Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[PD-Riverman]

When she first went broody, I tried to break her for 10 days, but she was so determined I finally gave in and bought her some fertile eggs to hatch.

Oh OK, if you decide to try and break another one---a wire bottom elevated cage with nothing for her to lay on works for me in 3 days every time I break one. If you have not tried that------you might want to try it next time.

 

[h2oratt]

I have a golden campine that has gone broody. She didn't lay an egg today so I gave 5 Ee eggs. They are blue so I can tell if she lays any more. She is pretty small. I have had her in the isolation coop because my rooster had over bred her pretty badly. I guess I will leave her there but I was hoping to use that coop for my 2.5 week old chicks I hatched in in the incubator. This chicken math is crazy. I wanted to try and hatc some polish and fayroumi xcross in the incubator. I haven't gotten any polish chicks yet. The vault is suppose to be dominate.

 

[ameliadanielle]

You are creating a staggered Hatch----which is Not good. How long has the broody been setting?

Less than 24 hours between me adding that last egg, she was set on 12 eggs at 10pm, I added the other freshly laid egg at 6pm the next day. I realize it will be a day behind everyone else. Usually my broodies sit 2 days or so after the 1st baby hatches so I'm just going to hope she doesn't immediately hop off the nest. I just really want to see what those babies look like and I'm crossing my fingers for a girl, thought my chances were a little better with 2 eggs than one.

 

[ameliadanielle]

That Wyandotte had been sitting for about 3 days before I took her seriously and actually put her on eggs I wanted to hatch out. I just discarded the ones she went broody on top of because the other hens piled on her and laid so many eggs under her she couldn't cover them and three of them got broken. Probably because she's a very mean broody that needs her space. She tried to take my fingers off when I put her on a new nest and again when I tried to slip that one extra egg under her.

 

[lorelei71221]

I will definitely try that--thank you!

 

[lorelei71221]

Oh OK, if you decide to try and break another one---a wire bottom elevated cage with nothing for her to lay on works for me in 3 days every time I break one. If you have not tried that------you might want to try it next time. 

I will definitely do that next time--thanks!

 

[lorelei71221]

So far so good... All three mamas (four if you count me) seem to be successfully co-parenting, and the chick is enjoying bossing everyone around. Here's a pic of baby girl Sappho:

 

[PBlanck]

This is our first broody at our new house /new coop (we have had several broodies at our old coop where the nesting box was on the ground). The nesting boxes are elevated and the bottom is hardware cloth. Now that she is broody and sitting on eggs I am concerned that there is nothing in place to hold the heat onto the bottom of the eggs. She kicks out any straw that is added so the eggs are just sitting on bare hardware cloth. Should I sneak a board under them the next time she gets up?

 

[PD-Riverman]

This is our first broody at our new house /new coop (we have had several broodies at our old coop where the nesting box was on the ground). The nesting boxes are elevated and the bottom is hardware cloth. Now that she is broody and sitting on eggs I am concerned that there is nothing in place to hold the heat onto the bottom of the eggs. She kicks out any straw that is added so the eggs are just sitting on bare hardware cloth. Should I sneak a board under them the next time she gets up?

Can you move her to a ground nest---away from the rest?

 

[h2oratt]

Here is my golden campine on her nest. She isn't very big so I only gave her 5 ee eggs. You can see her back where she was over bred. She had been removed from the cockerel. I was afraid her eggs wouldn't be fertile anymore.