21 week old Broody !

[CanbyDan]

This is our first year having a backyard flock and we only recently talked about what to do if one of our 10 hens decided to go broody. We decided to let her hatch out a clutch if one chose to do so. About a week ago one of our Cuckoo Maran (raised from chicks from local feed store in February) did not return to the coop at bed check. Next day we search high and low for a tell tale feather pile but no signs of fowl ( ;-) ) play. She was spotted 2 times during the week but we had to run off to work, so we could not watch to see where she ran off to.

Came home from work yesterday to find half of or 80' tree in back yard on the ground and on an old boat we are cutting up. The missing hen "Gretta" was spotted. She was pacing and making all sorts of a scene trying to get into the now mostly covered (under tree top) boat. We thought she must have started a family in there. We did some cutting to open up the boat and found she had a small clutch under of the seats. Looks like about 6 to 8 eggs and a few broken ones. What astonished us is this is one of our only 21 week old chicks! We were sure one of our older hens (18 to 24 months old) would be the ones to go broody on us.



The old boat under our beautiful shade tree, where we found her clutch.




"Gretta" our 21 week mom-to-me, pacing and fussing to get back into the boat.




Her hidden clutch, we added some straw before she returned. Later we could see that she had made a nest with the straw.

So what are the odds any of these incredibly young eggs will make it to chick-hood?


Dan

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Do you have a rooster?
If so, then they should make it if she wasn't off the nest too long while her way was blocked.
I had 10 pullets that age and 9 went broody together on the same community nest.

There are limitations on pullet eggs. Size limits space for growth and nutrition available. Usually birds that hatch from pullet eggs will lay smaller eggs than those from birds in their prime.

 

[CanbyDan]

Chickencanoe, Yes we do have a rooster, he's a very "busy" boy and we're sure eggs are fertile. Some of Grettas sisters are still laying small and a few double yolk eggs, Grettas eggs are of normal size.

Question, is it too late to add a few eggs from the other birds to the clutch, its been a week that she's been sitting.

Dan

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Yes, it's too late. She will get off the nest a day or two after the chicks start hatching and any embryos left behind will die. Her job is to keep any live chicks alive and she can't do that while sitting on eggs an extra week.

You could add some and get an incubator in the meantime. Take the added eggs before the others hatch and put them in the incubator.

 

[CanbyDan]

So, we're right at 21 days now and no signs of chicks making their way into the world. Question for the group, how long past 21 days should we wait until we know for sure that this batch is not going to make it?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'd wait till day 24 or so. With a broody, you aren't positive when they started sitting tight.

 

[CanbyDan]

Day 22, success! Peeked under "Gretta" and one egg is cracked and I can see the tip of a beak. No clue as to what we need to do (or not), I searched BYC and found a thread about assisted hatching https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

From what I've read so far that I just need to leave mamma hen alone and let nature take its course. We're all excited, can't wait to see what happens over next day or two, hoping for the last three eggs to hatch.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Assisted hatches are for when humans screw things up. Setting hens need no human intervention.
Actually, they've been doing this thing for millions of years with no human intervention.

How did they do that without our help?

 

[CanbyDan]

Assisted hatches are for when humans screw things up. Setting hens need no human intervention.
Actually, they've been doing this thing for millions of years with no human intervention.

How did they do that without our help?

I agree with you, we need to do nothing. As we're new to having our own flock (started Jan this year) we had no idea what to do.

Cannot thank the group here enough for all the help and suggestions, I'm sure our free ranging flock of 10 hens and one rooster thank you too

 

[CanbyDan]

Guess I better finish out this thread. The one chick that started to hatch disappeared, vanished! We suspect a neighborhood cat jumped in the nest while mamma was on a potty break. Other eggs showed no signs of life and were thrown away at about 27 days. Now I did something half way through her nesting, I gave her four more eggs from at least year old hens. Three of the four hatched day 21 or 22. Not wanting to loose this batch to neighborhood critters, we put those three in a brooder in the house that we had used to raise the 21 week old broody a short time ago. We're hand raising these and will keep for our own flock, mixed breeds but two Rhode Island reds, going by head markings, one rooster and one hen. Other chick has strong Australorp traits.

Now fast forward a couple weeks, "Gretta" our oh so young broody will not give up her need for children! Every night when we would lock up the coop, she would always go back to the nest she made in an old boat we have.

Our Rhode Island Red hen escapes our fenced yard everyday, cuts across one neighbors yard to get into the Arborvitaes of a different neighbor to lay. She's always finding new places to hide her nest and when we find them, we'll need the egg basket to pickup the dozen or so we find!

Back to my story, Gretta was again in her secret nest in the boat and I had the basket of 10 eggs. I did what most of us would do and gave her all 10! She promptly stood up and tucked them under her. Should have a fresh batch first of October

I need a CAA meeting (Chicken Aholics Anonymous)

Dan