Broody Hen Thread!

[zippy722]

Well, my Louise is one heck of a great momma.

She sat on 17 eggs, and hatched 10, and I hatched 4 in the incubator. She carried out of the nest 2 eggs that I saw, and I got rid of one from the incubator. All 3 of them had died midway through development and were bad. Amazing how she can keep her nest clean. Right now, she's sitting on 12 in the nest, with the last incubator chick still in there, and one died in the nest under Louise. The bottom picture shows me trying to wing sex the chicks, with the help of my niece. And it appears that I have a boat load of little roo's. Let's hope that my inexperience at this proves VERY wrong. Sure hope she can keep them all warm; the temp is suppose to drop tomorrow night.

 

[omilona]

So the two babies Tinsel successfully hatched were one partridge silkie which I think is a girl and one blue araucana which I am 90% sure is a roo. Does anyone in the NY/CT area want him? My house is for sale and the crowing, when it starts, will be an issue. The remaining araucana eggs the babies died before hatching. The next time I am going to have a broody, I am going to also order some girl peeps to sneak under her!

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

Hi I had an accident with my hen I went out yesterday and found a chick! I have them in a seperate area and such but I put medicated feed in the area but the hen isn't eating. I am worried should I be concerned. I put a little scratch on top to show her but she ate the scratch and nothing else is my food maybe bad? How long till I need to be concerned about the hen? I am worried that she wont eat and in turn the baby wont learn to eat.

 

[soldonold]

I have a question!!! have a seven month old Ameraucana pullet that became determined to become a mom over a month ago. I've never had a broody hen before, and I didn't realize she was so determined! So after more than two weeks of battling with her, I let her sit on five eggs in a little coop I had set up for breeding pairs. She has been as faithful as can be, and yesterday two chicks hatched a day early. I checked on her this morning and she was sitting on the chicks and the other three eggs. But I guess the chicks must have hopped out of the little nest box they were in and weren't able to get back in, cause when I went down this afternoon, she was on the floor (on wood chips) with the chicks under her, and the eggs were totally cold in the nest box.

These eggs are due to hatch any time. Here is my question . . . I stuck the eggs back under her on the floor, but does anyone have any experience with eggs getting cold this close to hatch and surviving?? I really wasn't expecting her to follow through and hatch any chicks at all so I wasn't stressing. But now that I've seen two really adorable day old chicks, I'm really wanting the other ones to hatch too! I'd be really interested in hearing any experiences you've had along these lines. Thanks!!!

 

[donnavee]

I have a question!!! have a seven month old Ameraucana pullet that became determined to become a mom over a month ago. I've never had a broody hen before, and I didn't realize she was so determined! So after more than two weeks of battling with her, I let her sit on five eggs in a little coop I had set up for breeding pairs. She has been as faithful as can be, and yesterday two chicks hatched a day early. I checked on her this morning and she was sitting on the chicks and the other three eggs. But I guess the chicks must have hopped out of the little nest box they were in and weren't able to get back in, cause when I went down this afternoon, she was on the floor (on wood chips) with the chicks under her, and the eggs were totally cold in the nest box.

These eggs are due to hatch any time. Here is my question . . . I stuck the eggs back under her on the floor, but does anyone have any experience with eggs getting cold this close to hatch and surviving?? I really wasn't expecting her to follow through and hatch any chicks at all so I wasn't stressing. But now that I've seen two really adorable day old chicks, I'm really wanting the other ones to hatch too! I'd be really interested in hearing any experiences you've had along these lines. Thanks!!!

I actually don't know, but I had a duck Mama who was killed on the nest and 4 of the 6 eggs were still in tact when I found them. I put those eggs in the incubator and they all hatched a couple of days later. I don't know how long the eggs were cold, but I'm sure it was a few hours. I would say there is a chance if they were still good that she will hatch them. Fingers crossed that you will get some more babies.

 

[soldonold]

I hope so!! When they were just eggs, I wasn't worried, but since some chicks actually hatched out, I want more!! Chickens are so addictive. I had no idea!

