How long do I let her play brooder?

[GallusGal]

"Big black thing and an air sack" sounds about right. I'm not sure how long she's been sitting tbh, because she chucked out a lot of the eggs. She's definitely been sitting at least two weeks, so hopefully a chick is imminent (and it doesn't perish). I'm both excited and nervous; I've never allowed any of my birds to have chicks before, and I know a lot can go wrong. Hopefully her great mothering so far will pay off. If not, oh well; I don't really NEED more chickens.

 

[schellie69]

I let a hen go broody last oct she hatched out one chick unfortunately that chick was gotten by a stray cat. I will let her hatch more eggs if she goes broody again.

 

[pattgal]

My first hen to go broody happened in december, her name is now mama hen. I had no idea about anything, I figured I would let her be and see what would happen, the worst thing that could happen is they don't hatch. and if it didn't go well in the coop we would bring them inside
well she hatched them and they stayed in the flock locked up in our overcrowded coop all winter. no one bothered them. and mama kept them warm. it's different with every flock so my advice is just to keep an eye on it
and make sure you have a proper waterer for the chicks. we lost a couple to drowning even at two months old
on another note. I heard chicks don't do well on their own. If it is possible for you, try to get a couple more chicks to keep him company. But I wouldn't worry about it too much its not possible
Happy hatching.

 

[ralleia]

Quote:
I'm no expert in candling, but I know they become full-dark as the chick grows.

If she's serious about defending it, then she's probably right. Once the chick is developed enough she can "talk" to it through the egg.

You are probably about to become a proud parent!

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
I'm no expert in candling, but I know they become full-dark as the chick grows.

If she's serious about defending it, then she's probably right. Once the chick is developed enough she can "talk" to it through the egg.

You are probably about to become a proud parent!

She can talk to the egg??? I wonder if that is why she would have suddenly rolled out the other ones?? did she think they were blanks?

 

[ralleia]

Quote:
According the the goddess of country living (Carla Emery, author of "The Encyclopedia of Country Living"), "She talks to her chicks while they're still in the egg and has a good sense of what's going on with them. If something like a severe thunderstorm or a prolonged chilling kills all the chicks in their eggs, the hen will know it."

In seven years of keeping chickens, I've been very impressed with their instincts and intelligence. If she kicked out the other eggs, they were probably duds. Not all mommy hens are equally smart, but GallusGal might have a good brooder. Did she saw what breed the hen was?

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
According the the goddess of country living (Carla Emery, author of "The Encyclopedia of Country Living"), "She talks to her chicks while they're still in the egg and has a good sense of what's going on with them. If something like a severe thunderstorm or a prolonged chilling kills all the chicks in their eggs, the hen will know it."

In seven years of keeping chickens, I've been very impressed with their instincts and intelligence. If she kicked out the other eggs, they were probably duds. Not all mommy hens are equally smart, but GallusGal might have a good brooder. Did she saw what breed the hen was?

Ok well mine must need some parenting classes then, haha. I just lost 15/15 eggs and now we are gonna try for a second time and see if she does better separated from the flock.
Mine kept tossing eggs and replacing with new ones, the other hens just kept laying in her nestbox so she just kept replacing them. .... I think you are right they are not all equally smart

 

[ralleia]

Allowing other hens to lay eggs in the nestbox is a major cause of failed hatchings. The hen can only "cover" so many eggs at a time. Also, she rotates the eggs from inside to outside, so that the all get warmed. Lastly, if mommy gets off the nest to grab a bite and another hen has taken her place, then momma may go to the wrong nestbox. The eggs can become fatally chilled.

Carla says that a good-sized hen can handle up to 14 eggs. This spring I'm going to set up a special area on the floor that'll be enticing to a broody hen, and when one "bites" I'm going to segregate her from the others to keep the other hens from disrupting the brooding.