Broody Hen Thread!

[roostersandhens]

One more question: Are broody hens pretty safe when brooding somewhere unknown outside of a safe predator proof coop or building? I couldn't find her, and I looked everywhere.. I've seen her come out for water twice.

Update: Rhonda's chicks are at the 2 week point in development. She let me follow her to her nest today, there are at least 8 eggs.. ugh.. I can't take them at this point, the eggs already have chicks inside. But I have a chicken rescue so I plan to make a fundraiser around it!

 

[Blooie]

LOL---let me straighten this out-----How many hours are in a day? 24

If I set my eggs today at 10 am--at 11 am they will have been in there for 1 hr, 12 noon----2 hours, 6pm---8 hours----12 midnight 14hours----9am the next morning--23 hrs----Yea---almost 1 day----10 am---24 hours "Huston We Have reached Day 1!!!! LOL

Now if your regular hen eggs in the Incubator are aways hatching on day 17,18 and day 19----your incubator is a little to hot---no mater what the thermostat says. ALL my 32 hens I set this season on regular chicken eggs always hatched on day 20 and 21 for regular chicken eggs----I know their Heat is set just Right---LOL.

Yipppeee....probably the first thing about hatching under a broody I got right! Thanks for all the answers...and the smiles.

 

[jajeanpierre]

'Cause they cant be one day old if they have just been set??

Why not? A woman is two weeks pregnant before she even ovulates. Pregnancy is counted from the first day of her last period, which is about two weeks before she ovulates.

 

[jajeanpierre]

It all depends on the hen!!

And lots of other things like the weather. If it's hot, they tend to be off a long time.

 

[ChickyChickens]

As ChickyChickens said... it depends on the hen, though I will add a couple of other factors.

the hen may stay out longer on some days because she feels the need to dust bath or if she is bothered by other flock members and gets scared away from the coop for a short while, and my hens stay off of the nest much longer during hot weather months than they tend to in cold weather months.

On average I would say 15 minutes is normal, one hour is probably about as long as I've seen with my hens and it was during warm weather and there was no problem with the hatches involved.

Haha, thanks for helping me there!

Why not? A woman is two weeks pregnant before she even ovulates. Pregnancy is counted from the first day of her last period, which is about two weeks before she ovulates.

Okay, Sorry! I just counted the way I do and my chicks hatch on day 18 and if I count the way you do then they hatch on day 17, is that even possible??

 

[jajeanpierre]

Haha, thanks for helping me there!

Okay, Sorry! I just counted the way I do and my chicks hatch on day 18 and if I count the way you do then they hatch on day 17, is that even possible??

I was just joking around. I count the three weeks from the day they go under the hen. If they go under Sunday, I mark Sunday as the hatch day. Both hatches under a hen hatched the day before, so from my very limited experience I would count the day the eggs go under the hen as Day 1. It's all an approximation anyway and not that important to be so precise.

 

[ChickyChickens]

I was just joking around. I count the three weeks from the day they go under the hen. If they go under Sunday, I mark Sunday as the hatch day. Both hatches under a hen hatched the day before, so from my very limited experience I would count the day the eggs go under the hen as Day 1. It's all an approximation anyway and not that important to be so precise.

Yes!! Sorry for the "inconvenience" my friend!

 

[darkbluespace]

My first hatch of 7 Seramas will be 3 months old tomorrow and my Salmon Faverolle hen who hatched them is still mothering them! I thought she would stop like most hens do, but perhaps their small size has her believing they are still too young, even though the roosters are crowing! I put them all in their own coop and she still calls them to food and looks out for them when they are in the garden... it is so sweet. She used to be the lowest on the pecking order in the LF coop but now she is proud and has purpose, she was actually quite annoying before. So I wonder if she will just stay and live with them because they make her so happy. I have never heard of a hen mothering her chicks for so long!

 

[ChickyChickens]

My first hatch of 7 Seramas will be 3 months old tomorrow and my Salmon Faverolle hen who hatched them is still mothering them! I thought she would stop like most hens do, but perhaps their small size has her believing they are still too young, even though the roosters are crowing! I put them all in their own coop and she still calls them to food and looks out for them when they are in the garden... it is so sweet. She used to be the lowest on the pecking order in the LF coop but now she is proud and has purpose, she was actually quite annoying before. So I wonder if she will just stay and live with them because they make her so happy. I have never heard of a hen mothering her chicks for so long!

Awwwwww, that must be sooo sweet!!

 

[ChickyChickens]

3 hens went broody today! The hens are all going broody! We now have 9 broodies!!!!



Nameless (top) and her sister Ebony (bottom) have both gone broody today! I call it sisterly


Autumn has also gone broody!