Broody Hen Thread!

[Dianne88]

Abserbean are you due to hatch this Wed? Mine should start Wed night give or take a day cause of some temp fluctuations. I have 3 under a broody and 14 in the incubator. Let us know how it's going.

 

[Dianne88]

You should candle them right before lockdown, I always turn the side with the largest side of the air cell up, it may not help anything but I read it somewhere a while back and just do it every time since. Good Luck!

 

[randerson846]

Candles my three duck eggs and they are all veining

 

[NCChickchick]

Mama Helena has 4 baby Seramas she and BO Freckles hatched Saturday and are tending together. These babies are destined for a friend, and this is my first time with broody mom (s). Wow, it makes it soooo easy on me! No box, no brooder lamp, no messy food and water and worrying about them.
They were sitting on the nest in a small rickety (but safe) little coop where my Serama roo and another Serama hen sleep. All my hens (2 others, a Silkie and an Australorp)have continued to lay their eggs in this same little coop, often in with the two mamas and eggs and chicks, now, but all has gone fine. The mamas are gentle enough that I can reach around them and retrieve eggs. Plus the new eggs are large and the hatching ones were so tiny, its easy to find them. Freckles is tremendous and covers everything up, including Helena.
Easy peasy hatching!
Now I am hoping one of my other three hens will go broody so that they can hatch the 7 developing Serama eggs I stuck in my incubator as backups. I have 11 days left on those and now that I've experienced broody hatching I really would hate to go back to the box in the bathtub deal!:yiipchick

 

[abserbean]

You should candle them right before lockdown, I always turn the side with the largest side of the air cell up, it may not help anything but I read it somewhere a while back and just do it every time since. Good Luck!

We are due this Wed,but we are supposed to have terrible weather! I didn't candle, there are three olive egger eggs and three blue EE eggs I'm not sure I could see through anyways. The three BLRW eggs are light enough that I could probably see. I'm hoping there aren't many duds, and that there are several pullets! Going to try my hand at feather sexing if momma hen will let me touch the babies.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Ok my broodies are still at it. Now jointly sitting on 3 eggs. They got rid of 5 (totally disappeared, I have no idea what happened to them). 2 ancona eggs, crossed with ameraucana rooster should give some pretty blue egg layers I think, and one welsummer egg with the same rooster parent should yield lovely olive eggs.

I candled all three eggs yesterday and saw chicks moving. One egg is one week behind the others so we'll see what happens. The first two are supposed to hatch around May 3, the other one on May 10.

I think I may set some more eggs in the incubator, since they made 5 eggs vanish.

 

[NCChickchick]

Ok my broodies are still at it. Now jointly sitting on 3 eggs.  They got rid of 5 (totally disappeared, I have no idea what happened to them).  2 ancona eggs, crossed with ameraucana rooster should give some pretty blue egg layers I think, and one welsummer egg with the same rooster parent should yield lovely olive eggs.

I candled all three eggs yesterday and saw chicks moving.  One egg is one week behind the others so we'll see what happens.  The first two are supposed to hatch around May 3, the other one on May 10.

I think I may set some more eggs in the incubator, since they made 5 eggs vanish.

Same thing happened with me...i had one that vanished! I wonder if it was a dud and one of the moms ate it?
I'm serious, I think it could happen. One of my broodies was cleaning up the egg shells on hatch day and I was terrified she was eating the babies. They were zipping and I was afraid to disturb anything but lo and behold all babies were accounted for.

 

[dynomitegirl]

I have a buff orpington that went missing. I found her hiding beneath a bush, up against our house with 11 eggs. She is quite far from the chicken coop on the side of our house that the chickens rarely wander to because it is just gravel and driveway. I put some water and food where she can reach it, but I don't think she has moved off her eggs once. I have read that she should be getting up to stretch her legs. I think she has been there for at least 10 days. Should I try to get her up to walk? She is not happy to see me when I stop by to visit. As soon as I put my hand in to move the bushes back she starts to screech.

 

[Dianne88]

I had to move my broody hen to a separate pin inside the coop so that the other ladies would leave her alone. I waited until night time and moved her eggs and nesting material first and then placed her on her new nest without much of a fuss at all. If I were to have done it during the day she would have screeched at me at the top of her lungs! Hope you can get her to a safe place to hatch her babies.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I woke up this morning to a dead Silkie in my bantam coop.

Day b4 yesterday she was doing the standing around with her head tucked under her wing, but it was cool and rainy and she seemed fine yesterday, so I let it go. Well, apparently it was too late anyway.

Now idk what to do.

Can I worm my bantam flock with Wazine when there is a mom with 1 week old chicks? And I found poultry lice, can I treat with DE and organic powder? I think she had vent gleet was the main problem, but none of the silkies I've had for 2 months have started laying is y I'm thinking of worming.

The chicks cannot reach to drink the water I will treat, but will it hurt them with the poo?

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss.

You state you got your Silkies about 2 months ago, and to date they haven't laid?...how old are they? Were they laying before? Transition from one place to another can definitely interrupt the laying cycle especially since it would have been in late winter, a normal time of decrease.

Are any of the other birds looking under the weather? A decrease or lack of laying can also signal flock illness. Are there any subtle signs of teary eyes, nasal moisture, a mild "nicking?" That can be a sign of a Infectious Bronchitis or Newcastle disease, especially since you've lost one bird who had lethargic symptoms then death (another potential sign of IB....some birds are more susceptible.)

Hopefully it was the vent gleet...although that in itself doesn't generally kill a bird unless it was really bad and had become systemic.

A high infestation of lice can also cause poor/no egg production. It is safe to use DE on the chicks. I can't find my link, but it is my understanding It is safe to use Permethrin poultry dust on the chicks too.

Wazine (Piperazine) is not rated for young chicks (under 4 weeks)...so your plan to make sure the water is where they can't get to it is a good idea. The poo however shouldn't hurt them as they won't be eating it outright...whatever tidbits they pick up should be fine, and the worms are killed/paralyzed. You should be aware that Wazine only works for roundworms...it is not a broad spectrum wormer. http://www.drugs.com/vet/wazine-17.html

You might consider using Rooster Booster Mulit Wormer. After my flock came down with Infectious Bronchitis, I used Rooster Booster Multi Wormer (for all chickens, not just roosters...simply the name of the company) to knock out opportunistic worms and to boost their overall health. Rooster Booster is fine for young chicks per the company's website. http://roosterboosterproducts.com/ They only have to be able to eat the pellet, but if they can't, as it is a larger hard pellet, mom may break it up for them, or they simply won't get the wormer, so there is no fear either way.

Rooster Booster Multi Wormer is Hygromycin B (the wormer) and Bacitracin (a mild antibiotic) plus vitamins, minerals and probiotics. It is placed in the feed 1 scoop per 1 pound of feed and it targets 3 of the major worms (round worms, capillary worms, cecal worms) plus adds in a mild antibiotic. While intended for continuous feed, many use it for 2 or 3 weeks seasonally (and herbals inbetween). I used it for 3 weeks after my flock had IB. It really helped to perk them up and quell the final lingering coughs and any opportunistic bacterial ifnections (after the viral IB). It might be a good idea as you don't know what you may be dealing with.

I purchase it from A Better Chicken as I find it there at a better price than at the feedstore:
http://www.abetterchicken.com/product/50101

Hopefully your loss is something limited to just the one bird. Good luck with treating your flock.
Lady of McCamley