Everything that went wrong with my first hatch

[Ridgerunner]

1. She wouldn't eat the first week

Why do you think she wasn't eating? Did you have her housed in a way she couldn't without eating what you had laid out specifically for her? Before a hen even starts to lay she accumulates a store of fat. That stored fat is mainly what a hen lives off of when she goes broody. That way she can spend her time on the nest taking care of the eggs instead of going out to look for food and water.

I had a hen leave her nest twice a day and stay off for over an hour each time, eating drinking, pooping, and taking a dust bath. I had one that came off once a day every morning for only 15 minutes. I've had several I never saw off of the nest but I knew they were coming off because there was no poop in the nest. Are you sure she wasn't eating or did you just not see her off of the nest? By the way, all of these hatched fine.

2. She had too many eggs
3. The eggs weren't the same age

The way I manage this is to collect and mark all the eggs I want her to hatch and start them all at the same time. If there are any others there when I start they become sacrificial and are cooked and fed back to the flock. Then every day after the others have laid I check under her and remove any that don't belong. As long as you remove them every day you can still use them for yourself.

If a hen is full-fledged broody there is nothing wrong with picking the hen up and setting her on the coop floor when you are checking under her. They typically squat there for a few seconds then either run off to eat, drink, poop, and such or go back on their nest. It might make you feel better about her eating if you see her run off but I don't feel it to be necessary.

4. The bedding wasn't good

What does your nest look like? Was it so shallow that it was easy for the hen to scratch the bedding out? I had to raise the lip on my nests to keep the hens from scratching bedding, real eggs, and fake eggs out when they were just laying an egg. Could raising the lip be a solution?

i didn't know broody hens aren't always aggressive, mine was very kind and is now one of my favorites

Some broody hens will tear your hand off if you dare put it in her nest, but most of mine are more like yours. Some give a fairly gentle peck or two and that's it and some don't even bother doing that much. I typically put the back of my hand under the broody and lift her up so I can check the eggs.

 

[Perris]

take comfort from the thought that we don't learn much when things go right and come easy; we take them for granted. We learn through analysis of failures. You've learned a lot with your first broody, and it bodes well for the next. And I see you've got the chicks on grass already, which is great. And your broody appears to be in fantastic condition, so I'd say, whatever you're doing, carry on!

 

[jessejeanne]

Why do you think she wasn't eating? Did you have her housed in a way she couldn't without eating what you had laid out specifically for her? Before a hen even starts to lay she accumulates a store of fat. That stored fat is mainly what a hen lives off of when she goes broody. That way she can spend her time on the nest taking care of the eggs instead of going out to look for food and water.

I had a hen leave her nest twice a day and stay off for over an hour each time, eating drinking, pooping, and taking a dust bath. I had one that came off once a day every morning for only 15 minutes. I've had several I never saw off of the nest but I knew they were coming off because there was no poop in the nest. Are you sure she wasn't eating or did you just not see her off of the nest? By the way, all of these hatched fine.


The way I manage this is to collect and mark all the eggs I want her to hatch and start them all at the same time. If there are any others there when I start they become sacrificial and are cooked and fed back to the flock. Then every day after the others have laid I check under her and remove any that don't belong. As long as you remove them every day you can still use them for yourself.

If a hen is full-fledged broody there is nothing wrong with picking the hen up and setting her on the coop floor when you are checking under her. They typically squat there for a few seconds then either run off to eat, drink, poop, and such or go back on their nest. It might make you feel better about her eating if you see her run off but I don't feel it to be necessary.


What does your nest look like? Was it so shallow that it was easy for the hen to scratch the bedding out? I had to raise the lip on my nests to keep the hens from scratching bedding, real eggs, and fake eggs out when they were just laying an egg. Could raising the lip be a solution?


Some broody hens will tear your hand off if you dare put it in her nest, but most of mine are more like yours. Some give a fairly gentle peck or two and that's it and some don't even bother doing that much. I typically put the back of my hand under the broody and lift her up so I can check the eggs.

I was sure she wasn't eating since she could come outside but there was nowhere poop, not in the coop and not outside, her food was close enough and even when I put her outside to eat or gave her food from my hand, she would refuse. After a week she did come outside and I did find poop.
As for the eggs; I'm a total beginner who really believed I would stress out the hen by taking eggs. Even though my hen was such a sweetheart that I think she wouldn't care.
We only have very light bedding (idk what it's called in english) and never had our chickens scratch it entirely away, until she was broody. I was so scared to stress my hen out that I didn't move her or change the bedding
My broody never even pecked at me and she is so so kind! She got more used to me because of her broodiness which for me is a very happy change.
I'm still sad about how it all went though, i wish I'd done it differently. I really cried myself to sleep when I knew all the other chicks died also because of my lack of knowledge, but I also know I'm not the only one and that it doesn't have to be like that next time luckily.
Thank you for your reply!