Broody hen day 22

[Laura53]

I definitely was worrying for nothing, we have at least three eggs that I could see that have pipped and there is definite cheeping!!! So happy, hopefully tomorrow we should see some fluffy little faces!!

 

[Kim Z]

Yes!

I'm so happy for you.

 

[Laura53]

Yes!

I'm so happy for you.

Thank you!! I shouldn't have doubted a broody should I!!

 

[rebrascora]

Quote:
I still doubt mine occasionally(except for my star broody Tasha), but you are right, we shouldn't!

Delighted to hear that you now have chicks hatching.... great to be able to say "I told you so!!!!"

 

[Laura53]

Hahaha I'll let you say it!!

 

[rebrascora]

I hoped you would.... in the circumstances! If I had predicted a bad outcome I can assure you I would not have been keen to gloat.

Now the best chicken TV ever gets underway! .... Oh the drama and crises (hopefully not too many) and comedy and education of it all..... to say nothing of the cuteness. Tune in daily for each thrilling instalment!..... My favourite is dust bath lessons..... watch out for any chick getting too close whilst broody Mam is demonstrating..... I've seen some of mine get flicked 2 feet across the ground in her exuberance for scratching, flicking and fluffing. They just get straight back up and waddle back to pay attention from a slightly less hazardous distance. It's priceless!

Wishing you lots of fun with them.

Barbara

 

[Laura53]

Well here's our first one! (Hope the image uploads!) Absolutely beautiful, can't wait to see how many we get but I'm thrilled that we have one!!

I will definitely watch out for the dust bath lessons sounds hilarious!

While you've given me such good advice can I ask you one more question?

As soon as mum is up and about with the babies I want to give her a good de-miting - can you recommend anything that is safe for the babies too??

 

[rebrascora]

Personally I let my hens sort that out themselves with some good old fashioned earth/soil/dirt. Healthy chickens should be able to keep their mite population down by normal dust bathing. I must confess that when I set up a broody nest, I do liberally dust it with DE and re dust it a couple of times during the incubation process when she gets off for a broody break. That said, most of my hens and broodies free range and therefore have access to dust bathing facilities wherever they find/ make them. I do often find that an integral part of a broody break is taking a dust bath, so if your hen hasn't had access to that facility for the duration, then dusting her may be a good idea. The only time I have actually physically dusted a chicken for mites/lice myself was when I had a sick one and parasites were taking over because she wasn't well enough to deal with them herself. I only ever use DE for the coop and nests and have found it very effective. I've found piles of dead red mites for several days after dusting with DE so I don't understand why some people are adamant that it's not effective.

If it was me, I would just give your broody access to her usual dust bathing area and let her get on with it when she is ready unless you have seen that the nest is crawling with them which is what happened with me once and that's why I use DE when I set it up now and inspect regularly for mites during the process.

Great to see a photo of your first new arrival. What breed are they? Fingers crossed you have lots more to come..

 

[olivigus]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. Today is day 21 for us with our very first broody hen--she's our smallest barred rock, Audrey, and has been very dedicated to her nest with 3 copper marans and 3 olive egger eggs we got for her to hatch.

I'm feeling much like Laura53 right now--Is it really going to happen? When is it going to happen?? Why am I going to work today??? Nothing yet when I checked early this morning, although I will take all of the advice to heart and do my best to trust and be patient. But I'll still probably be running out to the coop the minute I get home tonight!

We didn't have any alternate housing at the time, so we've let her sit in the one of the nest boxes in the main coop. It seems to have worked out fine, although we did have to keep checking for additional eggs.The marans eggs are easy to identify, but I was relieved we'd marked the green fertilized ones, since for some reason Sushi and Smudge, our other green egg-layers, decided it was their job to add to the cache.

I've got a little separate coop and run ready for her and the babies now. Everything I've been reading online seems to suggest it would be best not to move her till all of the chicks have hatched. What do folks here think?

Hope you'll post more pics as the chicks hatch and grow!

 

[Laura53]

Personally I let my hens sort that out themselves with some good old fashioned earth/soil/dirt. Healthy chickens should be able to keep their mite population down by normal dust bathing. I must confess that when I set up a broody nest, I do liberally dust it with DE and  re dust it a couple of times during the incubation process when she gets off for a broody break. That said, most of my hens and broodies free range and therefore have access to dust bathing facilities wherever they find/ make them. I do often find that an integral part of a broody break is taking a dust bath, so if your hen hasn't had access to that facility for the duration, then dusting her may be a good idea. The only time I have actually physically dusted a chicken for mites/lice myself was when I had a sick one and parasites were taking over because she wasn't well enough to deal with them herself. I only ever use DE for the coop and nests and have found it very effective. I've found piles of dead red mites for several days after dusting with DE so I don't understand why some people are adamant that it's not effective.

If it was me, I would just give your broody access to her usual dust bathing area and let her get on with it when she is ready unless you have seen that the nest is crawling with them which is what happened with me once and that's why I use DE when I set it up now and inspect regularly for mites during the process.

Great to see a photo of your first new arrival. What breed are they? Fingers crossed you have lots more to come..

Ah yeah I put loads of DE in the coop and bedding when I set it up before I moved her in, and have put some more in the nest a couple of times when she moved off it. She has been having some dust baths when she's been off the nest but I have noticed a few crawlies on her today. She isn't infested at all but still makes me wonder now we've got the babies. Once she's up and about with the chicks I'll just keep a close eye on her (and watch out for flying babies when she's dust bathing haha!) and give her coop a good clean and dust over.

This little one is a silver laced Wyandotte bantam

Looks absolutely beautiful, nice and warm tucked under mum now! I could hear some more cheeping so I can't wait to see if we have anymore!

Thanks for the reply