Broodies on eggs? Broodies with babies? Post here.

[abbachick]

I know this post could go in some of the information areas of the forum, but with some of the recent questions, I thought it might help some others like me that don't have time to read everything. These are two links to Mother Earth News. The first is all articles on chickens, the second is coop design. Hope this helps some of you. Oh, and the comment was interesting from another of thier articles.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?search=chickens

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sust...-Coops.aspx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=iPost

Southern Chicken Diet

This morning, my wife excitedly collected 40 eggs from our 50 hens. It all started a month ago, while out buying whole corn and Eggette mash for my chickens. I got into a conversation with a farmer who told me that he used to raise fighting cocks. He said that a chicken farmer from down South gave him this method of increasing his egg supply: Each day feed them a little dog food-approximately 25% of their diet. When I told the clerk what I wanted, she pointed out a 25-pound bag of dog food and said it was what other farmers fed their chickens. The first time I gave my chickens a small bucket of the food (a gallon or so), the egg production jumped from about 24 to 40. From that time on the count has stayed in the mid 30s. Yesterday I gave them another half bucket ...and today 40. Because this is something new to me, and generally unknown to most, I felt I had to share it.

—J. Orlando Lawhorn
Mayville, Michigan

 

[Catalina]

FourAcornsFarm

!!!

I think our chicks are due to hatch around the same time. Good luck on your hatch!

I'm not sure about the 'sitting eggs on the counter' thing. It's supposed to settle the air cell after it has been shaken up from shipping. But when you put eggs under a broody she doesn't sit on them with the points down! And she moves them around.........so ?

I set mine on the counter so they would warm up to room temp. and wouldn't be to cold going underneath her.

 

[ursusarctosana]

Quote:
The one thing I can tell you is that my two cochin bantams (one red, one black birchen) have been excellent broody hens. Between them they hatched 11 Faverolles eggs ordered from eggbid and are now exceptional mothers. I've kept them in the back room of my house (one in a dog crate, the other in a broody pen made from an old dresser) and I let them come out (separately or they'll fight) with their chicks and spend time in a large plastic swimming pool that I sprinkle with crickets, broccoli, or other goodies. I'm lucky, too, that my hens were raised from chicks and they are extremely tame. The black one did bite me a few times when she first became broody, but it was easy to gain her trust.

To tell if the two eggs from my flock were fertile or not I placed them under the broody hen and candled them a few days later. I didn't purchase an egg candler, rather I have a little MagLight flashlight and I cup the egg in my left hand, large side down, and shine the flashlight up under the egg. By about the fifth day, at least, you should be able to see the veins and development of the embryo. It's good to turn off all the lights around you, though.

Ok, so I went and candled them tonight and there was movement inside! I WAS SO EXCITED!!! My hubby's mouth kinda dropped and was pleasantly surprised. (we are used to pheasants, this is a first for chickens!)
Anyhoo, I wanted to share my good news! Have a good night everyone!

That's fabulous! Wish you the best. Have fun.

 

[ursusarctosana]

This post duplicated and I don't know how to delete posts.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
You can't

Don't worry about it

FourAcornsFarm~~ First off

Second, if you put the eggs under a broody, I don't really think it is necessary to let them settle. The hen doesn't move them around that much, and they are on their sides anyway, so they should be fine.


~~Side note~~

My broody Gertie hatched one lonely little chick

This was her own egg, the last one she laid before going broody. The bantam EE eggs I set under her either were no good, or had gotten broken. My OEG hen, Gretta, was intent on laying in Gertie's nest, so I don't know what happened with all the eggs. So now, Gertie is outside with one little baby, Gretta is finally laying in the other nest, and I have 6 of Gretta's eggs in the bator, at various stages of development

I have another egg (think it is a bantam EE, one of our brown eggers) that is pipped in the bator right now. I'll be surprised if any of Gretta's eggs hatch, since I hatched 2 chicks total out of 30+ eggs from her last fall. I don't know what the deal was, but her eggs just die off soon, or never even start. But these should be fertilized by my jungle fowl roo, so they will be some pretty babies!

 

[ursusarctosana]

Quote:
Hey LilRalphieRoosmama,

I thought about your question some more overnight and decided to clarify some information about my broody hen/chick hatching video/pics. The brown egg the hen pushed out and I was fortunate enough to see it hatch. The white egg, that I also made a video of, I did nudge out from under the hen during the last moments of hatching. Normally the chicks will pip beneath the broody hen and hatch there, too, under most circumstances. In this case I peeked in on them to see if they pipped and I nudged one to the side of the hen to watch it hatch.

I hope that clarifies. Thank you.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

That does help - thanks. I just checked again (without moving her) and I still don't hear any peeping. The eggs that she pushed out aren't doing anything; have to assume she moved them because there are too many. Still hoping for at least one baby!

 

[ursusarctosana]

This Wyandotte bantam broody hen I have is different from the two cochin bantams who sat on the Faverolles eggs. She's not active much. The chicks are going on their second day today and she doesn't seem to get up and scratch around or show them food like the cochin's did. Sometimes I suspect she's a wacky hen because both of her brothers were a little wacky, too. They had aggression-toward-other-chickens issues. I hope she gets up soon. Well, if not I guess I'll have to show the chicks around. Not that I mind.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Does she still have eggs? The chicks will be fine for 3 days from the yolk they absorbed before hatching, so don't worry too much till they are 3 days old. It doesn't take them much to survive, since they are so tiny. Maybe just make sure there is food and water available close by? Maybe if mama still has eggs, she is just determined to hatch them?

 

[ursusarctosana]

Quote:
Nope. Those were her only two eggs. We'll see how it goes. She'll probably be fine. I noticed the chicks do look around for crumbles so I sprinkle them near the hen so they can find them when they come out.