Broody Hen Thread!

[nchls school]

Day 22. Still no pip. Should I make an artificial pip?

My advice is to not make an artificial pip. Doing so may result in the chick's death. Handling eggs at hatch time is not a good idea as it cools the egg and changes humidity levels which may result in DIS. If you have candled the eggs and know they were developing, try to be patient. There are many factors that could cause the hatch day to be different than you believe. Patience-Good luck.

 

[chuckachucka]

Chicken19 the only time I would intervene is if you definitely hear cheeping in an egg and there is no external pip after 12 hours. Then you could make a small hole over the air pocket at the rounder end of the egg. I would advise candling before making any holes to be sure its the right place. Candling at this stage is not recommended but if you are willing to risk disturbing one egg it might be worth it for the peace of mind of knowing they are developed or not.

 

[mandzz]

I think it depends on so many factor. We had given our broody, eggs from another chickens Let me tell you I thought nothing was going to hatch...but day 22, 23, and 26 we hatched healthy babies that all survived well.

 

[Selsley]

I think it depends on so many factor. We had given our broody, eggs from another chickens Let me tell you I thought nothing was going to hatch...but day 22, 23, and 26 we hatched healthy babies that all survived well.

i thought the same with our broody as she kept returning to an empty nest after going for a run outside, and found the eggs on day 3 stone cold, we had the same hatch sequence, but we didnt note when they would hatch, we said saturday sunday or monday of the 3rd week and 5 hatched saturday 1 sunday last on tuesday or wednesday, but there was so much nest activity that it died due to injury, sad to say i had saved it 3 times through the day, and had spent time warming it in enclosed hands, but i put it back too early, i thought they had settled for the evening when i put it back under, hoping the next day it would have been walking about and strong enough to fend for itself, but i heard cheeping 30 mins later and everyone was out the nest with the late hatcher half buried and visibly injured in the nest, it was still alive but struggling, so i put it in a cool place and let it die peacefully.

next time we get a broody we will be getting a small brooder for just such an emergency, we can only but learn from our mistakes and experience comes from learning. we didnt expect to have a chicken go broody less than a month after she 1st laid an egg, we have only had chickens for about 4 months. its been quite an experience.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

appreciate this thread and it will take me some time to read all the information, it's an area i need more clarification and understanding in (so worth it) Short version was a broody Guinea Hen , then the hens started ot also add to the clutch with nest sitting rotation between two hens and the original Guinea hen and even sharing sitting duty with the Guinea hen and a hen or the two hens . it was a huge egg nest seemed like some first time over achievers... it is past the original hatch date but the eggs were still being added and I have noticed that the 3 females are cleaning the nest of eggs past that are not worthy (i guess) ???? not sure but the nest is clean and fresh..

Did have one hatch-ling baby was on time as expected. lol mamma took her baby and ran for all that work and the other hen and guinea hen continue to do their best not to give up to have a baby of their own ( i guess) ???

Good mamma teaching her baby everything and protecting it. ... here's my warning that I have gotten enough pictures. lol ...

So happy for her....

 

[fisherlady]

We currently have 6 hens with chicks of varying ages in the coops and 4 more sitting, 2 with eggs due next week and 2 who just started sitting so they will get eggs in a few days.
Snapped a few pictures overs the past month or so but hadn't uploaded my camera for ages so just getting them posted.

May have to add pictures as an edit, the page isn't loading well on my mobile.

 

[microchick]

Fisherlady, those black and white chicks are adorable. I'm a little envious. Summer is almost over and I've had one broody, my little Buff O hen Aggie. I'll go out in the coop and the other Buff O hens are sitting up on the top roost post where the ceiling mounted fan is gossiping and watching the 10 week old juveniles from Aggies June hatch run around but nobody makes a move towards the nesting boxes other than to lay an egg then high tail it outta there. I did have some fun with them yesterday. The nesting box is a 'community' box. I figure they all lay in the same nest anyway, so why bother putting up walls. I went into the coop to give them cold water and a Welsummer hen and a Buff O hen were occupying the same corner nest spot. Somebody had left an egg on the floor so I picked it up and gently tossed it into the box telling them, 'here, do something creative with this'. It rolled under the Welsummer who hitched herself up so it could wind up under her only to have the Buff O immediately try to intercept it and roll it back towards her. That darned egg just wanted to stay under that Welsummer hen so my last glimpse was to see the Buff O hen with her head stuck under the Welsummer trying to snare that egg away from her. Of course, once they each laid an egg they were out of there and back up on that top roost pole watching the 10 week olds again.

