Broody Hen Thread!

[Selsley]

When can I lift my girl up to see how things ar going? I have seen 5 out of the 11 hatch today...but the5th has been MIA since sh/he fist appearance...
Will I harm the process if I simply pick my hen up and look underneath?

Candled the eggs and worried on or two may not make it and do not want the "worse case scenario"

She recently did a hoody poop too in the nesting box so want o clean that up...

depends on the hen, ours went really tame after the daily visits to fill her food and change her water,
due to my own inability to have patience, i just slipped 3 fingers under her and raised her slightly,
she obliged and raised a bit more, you may find she isnt bearing her full weight on them anyway, lifting her up may end up with feet replacement issues, you wouldnt want her to accidently tread on the chicks or eggs at this late stage, getting her to just raise a little so you can see will be much safer



as for the poop id try to clean it up with minimal disturbance, i was lucky, she didnt soil the nest till 3 days after hatching and all chicks were walking around about the nest, and ejecting her from the nest and trying to remove it just made things worse, due to the fact she kept trying to get back in the nest as i was removing it, it ended up getting everywhere, so i had to eject her and the chicks and change all the bedding, which was a bit of a fight, i think it would have been easier if i had just lent over her

 

[microchick]

I would be very nervous about lifting a hen while the eggs are in lock down. The hen is staying on the nest without moving to keep the humidity and heat up for the eggs to hatch properly. You are risking problems such as shrink wrapping of the chick for instance.

I know how exciting it is awaiting chicks to hatch. I have a hen sitting on eggs, day 13 today, so I know the anticipation and the concern, but try not to bother the hen and leave her alone until she leaves the nest with her chicks. Then candle any remaining eggs and if they look viable you may have to move them to an incubator until they hatch.

Happy hatching everyone.

 

[fisherlady]

I would be very nervous about lifting a hen while the eggs are in lock down. The hen is staying on the nest without moving to keep the humidity and heat up for the eggs to hatch properly. You are risking problems such as shrink wrapping of the chick for instance. 

I know how exciting it is awaiting chicks to hatch. I have a hen sitting on eggs, day 13 today, so I know the anticipation and the concern, but try not to bother the hen and leave her alone until she leaves the nest with her chicks. Then candle any remaining eggs and if they look viable you may have to move them to an incubator until they hatch.

Happy hatching everyone.

X2
The less you mess with the hen the fewer issues you risk.

 

[RobandSue2]

Ok...I really don't think I am crazy(my kids and wife would argue the opposite)..

I found a hen nesting under the porch...took a picture and there were 13 eggs.
Moved the eggs and all went well. A few days later we candled them...there were 11....
Thinking something got the other 2 at some point between finding her and the move (didn't count during the move-just tried to rush so she would sit again)

Now I am looking at 8 chicks and 5 eggs left!!

 

[fisherlady]

Ok...I really don't think I am crazy(my kids and wife would argue the opposite)..

I found a hen nesting under the porch...took a picture and there were 13 eggs.
Moved the eggs and all went well. A few days later we candled them...there were 11....
Thinking something got the other 2 at some point between finding her and the move (didn't count during the move-just tried to rush so she would sit again)

Now I am looking at 8 chicks and 5 eggs left!!

LOL, 2 possibilities that don't involve questions of your sanity...

A) the hen was hiding eggs under her wings when he moved her, they can keep a pretty tight hold on them when they want and I have seen them carry them nest to nest.

B) the hen stole eggs from other hens after the move and added them to her clutch or other hens laid in her nest when she was out for her daily break.

Candle when she leaves the nest with her hatched chicks...that should help give clues to the mystery.

 

[Selsley]

Ok...I really don't think I am crazy(my kids and wife would argue the opposite)..

I found a hen nesting under the porch...took a picture and there were 13 eggs.
Moved the eggs and all went well. A few days later we candled them...there were 11....
Thinking something got the other 2 at some point between finding her and the move (didn't count during the move-just tried to rush so she would sit again)

Now I am looking at 8 chicks and 5 eggs left!!

we had our final egg hatch 4 days after the rest, this caused issues and it died that day from being trampled when mum kept leaving the nest with the others teaching them to dig and catch flies in the coop, i hope you have a way to keep any that hatch more than two days late, safe and warm, for a day or so, or at least till they can walk about and fend for themselves. it only takes them a day to start climbing in and out the nest and feeding and mum stayed on the nest for 3 days without moving so the chicks could return to warmth. i could easily have saved our last chick if i had returned it to the nest an hr later, as they would have settled for the night, but i mistook their quietness for their bedtime and they were all out again 10 minutes after i slipped it under.
im not interested in hatching eggs myself, i will let our hens do it if they wish to, but i will be getting a small incubator and brooder for emergencies next time,

 

[broodmother]

I have a question, I have a red ranger sitting on eggs, when we went down to check on her this morning we found an egg that had started to hatch but didn't show signs of movement. Is the chick gone or does it still have a fighting chance? none of her other eggs show signs of hatching.

 

[fisherlady]

I have a question, I have a red ranger sitting on eggs, when we went down to check on her this morning we found an egg that had started to hatch but didn't show signs of movement. Is the chick gone or does it still have a fighting chance? none of her other eggs show signs of hatching.

Chicks often begin hatching and then rest a bit before completing...lifting the hen can cause humidity loss which can sometimes result in the membrane lining the eggshell to dry and become too tough for the chick tp get through ( shrink wrapping) so minimize any disturbances.
When the eggs hatch Depends on if all of her eggs were started on the same day. If not then it may be a staggered hatch.

 

[microchick]

Hens have been hatching eggs since they were dinosaurs and doing it without interference from mankind. So please resist the urge to lift up momma to peek underneath her while she is in lock down. She knows what she is going unless she is like the broody I have on 11 eggs right now who is a lovable idiot. LOL.

Just joking. Lil'girl has been a challenge and she is on day 14 right now. She keeps moving the eggs and moving one right out of the nest. Luckily the weather here has been on the hot side but it has kept me checking on the eggs to make sure she hasn't rolled another one out while repositioning her clutch This is her first time being broody so a certain amount of leaniency is allowed. I keep candling the eggs, seeing movement and or no signs of the egg being bad so I tuck it back under her and hope for the best. She dropped a broody load on the eggs early on which I didn't find until I candled at 10 days. Yucky dried on mess, it was. I scraped off all I could. The babies looked ok so time to leave well enough alone. It took me a few days to convince her that she had to get off that nest to eat and drink. I just kept moving the feed and water bowl away until it was clear she had to get off the nest to reach either of them.

The majority of these eggs were given to me by our Amish neighbor so I have been depending on air cell development to figure out how far along they are. So far they are keeping up with the three eggs from our flock that I have her when she went broody. I'm hoping they will hatch some OEGB for me in a week. But I see myself having the back up incubator cranked up and ready.....just in case. I just hope a few chicks survive to hatch because this has been one Murphy's law sort of incubation.

 

[broodmother]

This is her first time being a broody hen but she is excellent at it! i can hear chirping so we must have one trying to come out of its shell!! im so excited but worried. Why would one die after coming out? thank you all for the advice! Its hard trying not to check! I have one of those lovable idiots! lol i worry if she ever becomes broody!