Complete hatching noob with broody hen. Got a few questions.

[AA Maple]

Buff Orpington on the right has just decided she wants to set on eggs and I have a few general questions.

1. Can I stuff a few duck eggs under there and see if she will hatch some white Pekins for me? (none of those girls seem to care about their eggs)
1.b. If yes, how quickly do I need to get them under her for them to be viable?
2. When and if anything hatches, what happens to the chicks if these nesting boxes are 3 feet up on a perch? Will they plummet to their death, do I need to help them down, move the buckets?

My neighbor has a bit of a mongrel flock mostly comprised of birds I have given him and that he has bought at auction or been gifted and he manages to hatch a few every time one of his girls takes to setting. I do want to keep up with attrition on my chicken flock and if I can get one of these girls to do the work for me it saves me the cost and trouble of setting up an incubator and tending a brooder box for weeks.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

She can (and probably will) hatch and raise the Pekin! My GLW sat on eggs from practically everyone in the flock and didn’t care at all that only one of her chicks looked like she did. I don’t have ducks, so don’t know about the plummeting part, but I would recommend that you set up a quiet, darker area of the coop for her to brood. Even a cardboard box in the corner will work as long as she has nesting materials and won’t get pooped or picked on.

I’d also have a brooder area ready for the ducklings in case she does reject them. We actually built a brooder inside our coop (under the poop deck) in case my current broody Speckled Sussex decides to reject the chicks coming from Mt. Healthy next week. (Dottie is currently brooding in one of the rarely used nest boxes). I think it’ll be very helpful for future chick orders and even for feed storage.

 

[AA Maple]

the chicks coming from Mt. Healthy next week.

So you just toss some day old chicks in the brooder and mamma thinks she just hatched them?

 

[Farmgirl1878]

So you just toss some day old chicks in the brooder and mamma thinks she just hatched them?

Nope, @Mrs. K just confirmed that it’s best to do the following:

Here is how to do it:

• make sure all the chicks get a good drink of water
• wait till dark, and work with a subdued light
• this will sound a bit heartless but really helps, let the chicks get a little cold. This will make them peep like crazy, and they will burrow into her tighter than ticks
• Wearing a thick sweatshirt, as she may peck at you, stick the chicks in either on her back or under her. Her voice should change, and she will start clucking to them.
• This is the hardest part. LEAVE AND DON"T PEEK. Let them sort it out

I‘ll let you know how it works for me next week!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

 

[AA Maple]

Nope, @Mrs. K just confirmed that it’s best to do the following:

Here is how to do it:

• make sure all the chicks get a good drink of water
• wait till dark, and work with a subdued light
• this will sound a bit heartless but really helps, let the chicks get a little cold. This will make them peep like crazy, and they will burrow into her tighter than ticks
• Wearing a thick sweatshirt, as she may peck at you, stick the chicks in either on her back or under her. Her voice should change, and she will start clucking to them.
• This is the hardest part. LEAVE AND DON"T PEEK. Let them sort it out

I‘ll let you know how it works for me next week!

Sounds like a good strategy, does this work on any hen or must they be broody? Can you do something like this the first few days they're setting or will they only decide to play mamma if they've been at setting for weeks?

Honestly I'm not opposed to buying an incubator to hatch, I just really don't want the hassle of a brooder or chicks in the house apart from meat birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. Can I stuff a few duck eggs under there and see if she will hatch some white Pekins for me?

I don't do ducks, just chickens and on rare occasions turkeys. But yes, if the eggs are fertile and she is really broody she should hatch them. You can probably tell the difference in them, but I mark the eggs I want a broody to hatch and check under her once a day after the others have laid to remove any eggs that don't belong. Sometimes a strange egg will show up. There are different reasons to remove any strange egg daily but it is important.

If yes, how quickly do I need to get them under her for them to be viable?

Usually a week. Collect all you want her to hatch and start them at the same time.

When and if anything hatches, what happens to the chicks if these nesting boxes are 3 feet up on a perch? Will they plummet to their death, do I need to help them down, move the buckets?

I've seen a broody hen get her chicks out of a 10' high hay loft. She flew to the ground and told her chicks to jump. They did, bounced up, and ran to her. I regularly let broody hens hatch chicks in nest 3' to 4' above the coop floor. Those hens have no problems getting their chicks to the coop floor when it's time for her to bring them out of the nest. I doubt it would be a problem for ducklings either. I know yours are not wood ducks but wood ducks nest in trees. Their chicks often jump 15' or more to get to the ground.

If you want to you can try to move her to a different nest on the ground. The risk is that she might not accept the move and break from being broody. Many people do this and it usually works. Build a pen big enough for a nest, food and water. It doesn't need to be much bigger than that. A broody hen should know to not poop in her nest but she doesn't know that about her food and water so give yourself access, you may be cleaning. Make the pen so she cannot leave and other hens cannot get in there with her. I find that it helps if the nest is a little dark, not brightly lit. Move her at night with as little light and commotion as you can. Give her a couple of sacrificial eggs or fake eggs. You should know by lunchtime the following day if she accepted the move. Don't start the real eggs under her until you know she accepted the move. I'd keep her locked in there for at least a week and probably for the entire incubation. Don't give her a chance to go back to her old nest.

Sounds like a good strategy, does this work on any hen or must they be broody?

They have to be broody. Do not try this with a hen that is not a committed broody.

Can you do something like this the first few days they're setting or will they only decide to play mamma if they've been at setting for weeks?

There is a debate on this. Some people think they can count days and that they have to be broody for a long while before they will accept chicks. Others have had success when it hasn't been that long. I think a lot has to do with the individual hen. Some broody hens want to raise any chicks they see, even of another hen is currently raising them. Others are more picky.

I've had both. One hen that fought another hen for chicks just as they were hatching, they damaged half the eggs. She had only been broody a couple of days. And another that rejected chicks I tried to give her after she had been broody about three days. You are probably better off waiting a while but I think luck has something to do with it.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Sounds like a good strategy, does this work on any hen or must they be broody? Can you do something like this the first few days they're setting or will they only decide to play mamma if they've been at setting for weeks?

Honestly I'm not opposed to buying an incubator to hatch, I just really don't want the hassle of a brooder or chicks in the house apart from meat birds.

I’ve always heard that the hen should have been broody for at least ten days before you try to sneak chicks under her. Dottie has been broody for a full seven days now and the chicks aren’t due to arrive until the 11th or so. I wouldn’t want my hens to go beyond twenty or so days before sneaking chicks under her fanny. She might get too thin after that.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

I know, right? I can’t stand the suspense!

 

[AA Maple]

I've seen a broody hen get her chicks out of a 10' high hay loft.

That must have been something. I guess day old chicks have to be built to take a fall.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time for that thorough explanation.

Luckily she is in a different coop from the rest of the flock now. They all took to laying up on the perch of my (currently vacant) meat bird/turkey coop this winter so I put the nest buckets up there. It's 8 foot by 8 foot and I'll go ahead and put a separate feeder and water in there with her and lock it up so that she doesn't abandon ship or get bullied out by other girls.