HELP - Having some trouble/issues - first broody hen, and my first time... :/

[Shezadandy]

Mama and the 2 chicks are doing well, thank God. My original coop, that friends gave me, has an upstairs that is closed in with 3 separate nesting boxes - that's where they were, I had taken the ramp down so the babies would stay and Enid would set on the remaining eggs. I think 2 of the eggs died, it seemed to me like liquid inside, but the other two could still have chicks. How do I know if the two are viable? So my scary story, I left for work yesterday and came home 12 hours later, my son fed for me, quickly. Mama and babies were on the 1st floor of the coop with no food or water (that was still on 2nd floor), which means they all flew/fell down from the loft. It was dark already when I went out there, so I turned on a light and moved their stuff, eggs and all, downstairs with them. Everyone came and had a drink and a snack, I left the light on for about an hour and this morning they are fine, thank God again!! So, how can I know for sure what's up with the eggs? 2 are past due and 2 should be due now. How are both of your girl's birds doing?? I love kicking through the pictures!

I'd definitely discard the liquidy ones, carefully! If she's leaving the other 2 and they look like they're still viable like WVduckchick was saying, then you can either leave them in hopes that she could still hatch, or give up and just let her raise the ones you've got. Without an incubator, if she's wanting to be up and around with the other babies then it's probably "time." That's the struggle with staggered hatches, which I know happened because other hens added on while she was laying on her nest, not because you added them. The other worry if they do hatch is whether hormone-wise she's still geared towards "ahhh my sweet l'il babies" with the other two being significantly further along. Your chickies, your call- but definitely get rid of the clearly bad ones.

There is a thread on here with great entertainment value about a couple gals who "brooded" eggs in her bra... there's a much longer thread but here's a thread with a happy boob-brooded ending:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1001024/egg-hatching-in-my-bra-advice-on-when-if-to-assist

 

[Cari C]

I'd definitely discard the liquidy ones, carefully! If she's leaving the other 2 and they look like they're still viable like WVduckchick was saying, then you can either leave them in hopes that she could still hatch, or give up and just let her raise the ones you've got. Without an incubator, if she's wanting to be up and around with the other babies then it's probably "time." That's the struggle with staggered hatches, which I know happened because other hens added on while she was laying on her nest, not because you added them. The other worry if they do hatch is whether hormone-wise she's still geared towards "ahhh my sweet l'il babies" with the other two being significantly further along. Your chickies, your call- but definitely get rid of the clearly bad ones.

There is a thread on here with great entertainment value about a couple gals who "brooded" eggs in her bra... there's a much longer thread but here's a thread with a happy boob-brooded ending:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1001024/egg-hatching-in-my-bra-advice-on-when-if-to-assist

it took me a while to not feel badly, but I collected the 4 eggs and opened them. One was pure liquid, 2 had chicks 3/4 way grown is what it looked like to me, but they were starting to liquify. The last one was perfect, not alive, but perfect. I have no idea what I could have done to know and to save him when he needed to be saved, he really was perfect... (I read the bra-incubator story, what a hoot!)

 

[Shezadandy]

it took me a while to not feel badly, but I collected the 4 eggs and opened them. One was pure liquid, 2 had chicks 3/4 way grown is what it looked like to me, but they were starting to liquify. The last one was perfect, not alive, but perfect. I have no idea what I could have done to know and to save him when he needed to be saved, he really was perfect... (I read the bra-incubator story, what a hoot!)

Yes, sometimes they just don't make it and/or they stop developing- you're braver than I am. The 3 that never hatched were set to rest without being opened, so I'll never know. Good for you for investigating! Maybe next time I'll get up the courage to take a peek.

How's the waterer project coming along and are you finding the book helpful?

 

[WVduckchick]

I had a first-timer broody sitting on about 10 eggs. Others had also added to the nest and were staggered. When it was close to "time" I candled and several seemed liquidy also, but a couple looked viable. None hatched, the liquid ones were scrambled! I put 4 more under her that day, she stayed another 3 weeks and hatched 2.

My theory is that the other hens adding to the nest were rolling the eggs more than the broody does. I think every time she got up and another hen came in, they rolled all the eggs around. Too much rolling.

Another broody would accept eggs from the other hens, but they would lay them in front of her and she would pull them under her. She was a monster bitchy hen, that I could not touch, but one day caught her off the nest and she had 46 eggs! I only had 8 hens at the time, and the broody wasn't laying her own! But I candled and tried to keep about 15 that looked close to each other. 5 hatched over 3-4 days.

Now I will always remove broodies and try to give them eggs all at one time. Even if I swap some out that she has already been sitting on. Staggered hatches are tough.

