Broody hen advice

[K0k0shka]

Thank you!
One more thing - I currently have her food dish and a shallow water dish (hard to describe - it's a piece of our old fine China, lol) close to her which has been working well. During those first couple days you mention after hatch, when she stays put with them, should I use a little larger dish for the water, with maybe a layer of washed pebbles for their safety?
(I use vertical nipple waterers in the coop for after that, which mom already uses. )

Yes, putting pebbles in it is a good idea. Definitely don't leave an open dish with water near them, as they can drown or get wet. I use one of those small, jar type of waterers, meant specifically for chicks, so they are safe:

Keep in mind that the chicks may not be able to operate the nipples for a while. Vertical nipples are easier for them than horizontal nipples, but it's still an unnatural way to drink and they'll need to learn. You don't want them getting dehydrated while they figure it out. So you can provide both a nipple waterer and a non-nipple waterer at first, to make sure they're getting enough water, and hopefully the hen will teach them how to use the nipples. Vertical nipples are more of a challenge than horizontal though because they need to be at the right height to be used, and the chicks will grow very fast. So you'll need to keep changing the height. Also, the hen may not be able to reach the nipples at chick height to teach the chicks how to use them. So you'll need to be more involved.

 

[khind]

Yes, putting pebbles in it is a good idea. Definitely don't leave an open dish with water near them, as they can drown or get wet. I use one of those small, jar type of waterers, meant specifically for chicks, so they are safe:

View attachment 3031908

Keep in mind that the chicks may not be able to operate the nipples for a while. Vertical nipples are easier for them than horizontal nipples, but it's still an unnatural way to drink and they'll need to learn. You don't want them getting dehydrated while they figure it out. So you can provide both a nipple waterer and a non-nipple waterer at first, to make sure they're getting enough water, and hopefully the hen will teach them how to use the nipples. Vertical nipples are more of a challenge than horizontal though because they need to be at the right height to be used, and the chicks will grow very fast. So you'll need to keep changing the height. Also, the hen may not be able to reach the nipples at chick height to teach the chicks how to use them. So you'll need to be more involved.

Thank you!
Four have hatched since the wee, wee hours of Monday a.m. It's now Tues. p.m., and mom was keeping them under her when I got home this evening. Storms are supposed to finally end overnight tonight, and my plan is to get them into their coop tomorrow evening after work.

Last year when I raised a few-day-old chicks myself (from a feed store) in a puppy playpen, I taught them right away how to use a vertical waterer. (They'd been drinking from a chick fount like your picture before that.) This hen (who hatched and raised a flock the year before) has a weird, Awful habit with water founts. She steps onto the edge and digs at it as if she's digging at the earth foraging, which makes the water nice and filthy just before the rest of it dumps out onto the ground! She does that all.the.time. ! I had a heck of a battle that year trying to keep their floor dry and water clean! That was the year I finally thought to try some vertical waterers - I quickly made a few diy models and trained a couple chicks who then trained the others, and mom watched them and started to use them too. What a godsend! Even though they can sometimes leak a bit, that was nothing like the unhealthy & constant mess that ensued when only Buffy was in charge!

So if I can catch these chicks moving about soon enough, I will teach them to use the waterers too. Luckily mom is a bantam (I think she's a Cochin), so she's pretty short, but for a while I'll set one up a little higher for her... and hopefully once they're trained they will know to use theirs and not try just to use hers and then give up when they can't reach it. : /

I wish i could remember how many days she keeps them tucked under before she gets up out of the nest again for long periods of time and they go out following her around throughout much of the day... Seems like it would have to be at Least one more day (day, or night, #3)...? Heck, best case scenario, it would be another three days, as in the weekend. For as long as I know that Mom's not going to be moving around and then deliberately step in it, I can set up one of those founts. (*Sigh!!!*)

 

[khind]

Vertical nipples are easier for them than horizontal nipples

I do have some of those too, that I can attach to 2 of my waterers! Funny thing is, at about week 4 of raising chicks last year on my own, I tried to switch from vertical to horizontal (which I'd read were far less prone to drip), and the chicks were absolutely flummoxed. I knew they would be for a bit, but I hoped that showing them and letting them try for a few hours would be enough for at least one of them to catch on, but that didn't happen. Maybe the ones I have are too stiff (because they did try them), or maybe the time I gave them just wasn't enough. They definitely had to work harder for a drink. But I would love it if I could train chicks on the horizontal first this time. (They can then help train my adults too!)

 

[lissasmomma1]

My Ayam Cemani Hen, Princess Sugar Cube has gone broody. Shes been sitting on her eggs for forever it seems. Then all of a sudden she stopped sitting on them and they didn't hatch. What happened, and why did she stop, and why didn't they hatch?! Should I buy some young chicks for her, or will she hatch some eggs some and I should just wait longer? Please help, I've only been a crazy chicken momma for 3 years. I also have problems with my Americana's. They legs, and I guess they aren't broody because they don't sit on the eggs for very long. My other ACs, red speckle Wyandotte and Wilson also are not sitting on their eggs very long what am I doing wrong

 

[khind]

My Ayam Cemani Hen, Princess Sugar Cube has gone broody. Shes been sitting on her eggs for forever it seems. Then all of a sudden she stopped sitting on them and they didn't hatch. What happened, and why did she stop, and why didn't they hatch?! Should I buy some young chicks for her, or will she hatch some eggs some and I should just wait longer? Please help, I've only been a crazy chicken momma for 3 years. I also have problems with my Americana's. They legs, and I guess they aren't broody because they don't sit on the eggs for very long. My other ACs, red speckle Wyandotte and Wilson also are not sitting on their eggs very long what am I doing wrong

From my experience, if she sat a long time and then left, she's probably not broody anymore, and giving her chicks risks the outcome of her not being interstate or worse.
However, I don't have experience with a hen sitting for a very long time & then leaving on her own. How long was it that she sat? Around 21 days is the time required for a fertilized egg to possibly develop and embryo and hatch.
Do you have a rooster? If not, the eggs would never have hatched because they wouldn't be fertilized.
Finally, you atate that your other hens don't sit for very long on eggs. How long do you mean? How long, approximately, do they sit?