Broody Hen Thread!

[Lady of McCamley]

How many days on average does it take for eggs to start to hatch? The weather has been 50-68 degrees for the last week. She got her fresh clutch day 3 of the real broody signs. She was put on the fresh eggs around 6 PM the 13 th. I'm hoping buy Sunday.

21 days, give or take 24 hours....so anywhere from day 20 through day 22 is typical.

LofMc

 

[newbiejones]

Our speckled Sussex is sitting 2 yards over on 15 eggs. She's been sitting for almost 3 weeks. We aren't for sure on the day bc she went missing and we honestly thought someone stole her or she was taken by a predator. Anyways she shows up one day to eat so we followed her and found her spot. 2 yards over under a porch, in a corner where the warm air blows off their hot water heater and she's blocked from all the wind. She hasn't came to eat in 2 days. I took her an apple but I think she's getting ready to have them. I'm super excited. We had a hen go broody a while back on 20 eggs. She only sat on them for 2 weeks. We had to save them and only 3 made it and still living. Anyways, I cannot wait to see this hen in action with her little chicks. I'm wondering if she will bring them home once they hatch. She's always been the one chicken that roams outside the fence with our RIR roo so I'm kind if afraid she will want to keep the chicks out of the coop as well. Or maybe I should bring them in to the brooder for the first few weeks, if she will let me that is.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

This is so true! Right now I have 3 hens with chicks out in the coop.... today I was out there visiting and cleaning shelves and such and the 3 hens and all of the little ones were running around without a care in the world.... now my coop is insulated, and draft free (unless you are standing right in front of the pop door) but it was 9*F at my place this morning outside, and it was only 21*F in the coop when I first went out there. The chicks spent more time running around than they did warming up under an accommodating hen.... These chicks are 12 days old! If in a brooder I think the recommended temp would still be in the 80*F range or something like that?

Had to check my brooding table as it's been so long...but the.first week 95 degrees; then lower 5 degrees per week...so at day 12, that would be 90 degrees according to the table.

X2! I watched my mama (she is a Dominique and not even a very good broody) and her young chick outside one morning when it was 5*F. At first I was concerned, but after I observed them for a little while, I saw him walk around and with the other birds and he seemed quite comfy. Despite what we think, chicks really don't need to be kept under heated conditions all the time. In fact In my opinion, chicks that are kept in those conditions will not adapt well to cold weather later on in their life. I had an orphaned chick last year that I put in with my incubator chicks that were a couple weeks older. I was letting them out to scratch in the yard, and I didn't want to keep the little orphan in the brooder all alone, so I went ahead and let her out with them. Even though she was only three days old, she had absolutely no problem keeping up with the others.

Totally agree that heat lamped brooded chicks are not as hardy to cold temps...I had a sad example of this my first winter clutch...the babies hatched and thrived in the teens/twenties cold snap...but I could NOT get a foster chick to stay alive although momma was more than willing...the hatched chicks ran around without a care, the fosters from the feedstore died within days....after 3 unsuccessful attempts. I finally gave up and just stayed with the 3 hatched chicks that winter who grew up and laid at 13 to 16 weeks of age (earliest was 13, latest was 16). They are still fine hardy hens....at least 2 of them...one was lost in a stupid chicken accident.

LofMc

 

[PD-Riverman]

How many days on average does it take for eggs to start to hatch? The weather has been 50-68 degrees for the last week. She got her fresh clutch day 3 of the real broody signs. She was put on the fresh eggs around 6 PM the 13 th. I'm hoping buy Sunday.

February 3rd---would be the due date. Good Luck!

 

[Sambi89]

Today my EE has almost finished molting. This poor bird looks like it's been through some hard times right now. My nephew came over the other day and asked me if it was ok. The look on his face was a mixture between worried and disgusted. I tried to explain the process but he didn't feel great about that either. Later He told his mom I have a chicken that's falling to pieces. Just thought it was silly.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I know the look. I used to get the same look when I seen molting chickens. Now I know its just natural but it does look so unsightly, cant help but feel bad for them.

 

[JoPop]

Has anyone ever had luck starting eggs in an incubator and then moving them under a broody hen?

Back story (its a little long, bear with me!):

Being relatively new to the chicken world, I was VERY excited to have my first broody hen. I moved her to a nice separate area, started collecting her eggs and giving her fakes, and even ordered 1/2 dozen fertilized eggs to supplement, thinking she wouldn't lay many more before sitting full time. The trouble is, she couldn't decide whether or not to sit!! For nearly a week she would sit on and off throughout the day, and was still laying. She was taking her time and making me worry like crazy!