Guess I want an incubator for Christmas.

 

[fisherlady]

Fisherlady, those black and white chicks are adorable. I'm a little envious. Summer is almost over and I've had one broody, my little Buff O hen Aggie. I'll go out in the coop and the other Buff O hens are sitting up on the top roost post where the ceiling mounted fan is gossiping and watching the 10 week old juveniles from Aggies June hatch run around but nobody makes a move towards the nesting boxes other than to lay an egg then high tail it outta there. I did have some fun with them yesterday. The nesting box is a 'community' box. I figure they all lay in the same nest anyway, so why bother putting up walls. I went into the coop to give them cold water and a Welsummer hen and a Buff O hen were occupying the same corner nest spot. Somebody had left an egg on the floor so I picked it up and gently tossed it into the box telling them, 'here, do something creative with this'. It rolled under the Welsummer who hitched herself up so it could wind up under her only to have the Buff O immediately try to intercept it and roll it back towards her. That darned egg just wanted to stay under that Welsummer hen so my last glimpse was to see the Buff O hen with her head stuck under the Welsummer trying to snare that egg away from her. Of course, once they each laid an egg they were out of there and back up on that top roost pole watching the 10 week olds again.

Guess I want an incubator for Christmas.

Thanks, but be careful what you wish for! We have broodies on a year round basis now and there are many times I am tempted to get out the wire cage....but in reality it is just as easy for us to let them hatch out a few since they raise them in the coop and we have the area set up with creep feeders and chick water sources anyways.
I would be happy with just 2 or 3 broody types in the coop to keep our flock needs refreshed but it sure is relaxing to sit and watch them....

 

[microchick]

Thanks, but be careful what you wish for! We have broodies on a year round basis now and there are many times I am tempted to get out the wire cage....but in reality it is just as easy for us to let them hatch out a few since they raise them in the coop and we have the area set up with creep feeders and chick water sources anyways.
I would be happy with just 2 or 3 broody types in the coop to keep our flock needs refreshed but it sure is relaxing to sit and watch them....

Last year Aggie went broody in December. I really hope she doesn't do that again this year. I'd love to have a broody though. We have friends who have three OEGB hens and a beautiful Platinum winged OEGB rooster that is firing blanks due to age. She wants some younger bantams and I have to admit that I would love to have a few OEGBs myself. Her husband has let t slip that he thinks Cochin Bantams are just cute little beggers. SO if I had one sincere broody, I could get eggs from a friend, stuff em under my broody and we would all be happy campers. I had an OEGB hen many years ago and she was an egg hatching little fiend. Thing is, I was able to get Aggie to go broody in May by doing the old fake eggs in the nest trick. I almost had another hen go broody at that time so they have the inclination, just not the desire.

 

[mandzz]

i thought the same with our broody as she kept returning to an empty nest after going for a run outside, and found the eggs on day 3 stone cold, we had the same hatch sequence, but we didnt note when they would hatch, we said saturday sunday or monday of the 3rd week and 5 hatched saturday 1 sunday last on tuesday or wednesday, but there was so much nest activity that it died due to injury, sad to say i had saved it 3 times through the day, and had spent time warming it in enclosed hands, but i put it back too early, i thought they had settled for the evening when i put it back under, hoping the next day it would have been walking about and strong enough to fend for itself, but i heard cheeping 30 mins later and everyone was out the nest with the late hatcher half buried and visibly injured in the nest, it was still alive but struggling, so i put it in a cool place and let it die peacefully. 

next time we get a broody we will be getting a small brooder for just such an emergency, we can only but learn from our mistakes and experience comes from learning. we didnt expect to have a chicken go broody less than a month after she 1st laid an egg, we have only had chickens for about 4 months. its been quite an experience.

exactly. we made many mistakes...so now that we know better we will do better. Funny, our Brahma had go eat broody withing about two months of laying get her first egg, go figure.