were definitely hatched by yesterday because she kicked the shells out of the nest that were marked and I counted them. But she still has not got up to eat or drink. She's still sitting tight. How long until she gets up to eat and drink and let the babies eat and drink?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I really need some advice. My first broody hen successfully hatched all 4 of the eggs she had on Monday. I don't know if they all hatched on Monday but at least one hatched Monday and all 4 were definitely hatched by yesterday because she kicked the shells out of the nest that were marked and I counted them. But she still has not got up to eat or drink. She's still sitting tight. How long until she gets up to eat and drink and let the babies eat and drink?

Different times for different birds. Babies don't need food or water for the first couple of days so I wouldn't be too worried for another day or so if she just hatched Monday. What I usually do is place a small dish of feed (crumbles) and a small waterer of a shallow dish with pebbles and water either in the nest if you have room or very near the nest depending on your set up. Mom will usually nibble and drink and then the babies see how it's done as they should be running all over her if they are two days old. If the nest is off the ground, I make sure there is a soft landing for them to drop off on to and also stay around to see how the other birds (if there are any in the pen) treat the babies. I do lots of coop checks around hatch time.

Hope this is some help!

 

[mndrockhunter]

My first broody hen just hatched her first chick, super cute.