Broody Hen Thread!

[ChxLadyCass]

Wow thank you so much for this knowledge! I am learning so much! I think we might just stick with buying chicks annually lol.

 

[microchick]

No problem, my pleasure. I bet you will probably change your mind about that. I have a broody hen right now. She's on day 3, so a long way to go yet but she is hanging in there. There is a lot to learn and I'm still learning from my girls, but there is nothing more heartwarming than to see a new mother hen with her little ones. I dare say you will change your mind when one of your girls presents you with a bunch of new chicks.

 

[elmoflim]

No problem, my pleasure. I bet you will probably change your mind about that. I have a broody hen right now. She's on day 3, so a long way to go yet but she is hanging in there. There is a lot to learn and I'm still learning from my girls, but there is nothing more heartwarming than to see a new mother hen with her little ones. I dare say you will change your mind when one of your girls presents you with a bunch of new chicks.

And the excitement of hatch day and candling! So much fun and it's quit addicting.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Oh my goodness too cute!! I will keep observing them and hope one of the girls is ready to be a Mama! The rooster is their own and it is warming up, so if I left a couple eggs, there is a chance! I'm just so nervous to trust that my girl will brood all day. I may have to nest her separately to do so.

 

[the poppster]

Can anybody tell me if this is what I'm looking for? It's my first attempt

I usually candle from the big end to see how the air cell is forming...you want to wait till the eggs have brooded for at least a week to ten days to really see how the embryo is developing...if the insides floats around within the egg, as it appears in your photo, looks like the yolk has floated to the top of the egg....I would guess that that one is no good...there are lots of great videos on YouTube that can give you a good idea of what you're looking for....also web sites....and books. That's how I learned to tell what I was looking at...I'm still Learning...one thing I do is date the eggs with a crayon...so I have no doubts about how many days the egg has been incubating. You can get a decent candler for about twenty bucks or less...I finally broke down and got one...looks like a little black flash light with a soft rubber collar around the lighted end...works pretty well, a lot better than a flash light.

 

[microchick]

I use a small LED flashlight for candling and it works very well, especially in a darkened room. Generally I candle at 7 days, 14 days and 18 days prior to lock down. If a hen is brooding I might only candle once or twice depending on whether or not I have any 'questionable' eggs after the first candling. I've learned with my hens that an egg can switch off and suffer embryonic death on day 19 after candling a viable baby on day 18. As long as the egg is't stinky or oozing I generally let nature run it's course when I am using a hen to brood over an incubator.

I agree with poppster. If you are candling later than day 4 or 5 I'd say that is an infertile egg. If you are candling at 6 or 7 days you should see a good start of blood vessel development and the embryonic eye when you candle.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Hey guys, I haven't been here in awhile. We have been super busy. Had a hard winter with snow and lots of flooding. Not normal for us. Spring is finally here and of coarse my silkies have been bit by the broody bug. I've ordered a pair of goslings from metzer. They are not due to be here till the first week of April. Do you think it would be possible to get one of my girls to raise them? I've never tried before but heard of others doing it..

 

[elmoflim]

Hey guys, I haven't been here in awhile. We have been super busy. Had a hard winter with snow and lots of flooding. Not normal for us. Spring is finally here and of coarse my silkies have been bit by the broody bug. I've ordered a pair of goslings from metzer. They are not due to be here till the first week of April. Do you think it would be possible to get one of my girls to raise them? I've never tried before but heard of others doing it..

I've heard of it, just be careful with the food. They can't eat the same as baby chicks.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

I've heard of it, just be careful with the food. They can't eat the same as baby chicks.

metzer said to start them off with chick starter and niacin. We feed our chickens flick raiser since we keep a mixed flock of chickens and ducks and roosters with free feed oyster shell

 

[elmoflim]

metzer said to start them off with chick starter and niacin. We feed our chickens flick raiser since we keep a mixed flock of chickens and ducks and roosters with free feed oyster shell

Non-medicated chick feed at 20% protein and niacin should be good. I've heard some bad stories of baby ducks and medicated chick feed and no niacin. Hopefully you'll post some silkie and baby duck pictures.