Broody Hen Thread!

[chicken farmer]

Quick update - my broody Nell, sat on her 12 araucana eggs.

Due to hatch Christmas day!!

Oh thats wonderful I hope you get a good hatch rate

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Quick update - my broody Nell, sat on her 12 araucana eggs.

Due to hatch Christmas day!!

Post photos when they arrive!
Lady of McCamley

 

[Binababy]

Hi I have 4 young lavender orpington hens and a roo and also a blue orpington roo born around June July this past summer and I was wanting to know how old they need to be to actually hatch babies they are not laying yet but I just want to know so I can be prepared. I heard they need to be 1 or 2 years so they are not like a child having a baby.. Help please

 

[korlia]

I went and got 8 (hopefully) fertilized eggs today and put them under my first time broody cochin bantam! I am so excited.... Can't wait! Also not sure what eggs I got...apparently different breeds. Hold thumbs!!! I feel like a child with a surprise packet

 

[flyingcrook]

My broody hen just hatched her first chick today! Hoping more hatch through the day. They were due past wednesday night.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hi I have 4 young lavender orpington hens and a roo and also a blue orpington roo born around June July this past summer and I was wanting to know how old they need to be to actually hatch babies they are not laying yet but I just want to know so I can be prepared. I heard they need to be 1 or 2 years so they are not like a child having a baby.. Help please

I don't breed chickens, so I will defer to someone with greater experience who may correct me, but I know enough of chicken anatomy and chickens in general to say I can think of no reason to wait after they have reached sexual maturity. Chickens aren't like other animals as they attain their prime much sooner...and pass it much quicker (you have older layers at 2 years often leaving their prime laying years).

To breed, you only need sexually mature chickens...around 6 months, give or take depending upon the breed with roosters taking a little bit longer to mature than hens. To brood, if a hen is old enough to lay (5 to 6 months) then she is old enough to breed and to brood if she is of the mind too. I would not set their very first eggs as they are often malformed (very small, odd shaped, no yolk, double yolked) but it only takes a new layer a few weeks to work out the kinks.

Broody has more to do with hormones and mind set than age...many good broodies start brooding after first beginning to lay but due to the time we generally hatch our chicks (March-April) many don't start brooding until the next spring after the shorter winter months. (Some eager beavers still start brooding in December).

Your older experienced hens will be better at brooding simply because they have experienced it before, which is why I use only an experienced hen for valuable eggs or foster chicks. With first broodies, I think the most important thing is to do nothing to discourage or set up bad habits with that first brood...you want the young hen to learn this is her most important business to do, and you need to make sure that she feels safe to stick with it without distraction or interference from other chickens.

Your young roo's will be inexperienced and take a bit longer to learn how to woo the ladies and to guide and protect the flock with chicks especially if there is no older roo to show them the ropes.I can think of no physical reason to delay once the young roo is of the mind and ability. Roo's may breed for 5 years or longer (I've heard of 10).

The only reason to delay longert than first sexual maturity might be to be certain your breeding chickens have all the qualities you want to breed for. (Good confirmation, good laying ability for hens, non-aggressive, good protectors for roo's etc.) but with the awareness if you wait too long you will miss out on those prime laying years (for hens).

My 2 cents
Lady of McCamley

EDITED TO ADD: Good broodies are hatched not made...a hen will either be a good broody or she won't...it's in their genetics. We can make a poor broody out of a good broody because of bad habits we can create with the environment and things we do to discourage, but you can't take a poor brooder and make a good one even with the best efforts. Same with roosters and their flock behaviors.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I went and got 8 (hopefully) fertilized eggs today and put them under my first time broody cochin bantam! I am so excited.... Can't wait! Also not sure what eggs I got...apparently different breeds. Hold thumbs!!! I feel like a child with a surprise packet

Oh good! She is looking determined then. I'm so happy for you.

How fun...a bag full of unknown eggs...had one of those in June...post photos when they hatch and we'll help you guess what you got

Wishing you much success on this first brood.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Binababy]

Wow thank you so much for your help I do happen to have an older roo about 5 years old my uncle had given me he said he kept away snakes and opossums away good. He is some kind of rir or sex link. So he will be going with my rir hens. My lavenders and blue are together already. I sure was going to try to make my rir and some barred rock hens sit by putting them with good mother hens so maybe they would learn from them..

 

[Gardengirl73]

Anybody. How do you feed chicks when the py are with the momma in the coop with the other chickens. Do you put the feeders and waterers on the ground or do you give them a Seperate redder and waterer on the ground. Idk how I should incorporate there feed into the coop?

I made a cylinder out of one by two inch fencing and stood in upright. Like an upright toilet paper roll, butt much larger, lol. I sprinkle the chick crumb inside. The babies scurry right in and eat, but the big birds can't get in and eat all the food.

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

Today is day 11 for my Broody's 2 eggs. I candled them but I don't think they are alive. In both 1/2 the egg is dark and not like any of the pics I have seen. When I rotate the egg while candling nothing moves including the black mass. Great air sac. Can anyone tell me if the embryos should look like this? Should I keep going? How can I tell if she is turning the eggs? They are marked but never equal in rotation.

I am thinking about getting her new eggs as she is doing such a great job.