 

[Cari C]

Yes, sometimes they just don't make it and/or they stop developing- you're braver than I am. The 3 that never hatched were set to rest without being opened, so I'll never know. Good for you for investigating! Maybe next time I'll get up the courage to take a peek.

How's the waterer project coming along and are you finding the book helpful?

Kelsey, I was a vet tech for over 25 yrs, hence the curiosity, or want of learning, bad smells don't deter me. I had to have my friend take the eggs from her though, I just felt too guilty... so my bravery is situational. I am staring at a brand new 5 gal bucket and a dozen waterers, just staring. I am horrible at getting things done and am not sure what set-up to go for. Having the mare and a goat turned out with the chickens keeps me from doing the pvc pipeline, which is sad, because it looks great! I have my one guy friend that I make do these projects with me, so I am waiting for him to find time to stop over again, besides the fact that we are both first-timers with contraptions like this. I think I may have to hang the bucket and attach the cups directly to it, sort of like a round bar, if you can get the picture in your head, they'll have to sidle up and find a spot. My friend is still a tad bit traumatized from the egg opening, but I think he'll recover! I haven't cracked the book open yet, fell asleep with it last night, lol, what a life I have...

 

[Cari C]

I had a first-timer broody sitting on about 10 eggs. Others had also added to the nest and were staggered. When it was close to "time" I candled and several seemed liquidy also, but a couple looked viable. None hatched, the liquid ones were scrambled! I put 4 more under her that day, she stayed another 3 weeks and hatched 2.

My theory is that the other hens adding to the nest were rolling the eggs more than the broody does. I think every time she got up and another hen came in, they rolled all the eggs around. Too much rolling.

Another broody would accept eggs from the other hens, but they would lay them in front of her and she would pull them under her. She was a monster bitchy hen, that I could not touch, but one day caught her off the nest and she had 46 eggs! I only had 8 hens at the time, and the broody wasn't laying her own! But I candled and tried to keep about 15 that looked close to each other. 5 hatched over 3-4 days.

Now I will always remove broodies and try to give them eggs all at one time. Even if I swap some out that she has already been sitting on. Staggered hatches are tough.

46?!?!? holy cow!!! I will tell you this, I only have to learn a hard lesson once, and I will never allow staggered hatching to happen again. I wonder if the hen goes through a bit of the emotional trauma too? I floated the eggs last week, none were "rocking", so I let them be, Do you think the one that was fully formed would have made it had I opened it then? I'm thinking maybe it was the lack of humidity without Enid setting on them, because it sure wasn't low temps! I have a question for you girls - one of you mentioned last broody of the season. Do hens not go broody during the winter months? Can you manipulate them with artificial lighting like you can horses? I will not do that, am just curious. Also, is it safe to get a "used" incubator? I likely will not get an incubator anyway, because I do not need more chickens, but again, curiosity...

 

[Shezadandy]

I had a first-timer broody sitting on about 10 eggs. Others had also added to the nest and were staggered. When it was close to "time" I candled and several seemed liquidy also, but a couple looked viable. None hatched, the liquid ones were scrambled! I put 4 more under her that day, she stayed another 3 weeks and hatched 2.

My theory is that the other hens adding to the nest were rolling the eggs more than the broody does. I think every time she got up and another hen came in, they rolled all the eggs around. Too much rolling.

Another broody would accept eggs from the other hens, but they would lay them in front of her and she would pull them under her. She was a monster bitchy hen, that I could not touch, but one day caught her off the nest and she had 46 eggs! I only had 8 hens at the time, and the broody wasn't laying her own! But I candled and tried to keep about 15 that looked close to each other. 5 hatched over 3-4 days.

Now I will always remove broodies and try to give them eggs all at one time. Even if I swap some out that she has already been sitting on. Staggered hatches are tough.

Holy expletive! 46 eggs!!!!! WOWWEEE!

 

[Shezadandy]

46?!?!? holy cow!!! I will tell you this, I only have to learn a hard lesson once, and I will never allow staggered hatching to happen again. I wonder if the hen goes through a bit of the emotional trauma too? I floated the eggs last week, none were "rocking", so I let them be, I wonder if the one that was fully formed would have made it had I opened it then. I'm thinking maybe it was the lack of humidity without Enid setting on them, because it sure wasn't low temps! I have a question for you girls - one of you mentioned last broody of the season. Do hens not go broody during the winter months? Can you manipulate them with artificial lighting like you can horses? I will not do that, am just curious. Also, is it safe to get a "used" incubator? I likely will not get an incubator anyway, because I do not need more chickens, but again, curiosity...

