First time raising a clutch using a broody hen!

[Away2me]

We are so excited! We received our fertilized eggs today and my son's favorite hen LoLo, a black Australorp, has settled right down on her clutch! She turned broody about a month ago and despite our best efforts to stop her broody behavior, we are stuck with her this way. So we decided to embrace it and order some fertilized eggs.

Today is day 1!

 

[Bens--Hens]

My broody silkie is currently hatching eggs right now! The first one was a day late and the 2nd was 3days late and the 3rd just started I hope the other 6 hatch!! Good lunck with your hatch!e

 

[Away2me]

Good luck!

 

[PeachygirlGA]

I have decided to do the same thing! I already have fertilized eggs since I have a rooster though. But I've never done this before so I don't know what to expect! I've been looking for some tips here.

 

[Away2me]

There are a lot of threads on this section that had good advice. I read through a lot of them. I'm going with a very hands off approach and let nature take its course. Once the chicks hatch I'll probably have to section her off until she takes the lowere nest box. She was not interested in establishing her nest down there to begin with. I tried moving her with a group of eggs prior to our fertilized eggs arriving but she was having none of that.

So for now she keeps her throne and the other ladies use the lower nest box or the one far right of her!

 

[Peeps61]

They are funny like that! My broody's always use the dog crate and not the nesting boxes in the chicken tractor. Go figure! The other chickens lay in the dog crate too, but don't bother the mama hen. She pecks them if they try.

 

[Monkeybean415]

Good luck and have fun! We just hatched our first batch of chicks from a broody a few weeks ago and loved it! We left her in the nesting box in our coop and all was fine. We marked the eggs to be sure not to mix them up. The other hens stopped laying in her box after a week or so. She's now in a dog crate with her babies in the garage but we let them out in the yard everyday for a little bit.

 

[countryboy628]

I'm trying to hatch from my hen but my eggs are rotting before they hatch help what's wrong

 

[Monkeybean415]

I'm trying to hatch from my hen but my eggs are rotting before they hatch help what's wrong

Is your hen broody? You can't hatch eggs from a hen unless the hen goes broody and wants to sit on eggs. Some broody hens aren't very good at it and wont sit on them long enough or will leave the nest for too long of a period during the day and they get too cold

 

[countryboy628]

Yes she is and very protective over the nest I walk n to the hen house and she does not like it she don't leave but just a few minutes to grab a bite and a drink and then back on them