Is 7 months too young for broody?

[Shezadandy]

I'm looking for feedback on whether a 7mo old Barred Rock should be able to handle fertile eggs. She's been laying in the nest box - very sensibly, a ground level box, for a couple days now, including tonight for sure while everyone else is roosting. Today is the first time I thought to see where she was sleeping so this could be 2-3 nights now.. Anyways, we're considering picking up a few fertile eggs to see how she does... unless 7 mo is too young?? She laid her first egg 3/22/16 at a little over 5 months old.

 

[shortgrass]

Great! Lol that's when I usually have to start the guessing game of "which chick came out of which egg?"

Most should hatch together within 24 hours; if there are any left after 3 days, they're most likely non-viable, but you can candle for sure and check. She will leave the nest about 2-3 days after the first one hatches to find them food and water, so any eggs left after that, she'll consider "done" and will be a mommy instead of a broody.

If there are signs of jealous hens or severe pecking, be prepared to separate her, but in my experience, as long as she's the only broody, the other hens will most likely steer clear and give her space.

Oh, and safeguard the water pan; make sure its not a deep open pan or the chicks might drown. I lost one a while back because I spaced out and hadn't changed my water pans back to a shallow chick pan; poor bugger fell in and drowned Some lessons have to be learned firsthand, I suppose!

 

[Shezadandy]

Great! Lol that's when I usually have to start the guessing game of "which chick came out of which egg?"

Most should hatch together within 24 hours; if there are any left after 3 days, they're most likely non-viable, but you can candle for sure and check. She will leave the nest about 2-3 days after the first one hatches to find them food and water, so any eggs left after that, she'll consider "done" and will be a mommy instead of a broody.

If there are signs of jealous hens or severe pecking, be prepared to separate her, but in my experience, as long as she's the only broody, the other hens will most likely steer clear and give her space.

Oh, and safeguard the water pan; make sure its not a deep open pan or the chicks might drown. I lost one a while back because I spaced out and hadn't changed my water pans back to a shallow chick pan; poor bugger fell in and drowned

Some lessons have to be learned firsthand, I suppose!

We're right at the beginning of the guessing game for the 5 chicks that hatched. First one hatched 6/8 and the other 4 overnight - they were there midday 6/9 and fluffy dry. Our eggs were a mix of possible breeds (but hey, $10 for 12 eggs locally immediately available for a first time broody? pretty good) - including Cream Legbar, EE, GLW, BR, BSL, RIR and White Faced Black Spanish (the only white eggs in the group). And of course there could be mixes thereof, I suppose ... definitely no GLW or RIR's in the hatchlings.

I do know that one of the White Faced Black Spanish hatched, and I think that's the lighter gray chick on the far right, 1st pic.
The darker gray- front, 2nd pic- is either BR or BSL-- I'm crossing fingers for BR because that spot on the head would mean definite cockerel if BSL.
The yellow chicks are a little more of a mystery -- only one of the green/blue eggs hatched- so either I have an EE or a cream legbar in there .... prob EE. The chick with the chipmunk markings in front is probably my best bet for that- has the fluffy little owl face.
The plain yellow chick was first to hatch- no markings- doesn't seem to fit the list I was given of possibles.
The "yellower" chick with dabbles of brown (under beak 1st pic) without fluffy cheeks is another head scratcher.






When I heard the first baby on Wednesday, I put up a hardware cloth frame blocking entrance to her nest box and put a chick waterer (with a small amt of water, i.e. only 1 inch in the jar- in case it got knocked over) and a dish of chick starter at the entrance. Otherwise all of our waterers inside and out are poultry cups that are dry most of the time- they're not on a float, supplied by a covered bucket. Thank you for sharing your experience about the flock waterer danger!

Friday afternoon she wanted out so I locked everyone out of the coop so she could wander about with them worry free for a bit. Her relief was immediate ... and smelled horrible... hehehhahh and after she did a little broody yoga routine- wing flaps, a good shake and stretch- and then got down to tending the chicks- one of those hold the breath moments because she hadn't seen them outside the nest yet.

I built a little hardware cloth cage off the nest box so the flock could see the chicks without being able to touch for a couple days- tomorrow's our first try at having them loose. I can separate them if need be but hopefully everything goes to plan, so that will be the final step before declaring success.

For now, whatever the chicks turn out to be- I know I've got a momma hen that will sit on the nest, hatch and tend to babies, so super happy!

 

[Shezadandy]

This has been my favorite three! Thank you for sharing! I have my first broody hen. She is a 6 month old black australorpe. The chicks are set to hatch in a few days and this has given me a idea of what to expect. I hope my hen is a good mommy also! I'm prepared to intervene if necessary.

