Broody Hen Thread!

[room onthebroom]

Mother nature built in a safety window for chicks, they do fine for 2-3 days after hatch on what they absorbed from the yolk just before hatch. This gives them time to wait for the other eggs to hatch. If the eggs were all started at the same time they should hatch within about 24hrs of each other.
I don't usually shift them to a floor box until the 2nd or 3rd day or after the last chick is dry if they all hatch about the same time. If you need to move them and eggs are still not hatched there is a risk the hen may leave the nest and eggs to care for the hatched chicks, this is a danger if a hatch is staggered (eggs set over multiple days) and you will need to be prepared with a backup plan for finishing incubation. The hen may stay on the nest, but no way of knowing for sure until you try, so close observation needed so early assistance/intervention can be given if needed.

You can offer the hen a drink of water in the nest if you have reason to be very concerned about dehydration, most healthy hens who ate daily during incubation are fine for a day or two without food at hatch time. Don't leave the water dish in the nest though, too much risk of it tipping and drowning chicks or causing wet bedding and chilling of chicks or eggs. Our hens are used to us and will take a drink when offered, not all hens are cooperative with 'stupid human tricks' though and she may ignore you.

Thank you! They were slightly staggered (3 on a Sunday night & 3 more on Monday morning.) She's completely comfortable with my DD Frankie, so I'll make sure shes hand watering her. I don't remember the last time I was this excited!

 

[fisherlady]

Thank you! They were slightly staggered (3 on a Sunday night & 3 more on Monday morning.) She's completely comfortable with my DD Frankie, so I'll make sure shes hand watering her. I don't remember the last time I was this excited!

Hatching with broodies is fascinating, addictive and totally frustrating sometimes. It is the path my husband and I chose for our flock and we have been blessed with a lot of cooperative hens, sometimes too many for our needs, actually. We had 7 setting in February, 3 sitting now with a 4th debating about it and it is not unusual to have 10 hens with chicks roaming around here from days old to 8 weeks.... our flock just loves raising chicks.
We keep the hens and chicks in the coop with the flock, we do give most hens a couple of days in a divided off area before they mingle though. More to prevent the chicks from getting separated than any other concerns. Our flock is pretty chick friendly and once the chicks learn to listen to the broodies vocalizations they are free to roam with the rest. A couple of hens get left alone to do their own thing, they have shown through many hatches that they can deal with other nosey hens and keep the chicks safe without assist, those hens are worth their weight in gold when keeping a self sustaining flock.With a new broody or hens who are airheaded and need more babysitting to keep it together, we will usually set at the same time with more experienced hens. This allows them to hatch and experience the brooding process but gives us a built in backup to adopt the chicks if the newbie quits for some reason. Usually we will place them in the same location (but individual boxes, feeders and waterers) so the hens get used to each other and used to each other's chicks. By the second or 3rd day they usually are cooperating with each other and the chicks are basically shared without prejudice. Chicks can scoot under any broody for a warm up and when food is found the hens feed any chick that is close, not just her own. We have had great success with this and have only a couple of hens who insist on remaining solo, and even they are good with other hens' chicks, so I am ok with that.
You will find a system that works for your flock as you have more broody hatches...every coop and flock are different, so adjustments will need made to suit your birds.

 

[room onthebroom]

Hatching with broodies is fascinating, addictive and totally frustrating sometimes. It is the path my husband and I chose for our flock and we have been blessed with a lot of cooperative hens, sometimes too many for our needs, actually. We had 7 setting in February, 3 sitting now with a 4th debating about it and it is not unusual to have 10 hens with chicks roaming around here from days old to 8 weeks.... our flock just loves raising chicks.
We keep the hens and chicks in the coop with the flock, we do give most hens a couple of days in a divided off area before they mingle though. More to prevent the chicks from getting separated than any other concerns. Our flock is pretty chick friendly and once the chicks learn to listen to the broodies vocalizations they are free to roam with the rest. A couple of hens get left alone to do their own thing, they have shown through many hatches that they can deal with other nosey hens and keep the chicks safe without assist, those hens are worth their weight in gold when keeping a self sustaining flock.With a new broody or hens who are airheaded and need more babysitting to keep it together, we will usually set at the same time with more experienced hens. This allows them to hatch and experience the brooding process but gives us a built in backup to adopt the chicks if the newbie quits for some reason. Usually we will place them in the same location (but individual boxes, feeders and waterers) so the hens get used to each other and used to each other's chicks. By the second or 3rd day they usually are cooperating with each other and the chicks are basically shared without prejudice. Chicks can scoot under any broody for a warm up and when food is found the hens feed any chick that is close, not just her own. We have had great success with this and have only a couple of hens who insist on remaining solo, and even they are good with other hens' chicks, so I am ok with that.
You will find a system that works for your flock as you have more broody hatches...every coop and flock are different, so adjustments will need made to suit your birds.