 

[spivey378]

Hey everyone, found this article on egg preservation I thought was really interesting.
http://www.preparednesspro.com/safely-preserving-eggs



Apparently unwashed eggs still have their protective coating, the bloom, and are safe to store on the counter. Many modern countries wash eggs before sale so they 'look' cleaner and safer, but this opens the pores of the shell for infection from bacteria during storage time.


check out my incubator site if you like!
www.incubatorinventory.com

 

[Gardengirl73]

I have a question!!! have a seven month old Ameraucana pullet that became determined to become a mom over a month ago. I've never had a broody hen before, and I didn't realize she was so determined! So after more than two weeks of battling with her, I let her sit on five eggs in a little coop I had set up for breeding pairs. She has been as faithful as can be, and yesterday two chicks hatched a day early. I checked on her this morning and she was sitting on the chicks and the other three eggs. But I guess the chicks must have hopped out of the little nest box they were in and weren't able to get back in, cause when I went down this afternoon, she was on the floor (on wood chips) with the chicks under her, and the eggs were totally cold in the nest box.

These eggs are due to hatch any time. Here is my question . . . I stuck the eggs back under her on the floor, but does anyone have any experience with eggs getting cold this close to hatch and surviving?? I really wasn't expecting her to follow through and hatch any chicks at all so I wasn't stressing. But now that I've seen two really adorable day old chicks, I'm really wanting the other ones to hatch too! I'd be really interested in hearing any experiences you've had along these lines. Thanks!!!

My silkie hen was sitting on an Ameraucana egg, but another hen kept trying to lay in the box, so she kept moving to the next box, leaving the egg. She did that about a week ago, it was about 32 to 34 degrees out. The egg was stone cold. It was about 11 or 12 days along. I was pretty sure it was done for, no movement inside, but stuck it in the brinsea. 24 hours later I candled and it was doing jumping jacks in there. The egg has been wiggling so I think it will probably hatch in a day or two. Don't give up. They are pretty tough little suckers.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hi I had an accident with my hen I went out yesterday and found a chick! I have them in a seperate area and such but I put medicated feed in the area but the hen isn't eating. I am worried should I be concerned. I put a little scratch on top to show her but she ate the scratch and nothing else is my food maybe bad? How long till I need to be concerned about the hen? I am worried that she wont eat and in turn the baby wont learn to eat.

I'm not sure I understand all your details...did this hen hatch the chick? How long ago? It could be that the hen is still broody...are their eggs still under the hen? Broody hens only get up to eat and poo once a day. They generally stay on the clutch with the newly hatch babies for a couple of days to let the rest of the clutch hatch. Baby chicks can be without food for several days.

If that is what is happening, I would keep food and water close by (without it being so close as to tip into the nest) but not worry. Mom will be up and eating shortly with new baby.

If your details are different than this, then I would be concerned that the hen isn't eating and check to see if she is sick.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Audio51]

I have a question!!! have a seven month old Ameraucana pullet that became determined to become a mom over a month ago. I've never had a broody hen before, and I didn't realize she was so determined! So after more than two weeks of battling with her, I let her sit on five eggs in a little coop I had set up for breeding pairs. She has been as faithful as can be, and yesterday two chicks hatched a day early. I checked on her this morning and she was sitting on the chicks and the other three eggs. But I guess the chicks must have hopped out of the little nest box they were in and weren't able to get back in, cause when I went down this afternoon, she was on the floor (on wood chips) with the chicks under her, and the eggs were totally cold in the nest box.

These eggs are due to hatch any time. Here is my question . . . I stuck the eggs back under her on the floor, but does anyone have any experience with eggs getting cold this close to hatch and surviving?? I really wasn't expecting her to follow through and hatch any chicks at all so I wasn't stressing. But now that I've seen two really adorable day old chicks, I'm really wanting the other ones to hatch too! I'd be really interested in hearing any experiences you've had along these lines. Thanks!!!

Have you candled the eggs that have not hatched yet to see if they are delevoping? If they are not she may have sensed that and left the non-viable eggs to care for the chicks. If you can't candle them, you might try holding them up to your ear to listen for internal pecking. At the very least it will not hurt to move them under her and let her continue to incubate if she is willing. She will likely move off of them and start taking the chicks to find food when she has decided the eggs are done. Good luck and keep us posted!