What to expect if broody hen gets a hatch

[2dancingrats]

I'm doing my best to keep my faith in Mother Nature and not intervene in her process.

 

[2dancingrats]

This is good news. I'll put a box down lower so she can use it if she wants to. Otherwise, I think I'll leave her alone.

 

[Aphrael]

I didn't know about removing the eggs. I do know not all of the eggs under her came from her. I wonder if the other hens are sneaking in and laying them when she takes her food/water break. I've only seen her off the nest twice. Once she was getting off and saw me coming so she jumped back on. The other time, she must've been eating because she wasn't in there but when I took a peek, which is when I discovered she had other people's eggs in there, she came running and threatened me and got right back on. There are nine eggs...should I take some out?

I didn't know that my first broody either. I got lucky that another hen went broody and accepted the later eggs to finish brooding. If you leave eggs under that have all different hatch times, then either the early hatching chicks won't get the care they need or the later eggs will be abandoned to die. It is best to choose your eggs and mark them if other hens can get to the nest, and then put them all under her at the same time to start incubating. Then check daily and remove the "presents" left for her by other hens.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I'm doing my best to keep my faith in Mother Nature and not intervene in her process.

But "WE" Have intervened with Mother Nature. MN did not coop and pen up the chickens----we did that. Before we stuck our hands in it----the chickens free ranged in a bigger area, a hen would go make her a nest in a hidden place----she would find a safe place from preditors as well as other hens. She would lay a few eggs then set on them. Did not have to worry about other hens laying in her nest.

Being "WE" Intervened with it, now We need to make sure its done right to help the hens that we got closed up or freeranging in a small area. I do not want my hen to set for 21 days then have to stress herself---knowing she needs to leave the nest to feed the hatched chicks, but also knowing there is chicks that are close to hatching. Some times she has to leave the chicks that are out the nest---that can not get back in----so she can try to finish hatching the other eggs----I am SURE this is hard on her mentally. I WILL NOT put my hens through this if there s anyway I can help------which I can. I collect my eggs every day----if a hen is sitting on a nest I reach under her and get all the eggs. Tomorrow if that same hen is still on the nest, I think I might have a broody and if I want a broody I take another fresh egg that was not under her and leave it for her to sit on for the night. If she is still on the nest the next day-----I again remove ALL eggs and Mark every how many fresh layed(not one that was under her the night before)I feel she can cover and place them under her, making note of how many and the date. The next day I look under her and remove any fresh layed un-marked eggs and repeat daily. All my hens hatch every fertile egg I got under them usually within 24 hours+/- from the first egg hatched. A happy Mother when she leaves the nest because she is not stressed about unhatched eggs.

Everyone does things the way they want or the way they know. I just try to help/share info with the ones that do not know as well as I like to learn new things too.

I Never mix young chicks with older chickens. I never have to introduce chicks to older chickens so moving the broody hen to a hatching pen works great for me.

 

[2dancingrats]

Thanks. Like I said earlier..the geese have never had any success but this is my first broody hen.

 

[2dancingrats]

Sounds like she's an unwitting babysitter

 

[SIMZ]

Sounds like you have a very workable system. I like mine to be in the flock the whole time so I don't need to reintegrate them, but that is entirely personal preference. One difficulty with having them in with the flock the whole time, though, is that you do need to set up a feeding station or something where the chicks can eat as much as they need without all the big gals stealing it all. I've learned the hard way that if you put food in a different dish, even the exact same food, they will go berserk gobbling it like it is the best thing ever until it is gone just because it is stolen.

I love my chickens, but this trait irritates me.

It is so, so true!

What kind of chick feeding stations could I set up? I have a broody with little ones and the big hens keep breaking in and eating all of their food.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I love my chickens, but this trait irritates me.

It is so, so true!

What kind of chick feeding stations could I set up? I have a broody with little ones and the big hens keep breaking in and eating all of their food.

When I had my chicks and mother hen with the rest of the flock I used 2"x4" wire to make a circle about 3 to 4ft across---you only need about 2ft tall but 3, 4, 5 etc are fine. Put some form of removable top on it. Set it in the chicken yard----I put the chick feed and their water in this. The chicks could come and go as they please but the rest of the chickens including Mother hen can not get to their feed. It also gives them a place to get away from pecking hens.

 

[Aphrael]

I love my chickens, but this trait irritates me.

It is so, so true!

What kind of chick feeding stations could I set up? I have a broody with little ones and the big hens keep breaking in and eating all of their food.

When I had my chicks and mother hen with the rest of the flock I used 2"x4" wire to make a circle about 3 to 4ft across---you only need about 2ft tall but 3, 4, 5 etc are fine. Put some form of removable top on it. Set it in the chicken yard----I put the chick feed and their water in this. The chicks could come and go as they please but the rest of the chickens including Mother hen can not get to their feed. It also gives them a place to get away from pecking hens.

Yes, something like that works well. I've used something similar before. I've also set up a small enclosure with cinder blocks. You know the kind with two holes through them? The chicks can zip through those, but the big gals can't (unless you have bantams

). Just a box with chick size holes cut in it could work as well. Basically, anything you can think of that the chicks can easily come and go in, but the bigguns can't squeeze through.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is what I use. I put a feeder inside. The chicks can get in the ends.