Broody Hen Thread!

[Jharper]

Ok, so I've had my Cochin bantam, PRIR, and my BA have all gone broody but none of my silkies have ever gone broody. My CB just got attacked by my neighbors dog and she was still brooding her 3 1/2 month old chicks. So, I separated them so she could heal. My PRIR quit brooding her 2 month old chicks. My BA is still brooding hers. My PRIR is plucking her feathers again and laying them out in the nest so I expect her to go broody again. I have some eggs in the incubator for her.

 

[Buffrington]

Hey,

Everyone! this will be a thread about broody hens! Post pics, tell stories, ask questions, suggest, ANYTHING!!

GOOOOO!!!!!

I have a question, Will it be okay if I bought a few 1 week old chicks and place them in the same coop as one of my hens that currently only have one chick and will she look after them as if it were her own. I can say though, she gets very upset if anyone or anything comes close to her or her "Kiddy"

 

[sgtmom52]

I have a question, Will it be okay if I bought a few 1 week old chicks and place them in the same coop as one of my hens that currently only have one chick and will she look after them as if it were her own. I can say though, she gets very upset if anyone or anything comes close to her or her "Kiddy"

I have done it in the past and the hen accepted them although it will all depend on the hen. Make sure the chicks are very young because if they are too old they may not listen to the mother hen. Try to put them under her at night if you can.

 

[Buffrington]

Noted, this sounds good, thank you

 

[Spud Chicken]

Well here is my update on the hatching challange with my broody hen. I set 6 eggs under my hen and at day 10, 3 eggs were duds, and on day 17 an egg had broken I tried to clean the rest of the eggs best I could but by the next day they deloped a smell and the hen would no longer sit on them. With my incubator I set 7 eggs and 1 made it past day 10 and it 's now day 24 and nothing.
Hen-0 Man-0

 

[Lady of McCamley]

i just went to check my broody silkie the its day 18 today and one of the eggs exploded (the worst smell i have ever smelt in my entire life) what are the chances of any eggs hatching now she had most of it cleaned up i didnt wash the eggs becouse i herd its bad it just goes into the egg i didnt candel the eggs this time for some reson so what are the chances any will hatch

plz somebody reply its day 18

Okay...don't panic. Eggs can still hatch and chicks be healthy.

I had the same thing happen to me on about day 15-17??? I had 2 eggs explode. And yes, it makes a terrible smell and mess...and reminder to CANDLE those eggs earlier

...especially in warmer weather as they can go bad faster. My Welsummer-RIR mix simply sat on the mess; my Silkie very smartly rolled the stinky bad eggs out and away from the nest and the stink never touched her or her eggs (good for her!).

Of the messy Welsummer/RIR brood, I gently lifted and CAREFULLY pulled out soggy stinky bedding, and added more bedding that absorbed the rest of the gunk. Your hen has cleaned up the mess, so that's good. While it was not a super hatch for me (5 out of 14 eggs), I did still get some very nice healthy chicks.

And don't wait long for any unhatched eggs after 21 days. I was so tempted with the bad hatch to let them sit longer in case of late hatches, but with the warm weather and 2 explosions I pulled at day 22 after getting 5 chicks on days 20 and 21. It was a good thing. All the rest of the eggs were bad, bad, bad. You can tell because they smell, are very light weight, and thuddy slosh when you shake them. I put them in a garbage bag and cracked each one open to make sure I didn't inadvertently throw out a chick...but they were all explosive green disgusting goo.

My experience. Good luck.
Lady of McCamley

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

i just went to check my broody silkie the its day 18 today and one of the eggs exploded (the worst smell i have ever smelt in my entire life) what are the chances of any eggs hatching now she had most of it cleaned up i didnt wash the eggs becouse i herd its bad it just goes into the egg i didnt candel the eggs this time for some reson so what are the chances any will hatch

plz somebody reply its day 18

Okay...don't panic. Eggs can still hatch and chicks be healthy. I had the same thing happen to me on about day 15-17??? I had 2 eggs explode. And yes, it makes a terrible smell and mess...and reminder to CANDLE those eggs earlier