That sounds like the sweetest thing.

 

[CSAchook]

Hi all

My Broody is on day 20. I have read that with first time broodies you should keep a careful eye on them in case they reject, attack, or accidentally crush the hatching chicks. But (rookie question) how do you tell if anything is happening? Without peeking under her (which I assume would be a terrible idea) how do know eggs are even hatching let alone determine if they are ok?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[aart]

Hi all

My Broody is on day 20. I have read that with first time broodies you should keep a careful eye on them in case they reject, attack, or accidentally crush the hatching chicks. But (rookie question) how do you tell if anything is happening? Without peeking under her (which I assume would be a terrible idea) how do know eggs are even hatching let alone determine if they are ok?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I acclimate my broody to letting me look under her by doing so all thru her setting,
might be too late for you for that, then I can take a quick peek around hatch time.
Just watching her from farther back should clue you to whether she's doing OK or is agitated and upset with the cheeping things underneath her.

 

[CSAchook]

I acclimate my broody to letting me look under her by doing so all thru her setting,
might be too late for you for that, then I can take a quick peek around hatch time.
Just watching her from farther back should clue you to whether she's doing OK or is agitated and upset with the cheeping things underneath her.

Thank you! So it is okay to peek? I was afraid that was like opening the incubator during lock down or something Now I know!

Lucky for me my broody is very sweet. She will fluff and cluck but does not thrash or bite if I touch her, take eggs to candle, or take her off the nest. Should I wait till day 21 to look under her? Or start checking now? Do you just nudge her a bit to get a glimpse or pick her up off the nest entirely?

Thank you for the help! This is my first ever hatch.
So far my girl has been wonderful and currently she shows no signs of distress. I, on the other hand, am a wreck!

 

[chantels1]

I posted on the main incubating and hatching thread, but I haven't had much advice. Just wanted to post here too. I have one of the dumbest broody hens ever.... She had no egg sense! None. She is perfectly content sitting on dirt and staring at her eggs.... . She started sitting Easter Sunday on 6 eggs. Several times in the first 2 weeks I found one or two she wasn't sitting on. At first I tucked them under her. As this kept happening, I finally just but them in the incubator. They were viable eggs. Finally she got down to 2 eggs.

(Note this is the 4th time she's gone broody in 7 months. Each time she sucked at it. She has raised the day old chicks I put under her. She did lose one, so I now move her into a heated brooder for her to raise the babies.. lol.)

One of the 2 eggs was either infertile it died early. I check her daily and had to tuck eggs under her numerous times. The incubator I had had issues and the 4 eggs in it did not survive. I bought a new incubator. So we were down to 2 egg under her. Yesterday was day 25. I candled and baby was alive, but no internal pip. I assume it's alive due to delayed development due to Dumb Broody.... Cuz how else could it be alive day 25. We only have 2 laying hens. The other is a pullet and lays smaller darker eggs, so I know it was not added to the nest late.

Anyways yesterday we left to go to a 4-H meeting. When we returned, I checked in hen. She was sitting next to the egg. Thank goodness air temps were near 82 degrees. Egg was cool, but not cold. I tried to candle and could see it pipped internally. Do sound no movement. Hoping for the best, I put it under dumb broody. 25 min later Suspense was killing me. I checked the egg. It was breathing beak was moving!!! Tucked it back under momma and told the kids it was alive, but had a 20% chance at surviving. This morning as I had coffee, I hoped that I would go out and hear chirping. 8 looked out the window and saw dumb broody in the coop. I ran outside to check egg. It was warm. No external pip. But My worried consumed me enough I brought it in to candle. Still alive, but air fells was now huge having pipped about 15 hours earlier. I decided to intervene and make an external pip.

Curiosity got me and opened s hole large enough to see if it was ready to hatch. Concerned getting cold had made it weak. I saw a larger than expected vein, so into the bator it went after applying bacitracin to the membrane.