If the chick doesn't pip and then unzip itself there was likely something wrong with it that may not have been visible. They go through a bunch of stages- absorbing the yolk, blood supply and so on that one very small wrong move by us and the chick is doomed- more is going on than the chick breaking out of the egg. Hens go broody on their own schedule - nothing we do will influence broodiness. I keep giving mine pep talks though.

The other night I caught one of my broody's now 13 week old chicks trying to crawl back under her like she did when she was a wee baby- Doodle wants to be a chick forever. The broody gave her a stern "leave before I rip all your feathers out, you're on your own" speech.


Daylight will influence when they molt and stop/start laying. I've got one hen that is so light sensitive that when the days started shortening, she just stopped laying- for 3 weeks in the middle of the summer!

My coop is very dark without lights because of the deep shade from giant evergreen trees. They've got an automatic door, so they can leave the coop in the AM for the morning light in their big run. For most of this summer I had them set to go out at 9:30am for noise reasons, but the no-crow collars on the roosters worked well enough that I decided to change it to 8:30. The very next day I had an egg from her again- she continued for weeks with an egg almost every day. When she went 4 days without an egg again, I changed the time to 7:30- right back to laying! Every other chicken continued as normal.

It can't be just any old light to keep them laying- other threads address this. I leave my light (not the kind to keep them laying) on all day until sundown at night because of my coop's naturally dark location- otherwise they wouldn't go into a dark coop at night. With your location in Phoenix all of this is much less dramatic because you don't get the same big daylight swings that we do up here in the Pacific NW.

So, you can use lights to keep your hens laying provided they are the right kind, but broodiness is a combination of other factors that only the hen knows.

Used incubator wise, that's a tough one. The only way to find out is to get one and try it with a small batch- maybe query "best incubator" or "worst incubator" so you get a good feel for which brands are more reliable beforehand- much like a car, but not nearly as much $$! It might be worth it to see about a smaller new one with good reviews so you've got it on hand.

 

[WVduckchick]

I agree with Shez on all that! I think hens and broodiness are contagious though! When one starts, it seems to ripple.

Incubators.... I wouldn't buy a used styrofoam one, but I would (and did, twice) buy used plastic Brinsea. Because of the sterilization factor. Using styrofoam over and over in your own environment is one thing. Sterilization is possible, but I still wouldn't risk it from someone else, used. Just my 2 cents. I love my Brinseas.

 

[Shezadandy]

Kelsey, I was a vet tech for over 25 yrs, hence the curiosity, or want of learning, bad smells don't deter me. I had to have my friend take the eggs from her though, I just felt too guilty... so my bravery is situational. I am staring at a brand new 5 gal bucket and a dozen waterers, just staring. I am horrible at getting things done and am not sure what set-up to go for. Having the mare and a goat turned out with the chickens keeps me from doing the pvc pipeline, which is sad, because it looks great! I have my one guy friend that I make do these projects with me, so I am waiting for him to find time to stop over again, besides the fact that we are both first-timers with contraptions like this. I think I may have to hang the bucket and attach the cups directly to it, sort of like a round bar, if you can get the picture in your head, they'll have to sidle up and find a spot. My friend is still a tad bit traumatized from the egg opening, but I think he'll recover! I haven't cracked the book open yet, fell asleep with it last night, lol, what a life I have...

The very easiest way is what you're describing- drill 3/8" holes into the bucket (very important they're the right size) at the intervals you want. When deciding on the height and cup placement, remember that you're going to want to be able to dump the bucket- so leave a side clear to make that easy to do without breaking the cups, or making it so you have to lift the whole thing up off the ground. I would leave 2-3 out of your design as ready replacements "just in case." For your hot weather, this is probably the best choice because the water that sits in the PVC pipes gets hot hot hot, even here in Oregon in the summer- no matter how much you ice down the water in the bucket.

Use 1/2" plumber's tape- you know, like the stuff you use when changing shower heads- even grocery stores might have it- it's like $1. Pull the plumber's tape tight over the threads on the cups, then screw the cups into the holes like a light bulb into a socket. Careful not to over-tighten the cup because you'll wind up with a hole in your bucket that ends up being too big.

Their directions say something about o-rings- neither of my orders have o-rings included- neither one of my setups do either. If you want o-rings, check home depot's website (or whatever similar store is available) so you know right where to go in your local store- it's probably in the $2-3 range- and take one of the cups with you if size is in doubt. If you're drilling into a 5 gallon horse bucket (instead of a 5-gallon utility bucket like mine) there should be plenty of plastic to have the threads hold on. If it is a utility bucket, the o-ring actually might help.

If you're thinking about doing the PVC pipe way, here's a detailed account from a different thread about things to consider for ease of use-- there are a few more steps (and dollars!) to do it that way. This link should take you to the page, then look for post #299.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1108232/things-you-wish-you-would-have-known/290