Broody Hen Thread!

[Lady of McCamley]

cool..so 50% for broody hen with shipped eggs...decent rate for shipped eggs. 0% for incubator this time. (I would think hard to keep conditions right with just 1 egg unless you have a very small brooder.)

Congratulations on your 2 new hatchlings.
Lady of McCamley

 

[RickaRae]

I had a (sealed) jar of water as a heat sync & temps stayed pretty stable. I did dry incubation as well. The incubator is an LG & I have a turner. I took a few days in the very beginning to stabilize the temp with & without an incubator, before I received the eggs. Still, I'm sure one egg is hard to incubate. I just didn't have a choice; other than not trying at all, so I gave it the good 'ole college try. ;-)

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I had a (sealed) jar of water as a heat sync & temps stayed pretty stable. I did dry incubation as well. The incubator is an LG & I have a turner. I took a few days in the very beginning to stabilize the temp with & without an incubator, before I received the eggs. Still, I'm sure one egg is hard to incubate. I just didn't have a choice; other than not trying at all, so I gave it the good 'ole college try. ;-)

I am sure if it was viable your set up would have produced results. It sounds like you did your homework. I've only incubator brooded with a cheap brooder once and quickly lost interest after discovering the ease of letting the hen do the job.

I only had 1 egg of 6 hatch...but I had little people helping at the time...and they knocked the incubtor over in excitement breaking 3 eggs and spilling the others.

Amazingly I caught one egg on reflex with the domed lid and it went waaa waaaa waaaa around in the lid until it settled. I still put it in with the last 2 unbroken. The hard spun egg was the only one that hatched.

I'm surprised the chick didn't stumble in a daze at hatching...it was spun so hard

Happy brooding
Lady of McCamley

 

[RickaRae]

I am sure if it was viable your set up would have produced results. It sounds like you did your homework. I've only incubator brooded with a cheap brooder once and quickly lost interest after discovering the ease of letting the hen do the job.

I only had 1 egg of 6 hatch...but I had little people helping at the time...and they knocked the incubtor over in excitement breaking 3 eggs and spilling the others.

Amazingly I caught one egg on reflex with the domed lid and it went waaa waaaa waaaa around in the lid until it settled. I still put it in with the last 2 unbroken. The hard spun egg was the only one that hatched.

I'm surprised the chick didn't stumble in a daze at hatching...it was spun so hard

Happy brooding
Lady of McCamley

I'm completely enchanted with the "Broody Hen". So much so, I'm probably going to get some silkies & eventually work my way up to a breeding program (in baby steps). It's a twofold bonus: I get broody hens, we get a Silkie breeder in the area. & I love breeding chickens!!!!!

 

[TiaRC]

I'm completely enchanted with the "Broody Hen". So much so, I'm probably going to get some silkies & eventually work my way up to a breeding program (in baby steps). It's a twofold bonus: I get broody hens, we get a Silkie breeder in the area. & I love breeding chickens!!!!!

Silkies are great broodies. Mine would hatch a rock if Id let them. I have two sister silkies that brood together twice a year and share mothering duties.

 

[ocap]

Silkies are great broodies. Mine would hatch a rock if Id let them. I have two sister silkies that brood together twice a year and share mothering duties.

Where did you get your silkies? 10% of mine from a hatchery had single combs, probably crossed with something to keep them from wanting to brood.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I got my Silkie from a local breeder who I linked up with through the BYC swaps section.

We met at a local chicken swap here. And I purchased the bird from her. I asked specifically for a "proven broody."

You can see how hard my Silkie has been working through the photos linked in my signature line below.

She has brooded for me February, June and September this year alone.

Lady of McCamley

 

[TiaRC]

Where did you get your silkies? 10% of mine from a hatchery had single combs, probably crossed with something to keep them from wanting to brood.

A breeder in my area. I was fortunate enough for her to just give me a breeding pair! They are gorgeous show quality birds.

 

[elliechooks]

My broody hatched 2 new babies this morning. Hope to get some photos tomorrow if she brings them out

 

[Miss HennyPenny]

lost 2 of my mama hatched chicks today... i left the feed bin open without thinking, and found 2 dead in there, looks like maybe the cold got to them, they were only unsupervised for 4 hours of so, and they were in their pen at that point last i knew, well mama flew over and brought the babies with her and looks like the little bit of fluid at the top of the FF had something to do with it.... dang... down to 5.... tomorrow mama is getting her wings clipped and shes going back into an isolation pen within the flock until she learns to stay....

Aw no! How sad. They have an amazing knack of getting exactly where you don't want them and escaping from the places you do put them. Or is that just mine?
My broody decided to break out of the brooder and lost one of her 3 chicks to a rat last night and now she won't go back in. This now means war! The traps have been set!