It's been 3 hours. Still alive. No chirping and only small movements. Fortunately I can see it breathing and see the big vein. I know it's ok. I have peace of mind being able to see it. New bator holds consistent temps. . Anyone else have a chick hatch day 26 due to Dumb Broody?

 

[aart]

Thank you! So it is okay to peek? I was afraid that was like opening the incubator during lock down or something Now I know!

Lucky for me my broody is very sweet. She will fluff and cluck but does not thrash or bite if I touch her, take eggs to candle, or take her off the nest. Should I wait till day 21 to look under her? Or start checking now? Do you just nudge her a bit to get a glimpse or pick her up off the nest entirely?

Thank you for the help! This is my first ever hatch.
So far my girl has been wonderful and currently she shows no signs of distress. I, on the other hand, am a wreck!

I'd leave her alone for the most part.
It's hard not to look, but restrain yourself to a peek or two a day after you hear peeping.
You might hear but not be able to see them....just wait, they'll be peeking out once they are dry and get their feet under themselves.
It's the bummer about broody vs bator...you don't get to watch them hatch.

 

[CSAchook]

I'd leave her alone for the most part.
It's hard not to look, but restrain yourself to a peek or two a day after you hear peeping.
You might hear but not be able to see them....just wait, they'll be peeking out once they are dry and get their feet under themselves.
It's the bummer about broody vs bator...you don't get to watch them hatch.

I just took a very quick peek (basically just parted her breast feathers) and.... I saw a chick! Not quite dry but alive and peeping
Now I better go do some work on campus so I am not tempted to check again.
Thank you for the advice aart!
Hatching is amazing!

 

[Tiana's chickens]

I posted on the main incubating and hatching thread, but I haven't had much advice. Just wanted to post here too. I have one of the dumbest broody hens ever.... She had no egg sense! None. She is perfectly content sitting on dirt and staring at her eggs.... . She started sitting Easter Sunday on 6 eggs. Several times in the first 2 weeks I found one or two she wasn't sitting on. At first I tucked them under her. As this kept happening, I finally just but them in the incubator. They were viable eggs. Finally she got down to 2 eggs.

(Note this is the 4th time she's gone broody in 7 months. Each time she sucked at it. She has raised the day old chicks I put under her. She did lose one, so I now move her into a heated brooder for her to raise the babies.. lol.)

One of the 2 eggs was either infertile it died early. I check her daily and had to tuck eggs under her numerous times. The incubator I had had issues and the 4 eggs in it did not survive. I bought a new incubator. So we were down to 2 egg under her. Yesterday was day 25. I candled and baby was alive, but no internal pip. I assume it's alive due to delayed development due to Dumb Broody.... Cuz how else could it be alive day 25. We only have 2 laying hens. The other is a pullet and lays smaller darker eggs, so I know it was not added to the nest late.

Anyways yesterday we left to go to a 4-H meeting. When we returned, I checked in hen. She was sitting next to the egg. Thank goodness air temps were near 82 degrees. Egg was cool, but not cold. I tried to candle and could see it pipped internally. Do sound no movement. Hoping for the best, I put it under dumb broody. 25 min later Suspense was killing me. I checked the egg. It was breathing beak was moving!!! Tucked it back under momma and told the kids it was alive, but had a 20% chance at surviving. This morning as I had coffee, I hoped that I would go out and hear chirping. 8 looked out the window and saw dumb broody in the coop. I ran outside to check egg. It was warm. No external pip. But My worried consumed me enough I brought it in to candle. Still alive, but air fells was now huge having pipped about 15 hours earlier. I decided to intervene and make an external pip.

Curiosity got me and opened s hole large enough to see if it was ready to hatch. Concerned getting cold had made it weak. I saw a larger than expected vein, so into the bator it went after applying bacitracin to the membrane.

It's been 3 hours. Still alive. No chirping and only small movements. Fortunately I can see it breathing and see the big vein. I know it's ok. I have peace of mind being able to see it. New bator holds consistent temps. . Anyone else have a chick hatch day 26 due to Dumb Broody?

Yes I had one hatch on day 26. My friends broody kept getting off the nest with the chicks that had already hatched and leaving the last egg to go cold, my friend drove the egg up to my place in the night and we put it in the incubator, I upped the humidity to around 85%+ because it had lost so much moisture. I know how tempting it is to help them out because I had to listen to the chick inside the egg chirping for 24 hours with no external pip. But after a long wait the chick managed to hatch out all by itself on late day 26. The chick also turned out to be a perfectly healthy, beautiful hen that my friend is keeping