Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[daniellea2912]

Well I decided to get a little day old Easter egger to give to my broody Poe... I just felt bad that she had been sitting on ceramic eggs for 4 weeks and didn't have a chick to show for it. I decided to keep the rest of the babies in a brooder this time, since I wasn't sure of her mothering capabilities. So far she has done wonderful with the little girl, she didn't bat a lash when I swapped out her eggs for the little chick <3

 

[fisherlady]

Well I decided to get a little day old Easter egger to give to my broody Poe... I just felt bad that she had been sitting on ceramic eggs for 4 weeks and didn't have a chick to show for it. I decided to keep the rest of the babies in a brooder this time, since I wasn't sure of her mothering capabilities. So far she has done wonderful with the little girl, she didn't bat a lash when I swapped out her eggs for the little chick <3

That is wonderful! They are cuties!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Well I decided to get a little day old Easter egger to give to my broody Poe... I just felt bad that she had been sitting on ceramic eggs for 4 weeks and didn't have a chick to show for it. I decided to keep the rest of the babies in a brooder this time, since I wasn't sure of her mothering capabilities. So far she has done wonderful with the little girl, she didn't bat a lash when I swapped out her eggs for the little chick <3

What a precious picture! Full view of light chick, framed by dark background of mother hen, both in pretty good facial focus, with the hen's and chick's heads turned at just the right angles to look, well, nurturing. The background behind the hen is dark so as not to pull attention away from the chick, but with a slight almost halo effect framing the hen to emphasize her outline. Even the foreground is perfect, with the center path being slightly lighter than the sides, drawing your eye right to the chick. Seriously, from a photography standpoint this is amazing. Did you have to try for hours to get this just right, or is this just an incredibly lucky shot? If it's photoshopped, please give me lessons!

Oh, and ignoring the perfect photographic details, "What a cute chick, and a lucky new mom!

 

[daniellea2912]

What a precious picture! Full view of light chick, framed by dark background of mother hen, both in pretty good facial focus, with the hen's and chick's heads turned at just the right angles to look, well, nurturing. The background behind the hen is dark so as not to pull attention away from the chick, but with a slight almost halo effect framing the hen to emphasize her outline. Even the foreground is perfect, with the center path being slightly lighter than the sides, drawing your eye right to the chick. Seriously, from a photography standpoint this is amazing. Did you have to try for hours to get this just right, or is this just an incredibly lucky shot? If it's photoshopped, please give me lessons!

Oh, and ignoring the perfect photographic details, "What a cute chick, and a lucky new mom!

I have a degree in painting, so composition, lighting and contrast have all been drilled into my brain over and over and over and over! However, I took what seemed to be about 40 pictures one after the other to get this one where they were both turning toward each other and the chick wasnt a blur lol. I just took it on my iphone, cropped it, slapped a filter on and blurred the edges... so no fancy photoshop but it is edited a bit

Thanks for the compliment! Shes so kind to the baby, I could sit and watch them interact all day.....

 

[Winters Witch]

Are you sure it wasn't a predator? There are many predators that love embryos and baby chicks...and the sound of little peeping will draw them out.

Lady of McCamley

no I know it was the other hens. chickens are savages at times

 

[wabbit1964]

My first year having any broody birds... I had a buff orp that had gone broody/ I made the mistake of trying to move her to a secure location and she was unhappy with the move and destroyed her eggs.... She has not been broody since, I have another hen who has become broody and thankfully is in a location where the chicks won't be at risk of falling... she has only been sitting for about 2 days so I have awhile to wait. I'm hoping for success this time around..

 

[bumpercarr]

My first year having any broody birds... I had a buff orp that had gone broody/ I made the mistake of trying to move her to a secure location and she was unhappy with the move and destroyed her eggs.... She has not been broody since, I have another hen who has become broody and thankfully is in a location where the chicks won't be at risk of falling... she has only been sitting for about 2 days so I have awhile to wait. I'm hoping for success this time around..

You'd be surprised how far they can fall without hurting themselves. In the past, I let my broody brood wherever she wanted, just made sure that I had a separate box down low for them to go into once the chicks have "fallen" out of the coop.

I know I've told this story before, but since there are new folks joining every day, I thought I'd share again. I am an avid fly fisherman (woman?). Anyway, last spring went up to our favorite river to fish just as the Canadian goslings were hatching and beginning to move around. We had rowed over to the other side of the river when our fishing guide started to tell us about the geese that always build their nests on top of a cliff that was about 20 feet away and about 30 feet in height. Suddenly, one by one, goslings started jumping off of the cliff to their sure death below. I tried to calm our guide, who was completely devastated that all of these goslings were going to die! Anyway, we finished up our fishing prep while he went on and on about going over to check on the goslings and that he couldn't believe that they had all committed suicide the same way. As we started to row out of our little cozy, he was prepared to go over there even though I told him it was a VERY bad idea (I personally had no intention of getting out of the boat with two geese protecting their offspring). As we got close to shore in the general location where the goslings had all committed hara-kiri, the mother, father and 6 little goslings came swimming out into the river. So, I guess the moral of the story is that momma won't take them anywhere that she thinks is dangerous, if they need to fall out of a 3 foot coop, they'll be fine. Just make sure that they have somewhere safe to sleep until they are old enough to figure out how to get back in!

 

[Scrambles55]

Well... all is good with Rumples are the Littles. The 2 additions have grafted well with her and the other chicks. Today DH and I made a temporary broody pen and put them in. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I only got bitten once.

 

[bhj123]

Congrats to all the new chicken mommies posted on this page!!!
My little bantam Old English Game finally went broody!!! She's setting on five of her own and two leghorn eggs. Very excited!!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well... all is good with Rumples are the Littles. The 2 additions have grafted well with her and the other chicks. Today DH and I made a temporary broody pen and put them in. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I only got bitten once.

I'm so glad the grafting went well...whew...all that worrying for nothing...you never know with birds. (The darling little bird beaks).

Lady of McCamley