Broody Hen Thread!

[mymilliefleur]

I sold about 1800, keeping the rest. I am around 450(quessing) total Chickens/layers/chicks/roosters this morning because I sold 61 chicks/older hens/younger roosters/etc last night. With 69 eggs in lock-down----should start hatching today(day 20) and with about 275 eggs in the incubators. I just Like Playing with "them"!

Wow, how did you end up with so many chickens?

 

[ChickyChickens]

Wow, how did you end up with so many chickens?

Incuabtors...i guess!!!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thanks for that info. She is young, just 7 months, don't know if that makes a difference. I will be happy for her to be a good broody. Some same hatchery birds tend not to be broody and that is what most of my pullets are.
That is scary that they may quit on day 18. Maybe I should get an incubator just in case. I really hoped to let a mama do all the work of brooding and integrating.

It is dicier with hatchery birds as they have had the broodiness traits generally selected out of them so they tend to sulk rather than being in a determined brood. Doesn't mean you can't get a good broody from hatchery birds, but it is much more unlikely. Chances are that was working against you. Her young age may have played into it, but I have actually had good success with first time young mothers, but they were both mixed breeds (Welsummer/RIR and Welsummer/Wyandotte? best guess barnyard mix). I do use inexpensive eggs to hatch for a first timer, and I let a hen go through a full brood with those to determine if I want to set expensive eggs with her. I also never discourage a brood and never over handle a hen....especially a first time hen.

Sounds like you've gotten good advice about incubators which I can't help you with as I went another way for hatching security. I personally wanted to be done with heat lamps forever. I used to purchased chicks in the spring from the feed store, but one year we burned a coop down to the ground from a heat lamp...ash pit down to the ground...a young pullet knocked down a heat lamp which sparked and caused a serious fire...fortunately God protected and it was JUST the coop that went, but it scared me to death. Two of my close friends have had fires happen to them, and we all were using good heat lamps, that we thought were secure, and properly rated outdoor extension cords...NOT a good set up. It made me very nervous about having heat lamps and bedding straw, and I cringed the next spring setting up my heat lamp, ESPECIALLY in my garage as we weren't going to run an extension cord to a coop again.... so I began researching broodies...the breeds known to be good and the broody process.

I connected through the BYC swap forum to a local swap in my area. Through it I eventually connected to a Silkie breeder and purchased (for $20) a proven faithful 2 year old hen. This wonderful Silkie brooded for me, about every 4 months, for almost 3 years or so before a hawk recently got her. I just now replaced her... again connecting through my local swaps, this time with my tale of woe... and was kindly gifted another proven veteran brooder of 4 1/2 years by a SIlkie breeder who wanted to re-home her beloved aging broody as she was retiring her from her breeding program. I also purchased a couple of bantam Cochins pullets from a farm who are young and unproven but come from a very,very broody mother. They are in with my veteran Silkie...it is a risk as I don't KNOW these bantam Cochins will be good mothers, but the odds are greatly in my favor as they have the genes and will have the example from the proven Silkie. This all does mean I may have to sit out this next hatching season with mutt or inexpenisve eggs until I prove these broodies, but for me, it is worth the wait.

I do own several inexpensive incubators, which I've only actually hatched from once for a homeschool project with my kids ages ago. They are the small mini-incubators that are sold for about $20 (?) and only hold 3 full size eggs since I didn't want to run a big incubator for a small batch of 6 eggs. They don't have a good overall hatch rate, and take a lot of work to turn and watch, but once you get the hang of it they do hatch chicks. I have used them more for an ICU unit if I have a distressed newly hatched chick or for a hatching emergency. I've also used them for overflow on expensive shipped eggs so I could set a full dozen....6 with my good broody and 6 in the incubators...then I chose the best developing to set with the hen....that worked well for me on my Buckeye project. (Read through that below to see how I used those mini incubators).

I only want to work in small batches of 3 to 6 chicks, about 3 times a year, to replenish my flock to keep my laying ages optimum and to introduce fun egg colors (I gift and sell eggs), so I am not into large scale hatches....just a fun side hobby.

