Broody hen vs incubator poll

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

Incubator pros
You can set eggs when you want.
You can set as many as you want.
You get to see the joys of hatching babies.
Less stressful.

Incubator cons
Too easy to continue to hatch eggs for months at a time.
Cleaning hatching residue out.

Broody pros
You don’t have to brood chicks yourself.
Don’t have to worry about lockdown madness.

Broody cons
She can abandon the nest or change nests.
Eggs can get cracked or busted.
Bad mom.
Other hens can add to the nest.
Could kill the babies as they hatch.

 

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

Incubator pros
You can set eggs when you want.
You can set as many as you want.
You get to see the joys of hatching babies.
Less stressful.

Incubator cons
Too easy to continue to hatch eggs for months at a time.
Cleaning hatching residue out.

Broody pros
You don’t have to brood chicks yourself.
Don’t have to worry about lockdown madness.

Broody cons
She can abandon the nest or change nests.
Eggs can get cracked or busted.
Bad mom.
Other hens can add to the nest.
Could kill the babies as they hatch.

It’s day 9 And my hen abandoned her eggs

 

[AlleysChicks]

It’s day 9 And my hen abandoned her eggs

That’s very sad. We’re you able to retrieve the eggs? Can you put them in a incubator?

I had a broody abandon her nest on day 14 at night. None were salvageable.

 

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

Yeah it was very sad I don’t really need any more chicks though but I really wanted to know what it’s like to have a broody hen raise chicks because she would be my first the eggs are probably too dirty anyways I feel bad letting them rot sense they already formed but My incubator isn’t working at the moment and no one will take in the eggs they haven’t been sat on all day today and not much yesterday so they are probably cold and dead

 

[mymilliefleur]

I use broody hens exclusively now. I did have an incubator for a couple of years, but it was just way to stressful an experience. The hens do everything for me, and I have so many of them in the spring that I can pretty much set eggs whenever I want.

 

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

I use broody hens exclusively now. I did have an incubator for a couple of years, but it was just way to stressful an experience. The hens do everything for me, and I have so many of them in the spring that I can pretty much set eggs whenever I want.

lucky

 

[cmom]

There are many ways you can incubate without an incubator. You can put the eggs in a bowl with an incandescent bulb as a heat source, a heating pad with the eggs but make sure you turn them often. I made an inexpensive incubator for small hatches out of a styrofoam cooler. I have had broody's quit and have put the eggs in an incubator and had a successful hatch.

 

[Monday's momma]

That’s very sad. We’re you able to retrieve the eggs? Can you put them in a incubator?

I had a broody abandon her nest on day 14 at night. None were salvageable.

It's possible the nest got contaminated and the eggs went bad. I had a Broody toss an egg out so I put it in the incubator with the rest of the eggs I was hatching, turned out it was a deformed chick. When all babies were hatched I gave them all to momma, she rejected 2 that were the same breed as the bad egg.

 

[mymilliefleur]

lucky

I'm sorry to hear your broody quit. What breed was she?

 

[cmom]