Broody Hen Thread!

[PD-Riverman]

Awesome info! Thank you I would love to see the other pens when you have time

Here is a few of them---2 20ft pieces of 3/4" pvc pipe bent into a holo hoop and hardware cloth attached to it. Doors in most of them. The blue tarp will only last about one season but at $2 to replace them(when they are on sale I get a handful of them) That is no problem,

 

[Ducklinggirl101]

Hey, who are you asking this question too??

My broodies stay on the nest and hatch the rest of the chicks after the first one hatches----usually within 24 hours+/- because all the eggs were set at the same time. A chick can sit tight for atleast 3 days without a problem (no food or water) while the rest are hatching.

If a person just allows a hen to set on any eggs----lets other hens lay more eggs in her nest----They are creating a Problem----if they got a heart at all. Meaning----when moma hen comes off the eggs with her first few hatched chicks-----the other eggs have chicks in them at different stages----are you going to just let them die----Most scramble trying to put them under another broody or run get a incubator etc-----all could have been avoided----with a few simple steps---in the beginning.

Well I was wondering that if after the first one hatches doesn't the mom go and give the duckling water? How long can't he duckling wait for the others to hatch?

 

[Rose98]

How cold can eggs get....had a hen that jumped off, the eggs were very cold. Candled them and the chickens were moving in a floating like motion when I moved the egg. put them straight in the incubator but don't know if they were already dead or not. Do you think their is hope or should I just give.

 

[PD-Riverman]

How cold can eggs get....had a hen that jumped off, the eggs were very cold. Candled them and the chickens were moving in a floating like motion when I moved the egg. put them straight in the incubator but don't know if they were already dead or not. Do you think their is hope or should I just give.

Sure there is!! Candle them in a few day----you will be able to tell if they are still alive/growing. Good Luck!

 

[sharol]

Quote:
I just had this problem with my BR hen. She sat on 12 eggs for about 18 days and the first egg hatched. They were all collected, sat in an egg carton on the counter, and were set at the same time (within 3 days of collection). This one was just early. She hung in there for about 36 hours and abandoned the rest of the eggs to care for the little one. I took the eggs to the incubator night before last -- Thursday was day 21 --, and as of now, I have 9 chicks (including the one she hatched), one pipped, and two apparently lifeless. These were valuable Araucana and Breda Fowl eggs, so I didn't want to just give up on them. I tend to be a worrier, so I always have an incubator ready in case it is needed, and this time it was. I was planning to graft the babies back to the mom, but I've decided to brood them inside, They are really tiny (the Araucanas especially.) and I really want them to thrive. I know mom would do a better job of preparing them -- I've seen the difference, but this hen is an inexperienced broody, and so I will just leave her with her one chick this time. I've talked to the breeder, and she had a similar issue with a couple of her eggs in the incubator. We are wondering if it has something to do with our odd weather around here right now. So far, all's well. I hope the pipped egg hatches, but it has been pipped since yesterday mid-day, so it is anyone's guess. Helping it might not help, if you get my meaning, so I'm trying to leave it alone. She had been off the nest most of the day before I took her eggs and they were about 75 degrees (air temp) when I collected them. I honestly thought there was no hope for them.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Well I was wondering that if after the first one hatches doesn't the mom go and give the duckling water? How long can't he duckling wait for the others to hatch?

Moma will usually stay to hatch the rest of the fertile eggs----she can hear/feel them inside the eggs.(Staggered hatches are not a good thing with a broody). Alot of people don't realize the yolk is Not what turns into the chick------its a little embryo that is attached to the yolk that grows into the chick----it lives off the yolk. Just before it completely hatches it draws the rest of the yolk inside-----Gets a Big Meal before it gets out. It is good for a few days without food or water----while the rest hatch.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I feel good too about the amount of space I have for them all, an acre of fenced in pasture and their coop is 12x12 It sounds like space can be an issue, so that's good that I don't have that going against me.

How high can chicks jump to get to the roost? That might be an issue? Ours are a foot up, I believe? Need to check, but just wondering what the babies do at night

Also, those of you that have the babies with everyone else, do you give your mamas/babies the chick starter? And how do you keep the others from eating it?

Broodies will 'nest down' with her chicks during the time she is mothering them (the length of time they mother varies by broody and even by hatch with the same broody)-because my nest boxes are elevated, this generally means she picks a spot on the coop floor, digs out a divit in the bedding and that is where she goes each evening to snuggle the kids through the night. Eventually, she decides she's done being a mom and goes back to roost with the flock. My babies usually spend another week or two nesting by themselves down in the spot they had been using but eventually they all start figuring out roosting and get brave enough to start trying to roost with the flock.
This is my broody from last fall with her kids right before she "weaned" them - as you can see, at this point they didn't fit under her quite as well as when they first hatched, lol. She started trying to wean them about a week before this by going to roost with the flock, but the chicks would put up such a fuss at bedtime - pacing back and forth below the roosts crying their little heads off - that she would relent and go back to the floor to be with them. By the time brooding is over and the chicks are weaned, the flight up to the roosts has not been an issue for me.


My feed program is the simplest there is for this sort of situation - I feed "Flock Raiser" (a grower ration) to my birds at all times - the beauty of that is that it is safe for all life stages, so there is no worrying about who is getting to which feeder when I have chicks (or other birds not actively laying at the time) in the flock. The issue when feeding layer and starter/grower isn't so much about keeping the hens out of the chick feed (it won't hurt them - though you would want to provide some calcium supplement since the layers generally tend to prefer the starter/grower and would be missing the calcium from their regular diet), but about keeping the chicks out of the layer feed as that is where the potential for harm comes in with birds consuming the high calcium too soon. A "creep feeder" can be used to keep big birds out of the feed of small birds, for keeping small birds out of the big birds' feed it would be a matter of locating the feeder in a place that requires the sort of flight, etc to reach that the babies would not be capable of yet. Given what a pain that would be, feeding everyone the same thing sounds better and better, doesn't it?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Quote: There can be a few reasons a egg hatches earlier----But in the future if this happens---(you seem to watch your broody close)---take the early chick away from her as soon as you see it---you can put it back in a couple days.

As far as the one in the incubator------In "MY" opinion----if you have open the incubator to remove some hatched chicks----that could cause the unhatched egg Problems------being its been pipped for a long time and its after the 21 normal hatch days---I would help it hatch---or at least part the way------if Not it might die. When I open my hatcher on day ""22"" to remove the chicks-----If I have a pipped egg----I completely hatch it----break it completely out the shell-----rarely does one even bleed. I let the broke out chicks stay in the hatcher for a few more hours to get dry etc. Good Luck

 

[Ducklinggirl101]

Ok thank you guys for all of your help! I'll keep you guys posted on what happens

 

[Rose98]

Sure there is!! Candle them in a few day----you will be able to tell if they are still alive/growing. Good Luck!

Thanks for your help.... I will do that.