Using hens for hatching

[Kittymomma]

My buff orp is a great mom. I gave her 4 ee chicks one night after she'd been broody for about 10 days and she is so good with them, nobody messes with her babies!

I put some duck eggs that were close to hatch under one of my Australorps and she did great hatching them out, but is a bit of a space cadet when it comes to caring for them. She shows them where food is and gets all puffy and runs the other chooks off, but then she'll just wander off and forget about them sometimes. I had to lock them in the run and make the other chooks go in and out of the people door to the hen house because I was worried she'd forget about them for too long and they'd get cold or one of the other hens would get nasty. Hopefully after a few days of relative freedom she'll get better about keeping track of the little ones.

I have another Australorp on eggs that are due to hatch today and I'm hoping she will be better then her sister. I like the idea of Australorps for broodies because you can put so many eggs under them, but my buff is nearly as big and has definetly been a better mommy. I have an EE hen that hatched out 8 chicks too and she's been great, just not as big as the Australorps and Orpingtons.

 

[ranchhand]

I have my first ever broody, in 18 years of raising chickens!

FINALLY!

She's a buff bantam Cochin, 5 years old and she doesn't lay anymore. But she is firmly attached to the 7 eggs she is sitting on. Hatch date is probably May 11th.

She's in a wire cage I used to use for rescue, inside the open front of the coop where she and the others live.
The eggs are a mixed bunch - 2 greens, 2 browns and 3 Delaware Blue Hens.

 

[Keri78]

Go for it!!!

You won't regret it! That's what hens are designed to do! It's great when they do all the work and you get to sit back in amazement and enjoy it all! My good broodies are Buff Orps.,Silkies(great for about 9 bantam eggs or a small bunch of standard size) and Cochins(bantam& standard)...Blessings, Keri

 

[StoneyRidge]

I am thinking.....which will work best?

Make one large nesting pen with lots of nesting boxes along the walls. In the middle I can place a feeder and a waterer. The hens can get off the nests and eat and drink as they want. The only question is would the hens go back to thier nest or to another nest?

OR.... I could just make large cages placed around the walls and keep one hen in each cage along with a nesting area, small walking area with feed and water. This way the hen would be assigned a nest cage.

What do you think?

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
I'd go with option two. They do sometimes get confused and come back and sit on the wrong nest.

 

[Cowgirl71]

Quote:
Hmmmmm.... You ought to make a new breed...(drum roll

)... the Giant Silkie! "The breed with the broodiness of a Silkie, but large enough to easily handle 20 eggs." I'd be first in line to buy some.

 

[Mom2Cool]

Quote:
I would go with #2 as well I like to make it so that my hens are separate & yet in with the group so they're not really ever not "part of the flock" because I think intergration is easier that way. I have left them just in the coop open with the flock (your #1) & mine all worked out well but *I tend to worry*. I've never had another hen hurt the chicks or even a roo but I've heard some hens/roos can be rough. Anyway back on your #2 (if it were me) I would make the cages their *regular nesting boxes* with an open door this way if your hens are use to using it they might be likely to just go there & use it for her nest. It is SO TOUGH to try to move a setting hen! And so if she's use to going to a cage that's open & she picks that as her nest then when she hatches or the protection of her & the chicks you can just close the cage door. if it's a cage door where they can still see the flock then she's still sort of part of the flock & it's just easier (in my experience) to intergrate.

 

[Mom2Cool]

Quote:
Kittymomma is it not amazing how a buff orp is the *sweetest hen* until they are a momma & they get that killer look in the eye??? When I'm slipping eggs or chicks under them I always make hubby do it because my orp girls will give a heck of a pecking putting your hand anywhere near them, yet at the same time their pecking ya every egg & every chick ever handed them is swooped under wing..... I just always find this so funny.

 

[detali]

I thought that one of my Buff Orpingtons was going broody. She was sitting on the nest for a long time, on eggs the other hens had laid. I tried to stick my hand under her to see how many and she got all puffed up, I mean really puffed up. She squaked and bit me. I thought for sure this was going to be it. But she got up and out after a time. How long is a hen likely to act like that before she really gets broody?

 

[Mom2Cool]

detali I don't know my orpingtons when they've gone broody just go broody & I think originally they were prtty young when they did so. Of course I've really only had 5 or 6 (what is it called a clutch?) of chicks with my hens & so I don't even know if it's the same 2 all the time or different ones or if some have never gone broody. I have an Austrolorp that has not ever gone brood & she is older than all of them. I do think that when they are young some times they just don't know what they're doing & some times get discouraged etc. I've never had any of them walk away from sitting on a clutch BUT if memory serves me correctly the very 1st hen who went broody on me hatched out 3 eggs & after they were 3 wks old decided she was *finished with them*. I had her just in the coop with all the chickens & she was just up on the perch with the other chickens & if those babies dared to come near her she's like smack em down. The poor things sort of hung together in a nesting box at night & during the day after she'd run them off from trying to free range the yard with her ther rooster took over free ranging duties with them! If I came out & gave out snacks like corn bread the rooster would actually feed them like mother use to... I have a picture of that some where too LOL But seriously he was showing them the ropes in the yard & they stuck close to him. When I told that story of that hen disowning her chicks at 3 wks old some said that was her imaturity & so maybe yours just needed a short practice brooding before the real thing...