So I decided to let nature take its course -- I stopped collecting and hardly checked on her for 2 days, and it seems like that's what she needed to settle in. She's now sitting since yesterday afternoon and has 1 or 2 of her own eggs under her as well as some fakes.

I'm thinking about starting the rest of the fertile eggs (10 total) in an incubator before sneaking them under her in 3 or 4 more days. I definitely don't want to disturb her right now given how choosy she has been, but I also want to make sure the eggs all hatch at the same time, and I'm worried about the age of my fertile eggs, which are between 4 - 7 days old.

Has anyone had luck with this? Alternatively I could do the incubator full course and then get them under her after they hatch, or I could wait a few days, scrap the ones currently under her and place the 10.

Any advice?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Has anyone ever had luck starting eggs in an incubator and then moving them under a broody hen?

Back story (its a little long, bear with me!):

Being relatively new to the chicken world, I was VERY excited to have my first broody hen. I moved her to a nice separate area, started collecting her eggs and giving her fakes, and even ordered 1/2 dozen fertilized eggs to supplement, thinking she wouldn't lay many more before sitting full time. The trouble is, she couldn't decide whether or not to sit!! For nearly a week she would sit on and off throughout the day, and was still laying. She was taking her time and making me worry like crazy!

So I decided to let nature take its course -- I stopped collecting and hardly checked on her for 2 days, and it seems like that's what she needed to settle in. She's now sitting since yesterday afternoon and has 1 or 2 of her own eggs under her as well as some fakes.

I'm thinking about starting the rest of the fertile eggs (10 total) in an incubator before sneaking them under her in 3 or 4 more days. I definitely don't want to disturb her right now given how choosy she has been, but I also want to make sure the eggs all hatch at the same time, and I'm worried about the age of my fertile eggs, which are between 4 - 7 days old.

Has anyone had luck with this? Alternatively I could do the incubator full course and then get them under her after they hatch, or I could wait a few days, scrap the ones currently under her and place the 10.

Any advice?

Yes...and it works great...just be sure to mark all eggs and be accurate on the times set so that they will hatch together. It sounds like she has a day or two head start on the eggs under her already (?) so you likely already have a staggered hatch going unless you start all 10 under her and finish the 2 in the incubator.

Using the incubator and swapping out with the hen worked really well with shipped eggs to maximize my chances of getting a good hatch since shipped eggs are notorious for not developing fully. I put half in my small mini incubators, half under the hen. Candled at day 5 to pull quitters and reset the hen with the best eggs. Candled at day 10 to do likewise. It really helped me maximize my hatch for badly shaken shipped eggs.

LofMc

 

[Angie16hearts]

21 days, give or take 24 hours....so anywhere from day 20 through day 22 is typical.

LofMc

February 3rd---would be the due date. Good Luck!

Thank you ! I have another question for you two or any one else who has a opinion. If I happen to be at work while she starts to hatch. Will my Roo help protect her? Or will she do a fine job herself? She is top hen!! And I removed 3 RIR so I only have 6 other hens in a pretty big a frame coop. Plus my Roo.

I will be moving her as stated in a earlier post.

This may sound stupid, do the bigger eggs usually hatch first vs smaller eggs I have under her?

I did divide the coop up for her and all the girls but one is staying on the side she's not. She has small access to the run. She's a small hen. Fluffy the hen who does roam her side once in awhile is even smaller then her. The others can't fit through the area I have given pepper to enter the run.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Thank you ! I have another question for you two or any one else who has a opinion. If I happen to be at work while she starts to hatch. Will my Roo help protect her? Or will she do a fine job herself? She is top hen!! And I removed 3 RIR so I only have 6 other hens in a pretty big a frame coop. Plus my Roo.

I will be moving her as stated in a earlier post.

This may sound stupid, do the bigger eggs usually hatch first vs smaller eggs I have under her?

I did divide the coop up for her and all the girls but one is staying on the side she's not. She has small access to the run. She's a small hen. Fluffy the hen who does roam her side once in awhile is even smaller then her. The others can't fit through the area I have given pepper to enter the run.

I can not answer the question----if the rooster will protect her, But I can tell you this-----she will not hatch all the eggs and leave her nest----in the 8/10 hours you are at work. Just for Info------"""""I"""" would NOT start pulling out chicks to hold them or lift her while the other eggs are hatching. When you hear or see the first Peep----just let her do Her job without anyone disturbing her. Disturbing her can cause her to get angry---she could stomp and bust eggs that are about to hatch Plus in """"MY"" opinion lifting her during this time causes moisture to escape----the escaped moisture might be needed to hatch the last few eggs. Good Luck!