Instead of locking down in my bator...

[hd_darcy]

.. I am considering placing a few of my eggs under my broody. I have 10 eggs in the bator right now which are due for lockdown tomorrow. I think the 10 are all on track to hatch. I'm just thinking I would have less chickens in the house to take care of if I placed some outside. What are your thoughts??? I currently have 10 babies out there with another mama hen (actually 2 are parenting). Would it be bad to have that many out there?? If I place some under her, I was thinking maybe 5 of the eggs?

Would love to hear all your thoughts! Thank you!

 

[hoppy]

why not, it will save on using heatlamps.

 

[jvls1942]

I don't know if I understand .. You have a hen with babies and you want to put eggs under her to hatch them out? I do not think that will work.. that hen is going to care for her babies and she most likely will not sit on eggs anymore.. If you have a hen on eggs, then go for it.. but remove the hatched chicks as they hatch or she might abandon all the rest of her eggs..

 

[hd_darcy]

Sorry for not explaining well. I have 10 babies out there right now with two hens parenting them, but I also have a broody sitting on eggs. But, maybe I won't do it with those thoughts that she might abandon the eggs if she hatches one out, and then won't wait for the rest. I would be bummed about that. Wish I could hatch them in here, and magically give them to her to parent..but unlikely that will happen? My other babies are about a week old. Would there be anyway I could give the new babies to them (again, two hens parenting the 10)? I'm just not overly thrilled w/ having 10 babies (10 also developing in the incubator) in the house to take care of, if I have other options!

Thanks

 

[jvls1942]

what I would try,,,,
take the new chicks and spit up the tandom hens. let one have all the older chicks and give the other one the new chicks..

put the new hen in a pen and give her just one new chick, and see what she does with it.. If she accepts it, give the rest to her..

then keep her away from the other cluck for about a day or two so they do not go back to the tandom baby sitting..

 

[greenfingers]

Here is another option - my friend and I did this just recently with a broody that had been sitting for a long time. In the evening (night) take the newly hatched chicks and exchange them for the eggs she has been sitting on. If these are viable eggs, you could put them in your incubator. She is very likely to accept the chicks - ours did! I just reached under her, took out an egg and put in a chick, repeat, repeat. However, if you just have to finish hatching the eggs she is on in the first place, I don't see how you are really ahead since you will just need to put those chicks in the brooder box 'cause that would be way too many chicks (40?) for three hens IMO.

 

[greenfingers]

Sorry, I see that it would only be 30 chicks. But 10 per hen is still a pretty high number if you have new mamas.

 

[hd_darcy]

Hmm... I do like these ideas. It is just 20 babies total though. I have 10 in the coop, and 10 in the incubator.

Thanks for the the ideas! I will have to ponder some more

 

[hd_darcy]

I just wanted to update that I gave my broody three eggs, and two have hatched already. They are beating the ones in the bator! I have 7 left in the bator, three have pipped......

 

[Ridgerunner]

I did something somewhat similar last year. Instead of letting her hatch some, I took four chicks from my incubator and put them under the hen at night. You are ahead of me since you let her hatch a few. When she brought those four off the nest, I put her in a prepared area, put the four she had plus the rest from the incubator in a box, and dumped all the chicks together in with her. That first time broody successfully raised 15 chicks.

My concern in your case are the other broodies. Once the new broody accepts the new chicks, they may be able to all raise their families and have no problems. That is probably the likely outcome. But is is also possible that one broody may try to kill the other chicks. That does not happen a lot, but it sometimes happens. Or maybe, the three broodies will work together to raise all 20 together. Or maybe one broody will try to take the chicks away from another. That can lead to serious hen fighting, maybe to the point that some chicks get hurt in the fighting.

I don't mean to frighten you, just to let you know some things that might happen so you can think about them and be on the lookout for them. They are living animals. No one can tell you what will happen.