Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[winteree]

I just got a set of phoenixes and the hen is broody and sitting on eggs. I don't know how many or when they are due. I haven't wanted to stress her out by checking because of the stress of moving her and her whole nesting box. Wish me luck...lol.

those are some pretty birds i hope everything goes ok

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Good luck all that have hens sitting.
MIne decided she will sit in a cage that I placed where she was trying to brood, luckily it wasn't n the coop. Its on a shelf in a garden shed. I only caged her because that's the most popular nest spot on the property. They literally wait in line 3-4 deep for their turn. I used some soiled BYM eggs to make sure she was gonna sit on them, since she refused duck eggs other day. Will replace with nice cleaner eggs soon. Depending whats layed in the breed pens I might give her a clutch from there. Maybe relieve some of the stress for worrying about incubating eggs myself, not that I won't set any. Think some of the BYM will be held of on hatching to see where I get with the breed pens.

Wife does want me to cross the Iowa Blue with a 1/2 cochin hen we have. Thinking she is SLC x WLH, but not positive. Looks like a light Sussex (I think that's what it is.) but with feathered feet. She was hatched last year by my 1st ever broody.

May have a 2nd BSL going broody also. She sits in 1 nest spot whenever its not occupied for laying. She gets out so hens can lay then gets right back in. She has the same demeanor that broody1 has. Will see. Problem there is, you guessed it #2 nest spot here. Will try to get her situated if she's serious or might break her broodiness. Egg orders are behind and with breed pens situated I want to see results more often the just wait and hope.

 

[mebberry4]

Not sure if this is the place to post this or not...
I am entering broody hatching territory for the first time!
One of our two year old Buff Orpington's went broody about five days ago. She had done this at the same exact time last year, almost to the day!
Since our small laying flock is not quite meeting our needs for egg production, I decided to take this opportunity to add some new chicks. I had a heck of a time finding eggs from a local NPIP certified flock, since I didn't want to wait for eggs to ship or deal with the decreased hatch rates on shipped eggs. I hatched out my starter flock from shipped eggs in an incubator and although I did really well with a 50% hatch rate, I was definitely hoping to buy less and hatch more this time.

Today my broody buff got a brand new broody pen in honor of Mother's Day!

I set it up in the coop this afternoon with plenty of fresh shaving and the wooden eggs from the nest boxes. I waited until around 10 pm tonight and transferred her to the new nest in the broody pen. She bit my (thankfully gloved) hand, but otherwise tolerated the move. I checked in on her about thirty minutes later and she was back in the zone settled in her new nest. I am excited to check on her in the morning to make sure she is still feeling broody.

I have some local fertile eggs waiting in my mud room that were collected yesterday. They are supposedly from a NH Red roo with Buffs, NH Reds, Autralorps and Leghorns. It should hopefully be an interesting mix. I'm planning on putting the eggs under her tomorrow night as long as she seems settled in the new nest. Some of the eggs have some poop on them, so I will probably only be setting 9-10 out of the dozen I bought. I'm too afraid of having an egg go bad and explode on the rest of the clutch.
So that's what I've got. Hopefully I can find some good advice from all the seasoned broody hatchers here!

 

[jc12551]

My mama silkie x bantam abandoned the three unhatched eggs today and I moved her to an isolation pen to prevent Big Red from stealing the babies. I want to give her a chance to learn.

I always check the unmatched eggs. One exploded/totally rotten and undeveloped, one had started developing and stopped about halfway, the OE egg had a chick that had started absorbing the yolk but was dead. I think that if the hen had held out a tiny bit longer it would have hatched. Those always make me sad.

I candled the seven eggs under my other broody and all (of the ones I could see into) look good at one week in! She has hatched before, but not in two years, and only turkey eggs; but she is a tight sitter and I probably could have stuffed more under her. I think I used to give her five turkey eggs.

