Broody Hen Thread!

[Shellz]

I have a red sex link a.k.a. golden comet a.k.a. red star a.k.a Whatever

and she has been broody two summers out of her three year life.... any one else find this odd? from what the "norm" for what others say about this mixed breed is that they aren't so posed to do this,(I know not all chickens follow breed standard) and with that I'm unsure how she would be as a mother. she is pretty persistent and takes longer to "talk" her out of it than the orpington I just broke...

Oh well, what can you do?

My 3 year old hen is a black star. Same story. She hatched eggs laid by production reds. She was a great first time mom! Now her girls are broody too at a year old. I'm hoping they'll be good moms. You just never know how good they can be until you give them a chance. It's a risk I'm willing to take. If you don't, there's always the butt-dunking in the cold water routine. Icy water even better!

 

[ChickSter99]

Sorry you had the bad experience... how many days did the hen have the good eggs before the hatch?  I know ours begin 'talking' to the eggs about 2 days or 3 before hatch, and you can hear peeping from the eggs also the last day.  I think the broody starts to know them even before the hatch.  If they hatched the same night you placed them it may be that your broody wasn't ready for it yet.  I've also heard they have to be setting for 10 days before you can 'fool them' with new hatched chicks also, though I've never swapped any out on a broody yet myself, so I can't make any statements based on my own experience with that.

She's been broody for over a month. I had read somewhere on here to sneak the eggs under her at night. So, that's what I tried. She didn't have them but maybe 6 hours before they hatched. I wish I knew this before I had sentenced them to a suffering death. We've tried before to swap chicks and that has never worked. We were never able to leave the coop for fear of the chicks being mauled. I thought that maybe with a different hen the eggs might work. Boy was I wrong. All it has caused is a bunch of heartache. Thank you for the information. It will be useful if I ever try this again (which I highly doubt).

 

[heninthehouse]

How do you know they partially hatched, were you peeking a lot? Also, what do you mean by 3/4 hatched? Are you saying they pipped and did not zip all the way out? What breed chick were they? Some breeds have issues with genetics that cause death to certain mutations. Were you lifting her up to look as they were hatching? That can interfere with humidity levels and cause problems with chicks pipping or zipping much like opening the bator during lock down.

But I would think with that many chicks not living it was a problem within the egg development rather than at hatching causing the chicks to be too weak to make it. Only the strongest survived. Sorry

They were Buff Orpington eggs.

I checked in the morning and saw that some eggs were pipped, and that one was 1/2 way out and dead (I took this one). I left the rest, it was later that night or the next morning when I saw 2 more dead one 1/2 way out of the shell and the other 3/4 of the way out of the shell. When I removed them, I opened the shells the rest of the way, and they seemed just as normal as the other chick. Perhaps the hen smothered them to death as they were trying to get out...who knows.

I suppose they may have died earlier on, and the hens cracked away part of the shell HUMMM

Now we have 2 healthy happy BO chicks running up and down mama hen.

 

[ronikins]

ok, so i just bought (3) 1 week old chicks. I'm hoping to slip them under my broody hen. shes been broody for probably 5 weeks now.

please reassure me this will work

 

[chicken farmer]

ok, so i just bought (3) 1 week old chicks. I'm hoping to slip them under my broody hen. shes been broody for probably 5 weeks now.

please reassure me this will work

Oh yea it will work,it should just slip them under her and watch from a distance

 

[Shellz]

Good luck ronikins! I hope your broody is pleased with the new chicks.

OMG! My 3rd & last hen just went broody last night! Is ok, as it turns out, I've banked up some eggs & have a couple of mutt pullets due to lay early August. Crazy this year with broodies! So true, that pullets hatched from broodies become broodies themselves. The 2 sisters were 2 days apart in going broody & now my black star is broody after a week of the last one. So.....no more incubator! I evenly split the 18 Malines eggs under the last 2 hens to go broody. Yay! This is so much easier for me now!

 

[Rena]

Yesterday my broody d'Uccle hatched the 4 standard eggs that I gave her 19 days ago. One of the chicks had a horrific injury- it looked like the skin on his head had been stuck to the shell and ripped off upon hatching, so his whole head was raw. Mom actually didn't reject him, but he did die this morning. The other three look okay She's never had babies before so I wasn't sure how she'd do, especially with the big eggs.. but so far all is good with these three.

 

[lilliesanchicks]

Yesterday my broody d'Uccle hatched the 4 standard eggs that I gave her 19 days ago. One of the chicks had a horrific injury- it looked like the skin on his head had been stuck to the shell and ripped off upon hatching, so his whole head was raw. Mom actually didn't reject him, but he did die this morning. The other three look okay She's never had babies before so I wasn't sure how she'd do, especially with the big eggs.. but so far all is good with these three.

From the pictures it looks like she is doing a great job.

 

[heninthehouse]

So

Yesterday my broody d'Uccle hatched the 4 standard eggs that I gave her 19 days ago. One of the chicks had a horrific injury- it looked like the skin on his head had been stuck to the shell and ripped off upon hatching, so his whole head was raw. Mom actually didn't reject him, but he did die this morning. The other three look okay She's never had babies before so I wasn't sure how she'd do, especially with the big eggs.. but so far all is good with these three.

Sorry you lost one . You hen is BEAUTIFUL!!! Love her coloring!!! I am such a sucker for the laid back and extra friendly BO chickens I haven't tested out too many other breeds- but I may have to reconsider!! So many on here have amazing colored hens!!

 

[heninthehouse]

My Goldie with 2 day old silkies I tossed under her yesterday- and Cookies who has the two surviving BO chicks that Goldie hatched out 2 days ago!!!

Funny thing Cookies did not accept the three new silkies but since Goldie already had two chicks I tried putting them with her and she accepted them right away. Last night all 5 chicks were with Goldie and this morning Goldie had the silkies and Cookies had the BO chicks!! Hahaha. Cookies did sit on these BO hatching eggs until the day before they hatched- cause I took them away and put them under Goldie as Cookies had 2 half way hatched dead chicks under her. I think she smothered them to death as they were hatching . So because of they were switched- looks like she still accepts them because they bonded and peeped at each other before hatch day!! Co parenting for those 2 little ones But not the silkies cause Cookies will try and attack them if they come to close to the temp. Wall I put up.