Does anyone hatch the old-fashioned way any more?!?!?!

[franklinstreetwest]

I am hoping that one of my girls goes broody this spring. I have silkie that is a good candidate. Your kenneled hen sounds all kinds of spoiled.....lucky lady. A muscovy duck would make a SUPER brooder, but I don't think I could get away with one in town. Happy hatching!

 

[BayouPoules]

Well if the Lord ever gives us a Broody hen,. I sure will!

 

[oldchickenlady]

Well, when I first started with chickens, I thought hatching eggs in an incubator was stupid...I mean, why do something artificially when Mother Nature has it all figured out? Then after lots of reading, learning, and falling victim to chicken math...I realized that in some instances using an incubator is a great option. Sometimes you need/want to hatch eggs...but no one is broody. Or maybe you want a particular breed but cant get them in your area, or can only find fertile eggs for sale, or can't afford chicks. So, I have altered my thinking on using incubators. I still don't have one and I don't know for sure if I ever will (never say never!), but I see now there are lots of legitimate reasons for using them.

 

[soap&eggs]

i prob. have more broody hens then most..summer will bring at least 15-20 any given day.my biggest problem is they never stop and i dont try and make them quit....my best broodies are banti cochins...,,mutts,, &..banti cochin crossed with silkie....the ones who hide nest , under goats shed..in garage..in hay barn..come off with at least a dozen chicks to most 20 chicks..ones inside coop in nest boxes, have less chicks..but all are excellent mothers. depending on season, and breeds hatched..i usually keep moms and babies in seperate nursery pens. not to protect from other chickens, moms do that job very well..but they drown in duck pond, or get seperated & get lost at lock up. i incubate in house Jan 1 to May 1...by then i have had my fill of every weekend of hatchings..and hens are filling pens up fast. right now in N. Wisconsin i have 2 broody seramas and 2 standars setting on eggs. when their chicks hatch will remove and bring inside house..hens normally will keep them warm but this year differnt kind of winter..very deep snow.wont risk the babies dying out there.

 

[Raven81]

Quote:
I have been wanting an incubator for so long just so that I can say that I belong to the "BYC Incubator Club" but I"m too cheap to spend the money.

you can always make your own bator i did & i still have a few tweaks to make since i trialed it but it worked great & cost me like $20 to make. there are heaps of ideas & plans in the learning section of BYC

 

[RedReiner]

I would take the light off of her if its 60 there. mine just hatched 5 in 19 degree weather in a nest box that has the opening to the outdoors. She did great, 100 % hatch rate

no lamps. I did hang a towel over the opening when the wind was blowing thru the hole. Chicks are now about 12 days old and tough lil buggers!

 

[aussieheelr]

I personally love my broodies

I have two banty cochins just for that purpose 1 is 2 years old and the other is just a year old. The one year old actually just went broody this week. I think they're the easiest way to hatch eggs, you just never know when they're ready which is inconvienient for shipped eggs. Since I have my beginings of my BCM flock now when my broodies decide to work they get eggs and it makes for easy raising (no need for dipping baby beaks in water, heat lamp etc) but if I can't wait for them or have too many eggs the bator it is.
I usually bring the broody in the house in a plastic tub in the spare bathroom if it's cold outside that way I don't have to worry about her seperate water freezing. If it's warm enough outside and I don't have anything in my brooder already, that's where she'd go. Once the chicks are a few days old they get put with the rest of the flock and self intigrate since mama already has her place... if the other birds pick on the chicks they're in for a fight from mom and mom always wins lol

 

[Raven81]

i have a broody on eggs atm due on the 10th.
this season ( im in new zealand so am at the end of the laying season atm ) i have had 4 hens go broody,
a banty X who i gave eggs to coz i couldnt break her.
a light sussex who did break easily. & didnt sit again
a buff orp who has gone broody the most ( will break her & 2 wks later is sitting again ) she has sat about 5 times now.
& a blue orp who sat for the 1st time recently & she is the one due on the 10th. ( i only gave her eggs as she used to lay on the perch till i made a new nest box receeded into the wall & after being taken off the perch & shut in the new nest box decided she would actually lay in there for a week then went clucky. & i found a breeder of cochins willing to sell me some eggs. They are rare over here.)
ETA i brought a pekin pullet as they are always broody just for this reason.

 

[TigerLilly]

I don't know the first thing about incubating, so I'm looking forward to a broody. I figure she'll know better than I how to raise her chicks!
I'm a little 'old school' on a lot of things.

 

[pdsavage]

Well using an incubator is old fashion.
But using a broody is the natural way.

http://www.bookrags.com/research/incubator-woi/
The ancient Egyptians and Chinese both devised incubators to hatch chicks from eggs without the mother hen sitting on the eggs.

http://www.todayinsci.com/3/3_30.htm
Egg incubator
In 1843, the first U.S. patent for an egg incubator was issued to Napoleon E. Guerin of New York City (No. 3,019). It described a "mode of distributing steam heat, purifying air, etc." for hatching chickens by artificial heat.