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Not sure if this is the place to post this or not...
I am entering broody hatching territory for the first time!
One of our two year old Buff Orpington's went broody about five days ago. She had done this at the same exact time last year, almost to the day!
Since our small laying flock is not quite meeting our needs for egg production, I decided to take this opportunity to add some new chicks. I had a heck of a time finding eggs from a local NPIP certified flock, since I didn't want to wait for eggs to ship or deal with the decreased hatch rates on shipped eggs. I hatched out my starter flock from shipped eggs in an incubator and although I did really well with a 50% hatch rate, I was definitely hoping to buy less and hatch more this time.

Today my broody buff got a brand new broody pen in honor of Mother's Day!




I set it up in the coop this afternoon with plenty of fresh shaving and the wooden eggs from the nest boxes. I waited until around 10 pm tonight and transferred her to the new nest in the broody pen. She bit my (thankfully gloved) hand, but otherwise tolerated the move. I checked in on her about thirty minutes later and she was back in the zone settled in her new nest. I am excited to check on her in the morning to make sure she is still feeling broody.

I have some local fertile eggs waiting in my mud room that were collected yesterday. They are supposedly from a NH Red roo with Buffs, NH Reds, Autralorps and Leghorns. It should hopefully be an interesting mix. I'm planning on putting the eggs under her tomorrow night as long as she seems settled in the new nest. Some of the eggs have some poop on them, so I will probably only be setting 9-10 out of the dozen I bought. I'm too afraid of having an egg go bad and explode on the rest of the clutch.
So that's what I've got. Hopefully I can find some good advice from all the seasoned broody hatchers here!

Great looking broody pad. As long as eggs are not seriously covered in poo I would set them all. Chicken (And other poultry) eggs are very tolerant. If you are able to candle eggs later you could pull any that might be poppers, as well as some hens will push a bad egg from the nest. There is a reason they have been doing it for thousands of year more than us, they are really good at the job. And sometimes more reliable than the most state of the art machines.
Good luck on a good hatch of at least 50/50. We almost all hope for a better odds for females but I am happy with all hatched birds. 1/5 of my roosters are pure. All others I have (Adults anyway) are BYM or SL I hatched last year. They take care of my 60ish hens very well, with minimal squabbles. Some of my pullets were hatched here also last year. Some were bought as day olds. Its about a 50/50 for bought/hatched really. And keep probably more roosters than most would but works out for me. And always have stew meat on the foot if the need ever arises.

 

[elsfieldchickens]

I have a question I have around 30 eggs in the incubator to give to my broodys they all have chicks inside but they are a few days. Late should I wait or discard them?

 

[mystonedgarden]

Halleluliah, I was worried that my broody hen's eggs hadn't hatched yet... I went out to the hen house and she's clucking away and tapping eggs and I hear a chick talking back to her!!! [/URL]

Congratulations!

 

[bumpercarr]

I have a question I have around 30 eggs in the incubator to give to my broodys they all have chicks inside but they are a few days. Late should I wait or discard them?

Wait.

 

[winteree]

I have a question I have around 30 eggs in the incubator to give to my broodys they all have chicks inside but they are a few days. Late should I wait or discard them?

have you tryed an assited hatch? they may just need a pip hole

 

[Henny]

I have a question I have around 30 eggs in the incubator to give to my broodys they all have chicks inside but they are a few days. Late should I wait or discard them?

I would personally do a "float it and see if it wiggles" test on any egg that is a couple days late before I discarded it--but that is me. Forgive me if you know this information already but I figured if you didn't that it might help.
If you are going to try this make sure the eggs have no cracks or external pips! The viable eggs when floated in 100 degree water will float with just the air cell above the water AND will definitely show some kind of movement. The movement might be very subtle and you might have to be patient to see it. A fully formed dead chick in shell will float with just the air cell above the water too BUT there will be no movement at all--but you do have to give it a little time to be sure.Here is video on youtube that shows the movement.

And here is a link to BYC site that explains it.https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ng-egg-viability-for-late-or-overdue-hatching