Good luck with your hatching plans be it incubator or broody.
Lady of McCamley

 

[n3kms]

Hope ya'll don't mind me asking so many questions. Read BYC for 4 years before I got chickens. But when things happen it's so hard to go back and find the answers. Plus, I don't have anyone else to talk chickens with. My enthusiasm doesn't seem to be that contagious.
The pullet that was broody was one of my few that isn't a hatchery. So I am hoping she will be a broody girl. I had thought about getting a couple of known broody breed chickens but was holding out hope for this BLRW. I also have a couple of cream Legbars but I understand they may not be a very broody breed. I'd like to say I would prefer to let nature take its course. But if I put expensive eggs under a broody and something happened at 18 days in I might would kick myself for not having an alternate method to save those babies. Even if they weren't expensive. I had looked at that Chinese incubator once before. If I was only doing 6-12 eggs under a broody and she quit at some point, how do you think it would do with those few eggs? It's even cheaper on eBay. I think last time I looked at it there had not been many review but it seems it may be becoming popular. I didn't have any problems brooding my first chicks in the garage but having them raised by mama just seems easier and more natural and much sweeter. I remember watching Timmy's mom on the old Timmy and Lassie show going out to feed the chickens and always wanted that kind of setup. My husband was resistant, then saw a coop at Sam's Club and said "how about one of those?". Of course that was one of the 2-3 chicken size coops and that was not what I had in mind, at all. So I got my enthusiasm going again and we built this by ourselves.

 

[n3kms]

We got home from church and lunch out and Anastasia was sitting on the new box we fixed. She jumped up when I put food out, my big worry, and went out to eat and then went back to the box. So, I left a little food in with her and closed her in. If she really wants to she can probably get over the 4 ft fencing so we'll just see how it goes. There were two warm eggs in the nest and neither was hers.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

..... There were two warm eggs in the nest and neither was hers.

That is only one of the problems you'll be facing unless you can keep other hens away from and out of your setting hen's nest.

What are you planning on doing when one of the cooped hens wants to lay in your brood hen's nest and your brood hen becomes jealous or protective right before hatching? You'll come home and find a nest full of broken eggs and squashed dead chicks because two hens will have been fighting over the one nest.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

We got home from church and lunch out and Anastasia was sitting on the new box we fixed. She jumped up when I put food out, my big worry, and went out to eat and then went back to the box. So, I left a little food in with her and closed her in. If she really wants to she can probably get over the 4 ft fencing so we'll just see how it goes. There were two warm eggs in the nest and neither was hers.

If I understand you, she went back to the original nest? Good! I'd wait it out and test her out this first time round...you don't have to hatch any chicks just learn your broody. I have found patience is best when working with broodies, and letting them sit through a trial brood allows me to see who stays and who quits. Once a hen sits successfully it is very unlikely she'll quit on another brood if left to do her job undisturbed. The advantage of broody breeds is the frequency they brood (often 3 to 4 times a year) otherwise you may have to wait for her annual brood....if she broods again. I've had several who only ever brooded once.

I am building a broody string so hopefully I'll have a high likelihood of having a broody in the mood when I want one (or in case I lose one for some reason again.)

Good luck finding a good incubator. They can be a good back up plan unless you keep a string of silkies

 

[PD-Riverman]

Wow, how did you end up with so many chickens?

1 1/2 years ago I had around 30 chickens, a coop and a couple chicken tractors. I started buying some laying hens to try to stay up with the egg sales---I got up to about 50 hens, then 60, then 70, hens, got some old english game hens, started hatching eggs with them and some of the stryofoam bators, then I would keep some of the chicks, sell some and sell most all the young roosters. I kept building more pens. I bought some different breeds and some more different breeds and some hatching eggs and more hatching eggs---built a cabinet incubator and a cabinet hatcher----Bought and hatched Alot more eggs, kept some, sold some, bought some more breeds----LOL. Now her I am---60 pens, 450 chickens, plenty of eggs incubating, eggs hatching in the hatcher, Need more pens, already using 750lbs of feed per week, I am Tired----But I am about set-up--Probably not but I am thinking so---LOL. Thats how I have ended up with so many chickens.

 

[mymilliefleur]

1 1/2 years ago I had around 30 chickens, a coop and a couple chicken tractors. I started buying some laying hens to try to stay up with the egg sales---I got up to about 50 hens, then 60, then 70, hens, got some old english game hens, started hatching eggs with them and some of the stryofoam bators, then I would keep some of the chicks, sell some and sell most all the young roosters. I kept building more pens. I bought some different breeds and some more different breeds and some hatching eggs and more hatching eggs---built a cabinet incubator and a cabinet hatcher----Bought and hatched Alot more eggs, kept some, sold some, bought some more breeds----LOL. Now her I am---60 pens, 450 chickens, plenty of eggs incubating, eggs hatching in the hatcher, Need more pens, already using 750lbs of feed per week, I am Tired----But I am about set-up--Probably not but I am thinking so---LOL. Thats how I have ended up with so many chickens.

Chicken math eeh?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Chicken math eeh?

Yep-----1 hen + 1 rooster can = many, many chicks!!