Thank you! It is so much fun to watch the process and let the chicks have a much freer existence than I was able to offer the first batch of chicks, and that included the broody hen herself. Wednesday was cool and windy but they were out most the day because mom's the insta-heater wherever they go. With the exception of yesterday's 20 second scoop the chick up rescue (and only because the she couldn't reunite them after at least 20 minutes of trying) we've left the chicks completely to their mother's care. She lets them come very close and as another broody bonus she didn't freak out and attack me for having a chick in my hand.


Probably the worst moment was looking in on day 20 after hearing those first little chirps ... looking in and finding Betty with blood on her beak and fearing the worst.

Thankfully the blood was from eating all but one half shell after they hatched (there are small amounts of blood in the shell) .. but of course thoughts of chick after chick getting struck down by a chick killing momma ran through my head! We started with 12 eggs, 2 disappeared, one got moved to another box by one of the hens, collected by an inexperienced DH, refrigerated and then opened =(( ... And then the biggest of our green eggs got broken on day 16, probably from Betty's BFF, a black Australorp, coming and going- yolk got over all the eggs and had dried on and the nest material was a sticky mess to clean up. It's possible only 5 of the 8 left hatched because of that, but even if only one hatched it would have been great, and 5 is even better.

I look forward to hearing how things go for you with the upcoming hatch! Waiting for that first chirp is like being 5yrs old waiting for Christmas, lol!

 

[MeepBeep]

If she is laying eggs she is old enough to sit on them, BUT that doesn't mean she will sit on them for a full 21 days steady... If you want to use a broody to hatch shipped eggs it's best to use a proven bird that you know will sit and do her job, many just go through phases and snap out of their broodiness in a few days or weeks...

 

[Shezadandy]

All great points. She's definitely got the attitude at the moment- generally she'll squirt out of the nest box if I even look at her but tonight the hackles went up and she sat her ground. At least she's not trying to hold everyone's eggs hostage!! I'm kinda thinking on the order of 3 fertilized eggs from local source-- then it's not a big shipping fee down the drain if she abandons her post.

 

[Shezadandy]

A few days in and still going strong. I've got fertilized eggs- a $10 fee with a neat breed mix. Really hoping she keeps up her good broody work! I almost saw her smile when she saw the new eggs.

Under "meant to be" I went out to give her the eggs during one of her short breaks from the nest. The duds she had been sitting on were nice and toasty so she'd just gotten up- so my hands were spared.

 

[nhrocks]

I had a six month old dark cornish pullet go broody on her hidden stash of eggs and successfully hatch them out and raise them. Under a bush. Unprotected. In November. In New Hampshire (cold!!!). I guess she knew what she was doing.

 

[Shezadandy]

I had a six month old dark cornish pullet go broody on her hidden stash of eggs and successfully hatch them out and raise them. Under a bush. Unprotected. In November. In New Hampshire (cold!!!). I guess she knew what she was doing.

That is so amazing and extremely encouraging. This one's got it a lot easier in Oregon in late May in a cozy floor level nesting box in the main coop- which I built there with the idea that if a broody emerged that would be a great spot and easy to section off when the time comes. Nobody's tried laying on top of her, and most have gone to the opposite side of the nest box bank since she's been on eggs. So far she's shown dedication and good sense- taking care of herself- quick dust bath, food, water, back to it, still a ways to go, 6/9 is the expected hatch date. Very exciting!

Thank you for sharing your young broody experience!

 

[shortgrass]

My best broody is a bantam Cochin, and she only laid 5 eggs before going broody for the first time at 5 mo. old; she has been broody like clockwork ever since. I gave her just one egg the first time and she did such a good job with him that now she gets batches of 4 at a time (I have other broodies, so I try not to overload my chick house haha) and she usually has 100% hatch, unlike some if the newer broodies that accidentally get on the wrong nest or fight over eggs or chicks. She will raise them to a month old, lay 5 eggs, and go broody again... just hatched her 6th batch of experimental "blue Anconas"...awesome mom

On the other end of the spectrum is a Wyandotte that can be a nightmare lol; first chick drowned. My fault BTW... second batch she got on the wrong nest for a couple nights before I figured it out and we lost most if them and the ones she did hatch actually disappeared, in the coop. (I think there may have been a scuffle and chicks got trampled and possibly disposed of by the other hens) ... the latest brood, she attacked my other broody and almost killed a single yellow chick they were fighting over. To top if off, she hates me and her chicks do too lol.. worst broody ever lol

Its trial and error to find out how good as broody will become with experience, just like a first time human mom, they'll make mistakes but hopefully learn from them and become very good mothers in the long run. Way better than brooders and lights and having to buy special chick feed, but we lose the ability to handle them so broody chicks tend to be a little less docile than brooder reared chicks.

Sounds like she knows what she's doing so far, best wishes on your hatch!