...especially in warmer weather as they can go bad faster. My Welsummer-RIR mix simply sat on the mess; my Silkie very smartly rolled the stinky bad eggs out and away from the nest and the stink never touched her or her eggs (good for her!). Of the messy Welsummer/RIR brood, I gently lifted and CAREFULLY pulled out soggy stinky bedding, and added more bedding that absorbed the rest of the gunk. Your hen has cleaned up the mess, so that's good. While it was not a super hatch for me (5 out of 14 eggs), I did still get some very nice healthy chicks. And don't wait long for any unhatched eggs after 21 days. I was so tempted with the bad hatch to let them sit longer in case of late hatches, but with the warm weather and 2 explosions I pulled at day 22 after getting 5 chicks on days 20 and 21. It was a good thing. All the rest of the eggs were bad, bad, bad. You can tell because they smell, are very light weight, and thuddy slosh when you shake them. I put them in a garbage bag and cracked each one open to make sure I didn't inadvertently throw out a chick...but they were all explosive green disgusting goo. My experience. Good luck. Lady of McCamley

CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN!! Take out the eggs, set them aside, clean the bedding, clean EVERYTHING (including mom, but blow dry her if you need to give her a bath). Take a wash cloth and gently wipe everything clean. Then dry gently. Candle, if they aren't developed throw them out. Best to candle at night, that way they have time to settle after being handled. I had this happen, 1 egg hatched out of like 6-5, but it turned out alright!

 

[Veer67]

My Buff orpington gets broody every so often so once I put 6 eggs under her and most of them ended up cracked. In the end there were two chicken eggs and a duck egg left which never hatched and were starting to smell bad so I cracked each of them and found little baby chicks in them that were never fully developed!

Butter the broody hen.


This is a bit disturbing but it's one of the unhatched eggs that contained a little black chick.

 

[jammyjammy2112]

Okay...don't panic. Eggs can still hatch and chicks be healthy.

I had the same thing happen to me on about day 15-17??? I had 2 eggs explode. And yes, it makes a terrible smell and mess...and reminder to CANDLE those eggs earlier

...especially in warmer weather as they can go bad faster. My Welsummer-RIR mix simply sat on the mess; my Silkie very smartly rolled the stinky bad eggs out and away from the nest and the stink never touched her or her eggs (good for her!).

Of the messy Welsummer/RIR brood, I gently lifted and CAREFULLY pulled out soggy stinky bedding, and added more bedding that absorbed the rest of the gunk. Your hen has cleaned up the mess, so that's good. While it was not a super hatch for me (5 out of 14 eggs), I did still get some very nice healthy chicks.

And don't wait long for any unhatched eggs after 21 days. I was so tempted with the bad hatch to let them sit longer in case of late hatches, but with the warm weather and 2 explosions I pulled at day 22 after getting 5 chicks on days 20 and 21. It was a good thing. All the rest of the eggs were bad, bad, bad. You can tell because they smell, are very light weight, and thuddy slosh when you shake them. I put them in a garbage bag and cracked each one open to make sure I didn't inadvertently throw out a chick...but they were all explosive green disgusting goo.

My experience. Good luck.
Lady of McCamley

CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN!!
Take out the eggs, set them aside, clean the bedding, clean EVERYTHING (including mom, but blow dry her if you need to give her a bath). Take a wash cloth and gently wipe everything clean. Then dry gently. Candle, if they aren't developed throw them out. Best to candle at night, that way they have time to settle after being handled. I had this happen, 1 egg hatched out of like 6-5, but it turned out alright!

thanks tomorrow i will clean alot should i clean the eggs the smell is unbearavle tho but for some strange reson my silkie has got no gunk of anything on her its kind of dried in tho ooo i hope they hatch.

 

[julie0477]

My Buff orpington gets broody every so often so once I put 6 eggs under her and most of them ended up cracked. In the end there were two chicken eggs and a duck egg left which never hatched and were starting to smell bad so I cracked each of them and found little baby chicks in them that were never fully developed!

Butter the broody hen. This is a bit disturbing but it's one of the unhatched eggs that contained a little black chick.

hmmm I wonder if it has something to do with the BOs size???