Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

Depends on when your shipped eggs get there and how sure you are that she is broody.... when we got our shipped eggs (a Friday afternoon) we set them in a cool room to 'rest' till the next morning, then we set them in our dining room to begin to warm, they rested there till late Saturday afternoon when we gave them to Gracie. We had been keeping her 'practicing' on dummy eggs till the shipped eggs came in and were ready...
That worked for us, but you need to decide if you want to have her sit on them for you or incubate them yourself. If you do give them to her then at least you can put them back into the bator if she changes her mind or you do.

I can't offer any advice on moving eggs from a bator to a broody, I don't know what the temp change might be or if it effects them.

 

[pysankigirl]

we are about half way through with the 5 eggs under our broody and I candled them today and they were moving all over the place!!!!!

 

[fisherlady]

we are about half way through with the 5 eggs under our broody and I candled them today and they were moving all over the place!!!!!

 

[delisha]

What extra treats do you offer your broodys to help with weight loss?

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

What extra treats do you offer your broodys to help with weight loss?

I just put the feeder and waterer about two feet from her to encourage her to eat up more when she gets up.

 

[delisha]

Quote: She has food and water really close..I was asking about high calorie foods like BOSS. If there was something special I could give in addition to what she has and what I offer her. She does not eat much. And she has free feed available.within inches.Water with in two feet. My broodys drop weight, but, this bird is rediculas about eating. The only thing she will eat up is hard bread soaked in yogurt. and scrambled eggs. She will not touch BOSS.

 

[fisherlady]

we have been placing a small bowl with a variety of treats in Gracie's nest... some she eats, some days she barely picks... we usually just do a small amount of 3 or so different choices...
cooked 7 grain cereal with a few raisins added (think oatmeal only made with 7 rolled grains, not just one), chopped up fish, peaches, whole kernal frozen or canned corn (we rinse it to remove any salt), yogurt and scrambled or hard boiled eggs....
I wouldn't normally worry, but she was broody for a couple of weeks before she started on these eggs and it is moderately cold here, (averaging in the 20s, but many days in the teens, and she is small to begin with. I had noticed her loss of a bit of weight a few days into the eggs, so began with the bowl of treats and she actually seems to have regained back to her normal weight.
I don't think I'd offer as much during warmer weather or with a bird with more weight to begin with. But is easy enough for us to do and since we aren't babysitting an incubator it makes us feel like we are helping out a bit!
Mother nature has done this for years without us silly humans interfering... but sure makes us feel better to think we are helping!

 

[cluckcluckluke]

we are about half way through with the 5 eggs under our broody and I candled them today and they were moving all over the place!!!!!

 

[cluckcluckluke]

What extra treats do you offer your broodys to help with weight los


Yoghurt is a good way to get some good vitamins in but make sure you use the Greek style one not the sugary ones.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I like to feed my broodys meal worms, most of my flock doesn't get them in the warm months because they are out finding their own protein but my broodys get a small handful daily and will eat them when they won't eat anything else.