Brooder box or broody hen? Where should my chicks go

[Corgihome]

I have 2 hens who have been sitting on eggs since May 30, June 2 I also started some eggs in an incubator. The hens should have eggs hatching now but they aren’t yet. When my incubated eggs hatch can the chicks go out with the broody hens to break their brooding? Or should I just raise them in a brooder and introduce them later?

 

[EggWalrus]

Slip them under the broody at night. In the morning she'll wake full of joy with having a bunch of wonderful babies!

 

[centrarchid]

Owing to incubation timing and start of hen's broody cycle, I would transfer eggs to hens now. so they can complete incubation undergo typical imprinting. If eggs loaded into incubator several days later, then I would have concern hen would not be far enough along in her broody cycle for her to reliably imprint on hatching chicks. Being in eggs will afford the chicks some protection until imprinting underway.

 

[RiverOtter]

I'm going to be a dissenting voice here - how bad do you want those chicks?

Just because hen goes broody, doesn't mean she'll be mother of the year. Often, the first time they raise a clutch, every time you look there's one less chick. They get better with practice .... but that's not much comfort to those first chicks, y'know?

Broodies are cute and all, but I don't rely on them.

 

[centrarchid]

I'm going to be a dissenting voice here - how bad do you want those chicks?

Just because hen goes broody, doesn't mean she'll be mother of the year. Often, the first time they raise a clutch, every time you look there's one less chick. They get better with practice .... but that's not much comfort to those first chicks, y'know?

Broodies are cute and all, but I don't rely on them.

Postings were not read carefully

 

[Corgihome]

I'm going to be a dissenting voice here - how bad do you want those chicks?

Just because hen goes broody, doesn't mean she'll be mother of the year. Often, the first time they raise a clutch, every time you look there's one less chick. They get better with practice .... but that's not much comfort to those first chicks, y'know?

Broodies are cute and all, but I don't rely on them.

I haven’t had any hen in the 6 years we’ve had chickens successfully hatch their clutch. But I’ve also only had 4 broody hens in that time. I usually incubate and raise up chicks separately, it just so happened to be close to the same timing this go round which made me wonder which option would be best. I’m leaning on keeping them with me, thank you!

 

[centrarchid]

I haven’t had any hen in the 6 years we’ve had chickens successfully hatch their clutch. But I’ve also only had 4 broody hens in that time. I usually incubate and raise up chicks separately, it just so happened to be close to the same timing this go round which made me wonder which option would be best. I’m leaning on keeping them with me, thank you!

Of the 6 hens involved, I have had 10 rounds of broody action this year, with all but one producing chicks. That means about 50 chicks, a relatively low yield this year because of three hens pulling average way down. Plans are for an additional 6 broody rounds from 4 hens not already gone broody this year. With a little care, you can get reliable chick production from broody hens. In same interval about four times as many chicks are incubator-hatched and brooder reared.

 

[Ruthster55]

We don't know what breed the OP has. Some breeds are better at both being broody on eggs and then at hatching and then taking care of the babies. Example: Australorps going broody on nothing but straw...

I know that yours are a very reliable breed that gets all of these things right! (was wrong on my guess) !

I know it's off-topic, but what is your experience with the incubator-raised chicks versus the hen-reared chicks?

Your idea of taking the eggs out of the incubator before lockdown and giving them to the broody hen sounds like a good one. The dates between the incubator and the hen are pretty close so hopefully the OP can avoid a staggered hatch.

Of the 6 hens involved, I have had 10 rounds of broody action this year, with all but one producing chicks. That means about 50 chicks, a relatively low yield this year because of three hens pulling average way down. Plans are for an additional 6 broody rounds from 4 hens not already gone broody this year. With a little care, you can get reliable chick production from broody hens. In same interval about four times as many chicks are incubator-hatched and brooder reared.

 

[centrarchid]

We don't know what breed the OP has. Some breeds are better at both being broody on eggs and then at hatching and then taking care of the babies. Example: Australorps going broody on nothing but straw...

I know that yours are a very reliable breed that gets all of these things right! (OEGs) !

I know it's off-topic, but what is your experience with the incubator-raised chicks versus the hen-reared chicks?

Your idea of taking the eggs out of the incubator before lockdown and giving them to the broody hen sounds like a good one. The dates between the incubator and the hen are pretty close so hopefully the OP can avoid a staggered hatch.

Mine are not OEG's. I have Dominiques of two types, the American Dominiques can go broody and perform well when they do. The Missouri Dominiques perform better as they have more recent American Game influence.

Most of the unreliability of broody hens is because most people, even a many that have kept chickens for many years, are not really doing a good job taking into account how broodiness works or is regulated physiologically. A little bone-headiness or contrarianism involved there, so I will reach out as needed to provide advice based on more than a little experience to fix the situation.

 

[Ruthster55]

Mine are not OEG's. I have Dominiques of two types, the American Dominiques can go broody and perform well when they do. The Missouri Dominiques perform better as they have more recent American Game influence.

Most of the unreliability of broody hens is because most people, even a many that have kept chickens for many years, are not really doing a good job taking into account how broodiness works or is regulated physiologically. A little bone-headiness or contrarianism involved there, so I will reach out as needed to provide advice based on more than a little experience to fix the situation.

Interesting. What do you think of LF Cochins in the broody hen department? Are they so large they are likely to break the eggs?