Broody Hen Thread!

[Searsmom]

Decisions decisions!!! What eggs do I give her??? Lol I've never had a broody before, so considering giving her some from the bator so it won't take as long to see her with them. But I don't want to cheat her outta the process. Do I give her Buff Orp eggs, Sizzle project eggs, or just a very few turkey eggs? Oh its so hard! I want her to hatch them all!!! LMBO!!

LOL One of each?

 

[sonderah]

LOL One of each?

Lol. Well this hen is a blue slate turkey hen. She can hatch a lot of eggs if I do chickens i think. My chicken eggs are 1/2 the size of hers, and I've read they can hatch like 14 of their own. Got 8 of hers in the bator on day 10. Maybe I should give her those and about 15 chicken eggs. Be a few days staggered, but I would sell the chickens right after hatch, so she would only be raising the poults. Hmmmmm!!!!

 

[Searsmom]

Lol. Well this hen is a blue slate turkey hen. She can hatch a lot of eggs if I do chickens i think. My chicken eggs are 1/2 the size of hers, and I've read they can hatch like 14 of their own. Got 8 of hers in the bator on day 10. Maybe I should give her those and about 15 chicken eggs. Be a few days staggered, but I would sell the chickens right after hatch, so she would only be raising the poults. Hmmmmm!!!!

That sounds good actually. I hear poults are incredibly difficult to keep alive, she might be able to do it better than we would.

 

[sonderah]

I didn't know that! I just hatched hers & my dirt poults this past week. Only 4, but I must've gotten really lucky! They all hatched and will be a week old Wednesday. Got 5 more going to the hatcher Friday, then the 8 I'll probably give her. Thanks for the info!

 

[Dknichelson]

You can't prevent a hen from stealing eggs when they are anywhere she can get to them... broodies are sneaky little critters and will find a way to add to their clutch, and it isn't a good idea (if they are already setting round the clock on the nest)! Adding an egg or two a day over multiple days will cause a lot of problems when hatch time rolls around. It is usually referred to as a 'staggered hatch'. Basically, the early eggs hatch, and those chicks have a day or two in the nest, then want out and about and need food and water, meanwhile broody mama is still wanting to set on the remaining (late added) eggs.

Easiest way to prevent this is to decide which eggs you want her to set on and mark them all with a clear line around the egg. Add them all at once. If it is a clutch that the hen collected over multiple days BEFORE she begins to set around the clock then just mark the eggs she has on the first day of her setting tight. If the eggs are marked then you just check each day and remove eggs which have been added by other flock members or stolen and brought in by the broody when she checked out other nests while out for her daily stretch.

A hen may collect for multiple days before setting... those eggs are fine, they won't begin to develop until she sets on them and gets them up to temp. However, don't allow her to gather eggs for a period of over 10 days or so because at that point the viability will decrease and unless you've been marking or dating the eggs you won't know which are the oldest that need removed.

So don't worry about trying to stop her stealing, she will sneak no matter what.... just mark what she has and remove additions any time you find them. She will most likely quit adding within a week or so anyway as she gets deeper into her brood.

Thanks! I got her off her nest long enough today to candle and mark her eggs. 5 of the 8 were farther along, so I removed the 3 and put the others back. Tuesday will be 2 weeks that she's been on the original 5, so we should be having babies before too long!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm glad you guys are doing so well raising turkeys and brooding with with turkey hens....just a BTW that I'm sure you are aware of and taking precautions...however in case you don't know....you should keep turkey poults and chicks separate because of the possible transmission of disease.

It works well for the chicks...they often contract the turkey virus of Mareks which often will provide immunity for them from the deadly chicken version; however, the turkey poults can contract histomonis (black head) from the chickens who usually are unaffected but can be carries through the cecal worms.

We kept our turkey poults isolated until they were (I think) 12 weeks before we integrated with the chickens.
Lady of McCamley

 

[sonderah]

Yes I have read about that. But it isn't an issue in my area, so I got lucky.

 

[pollo portero]

Just wanted to tell someone...My broody Copper Maran, Giselle, has hatched 5 chicks out of 10 eggs over the last couple of days! This is my first successful broody hatch and it is so exciting!! Not sure if this is her first time because I bought her at an auction a few months ago. Ironically, none of the eggs were hers, but she doesn't care. I had given up on the chicks hatching because they were past the "due date" by almost a week. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up a wing to check and saw a small face looking out at me!!

So, have patience if anybody out there is giving up hope...the hens know what they're doing, apparently!!

But, the broodiness seems to be contagious... one of my Black Cochins and my gold Sebright have decided to brood now. The Sebright, Mona, was building a secret stash and now has about a dozen of her own eggs she's trying to cover. However, she never sees much if any "action" so I am doubtful any are fertile. So, how many full size eggs can a bantam cover successfully?..

I want to give her some of the Cochin's eggs...the Cochin's big but she can't handle 20 eggs!!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Just wanted to tell someone...My broody Copper Maran, Giselle, has hatched 5 chicks out of 10 eggs over the last couple of days! This is my first successful broody hatch and it is so exciting!! Not sure if this is her first time because I bought her at an auction a few months ago. Ironically, none of the eggs were hers, but she doesn't care. I had given up on the chicks hatching because they were past the "due date" by almost a week. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up a wing to check and saw a small face looking out at me!!

So, have patience if anybody out there is giving up hope...the hens know what they're doing, apparently!!

But, the broodiness seems to be contagious... one of my Black Cochins and my gold Sebright have decided to brood now. The Sebright, Mona, was building a secret stash and now has about a dozen of her own eggs she's trying to cover. However, she never sees much if any "action" so I am doubtful any are fertile. So, how many full size eggs can a bantam cover successfully?..

I want to give her some of the Cochin's eggs...the Cochin's big but she can't handle 20 eggs!!

Congratulations!

The first broody hatch is very special.

How many large fowl eggs can a bantum cover...depends on the bantum and what is called the "spread factor." My Silkie has an amazing spread factor (she spreads out to about the size of a luncheon plate) and can easily cover 8 standard eggs, but 6 is better. For some reason I've only been successful with 3 hatches each time out of 5 or 6 eggs...don't know if that is just my "luck" or if she is failing to cover all well...although the last batch had 6 full developed chicks, just only 4 hatched (1 died after hatch from failure to have the "belly button" close up).

So if she spreads well...give her 6 large size eggs to start; otherwise use your judgment...tuck eggs under her and see if any seem to be peeking out too much, then pull away one if she seems overly full.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Manningjw]

I had a question about hatching with my broody hen. I am planning to hatch shipped eggs and eggs i already have from my flock - I was wondering if I should put the shipped eggs in the incubator and then day of/after hatch sneak them under her to trick her into thinking they are her little hatchlings?

Wasn't sure how well a broody hatch would be on shipped eggs, more or less reliable than the incubator method?