Incubator vs broody hen

[gunny]

It seems that everyone uses an incubator to hatch eggs. I would like to let my broody hens hatch some. Does anyone have advice on which method is best?

 

[randomchick]

When I have a hen go broody I just put her in my great dane sized dog crate so other hens won't keep laying in her clutch, and give her some extra attention. I have had chickens hatch chicks all over the place this summer, out in the yard, in the coop. I have found it best to move the hen and clutch to a quiet place, give extra treats, and try not to disturb her much. This seems to have the best results in terms of chicks hatched on my farmette.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Broody hen is so much easier, but I am compelled to hatch both ways.

 

[chickenma]

A broody hen is the best way to go. The broody hen does all the work and no stress for you. But if you can't wait for a hen to get broody, if it will go broody you never know upfront.
You use a incubator with all the stress and work that comes with it or you have to buy an expensive one that does the work for you.
What ever you choose it is always fun because of the nice surprise at the end.

 

[panner123]

I'm lazy, so I let the hens take care of business most of the time when they are broody. But I use the bator when they are lazy. When my marans go into overdrive, all the other hens don't want to go broody.

 

[gunny]

It sounds like the way to go for me. My NH Reds seem to be very broody. No sense in bothering with an incubator if the girls will do the job.

 

[77horses]

Once and a while during the summer, one of our Buff Orp hens will go broody. But when they aren't, we use the incubator. Hens are way easier and they often know what they're doing. Also, most of them do such a good job that you will probably get better hatch rates. But it depends on the hen. Some hens are wonderful broodies; they stay with their eggs until they know it's time to leave and raise their chicks, and when they raise their chicks, they are wonderful mothers. Some, on the other hand, such as sometimes the ones who are new at brooding (sometimes, but not always...many new broodies are great at it), they will only stay with their eggs for half the time and then they will abandon them. Or sometimes they will do a bad job of keeping their clutch of eggs clean and will poop all over them when they are suppose to hold it in and relieve themselves every once and a while outside of the nest box, not on the eggs.

So, it depends on the hen. But if you do have a broody hen that is really good, it's much less stressful, less expensive (light bill can go up with the incubator always plugged in, and the cost to make/buy your own incubator can sometimes be high, especially if it's an expensive and fancy type of incubator). And the hens have the instinct on how to hatch eggs. But with an incubator, you can have the joy of getting a better look at an egg hatching (under a broody hen, you can't really see the egg hatching), you can have the experience of "being a broody hen", LOL

and you can raise your chicks in a brooder box. Yes, you can do that with a broody hen, but in my opinion, I wouldn't think it would be fair to take a hen's chick's away to raise in a brooder box after all her hard work. She deserves to be able to raise her own chicks after having to incubate them for you. But that's just my opinion.


So either way, broody hen or incubator, they both have their negatives and positives, but you will always be rewarded in the end if you're successful.

And in the end, it is well worth it.

Have fun and good luck!