Is it easier to hatch with a broody or an incubator?

[CHlCKEN]

I have a broody hen who is currently sitting on some infertile eggs. I wanted to give her some eggs to hatch but before she went broody I had plans to get some
An incubator. I wanted to know if it would be easier to hatch with her or an incubator for my first time.

 

[sourland]

Why not let her do the work? I'd get an incubator too.

 

[CluckerFamily]

With her but have the incubator ready since this is her first hatch, she may abandon the nest. It is also an amazing experience to watch a mamma hatch and raise the chicks.
You won’t need a brooder for the chicks since momma with take care of everything.

 

[NorthernMIFlock]

Let her do the work! If she’s committed to sitting, it is WAY less stressful to have your hen incubate, hatch, and brood, and integrate the babies

 

[Ridgerunner]

I wanted to know if it would be easier to hatch with her or an incubator for my first time.

There are opportunities and challenges with both. Some incubators are almost a set them and forget it, the incubator does everything from turning the eggs and handling humidity while others leave a lot of that up to you. I think they all should be calibrated since factory presets for temperature and (if they do humidity) humidity can be off. And you have the stress of trying to figure out which humidity levels to use. Different humidities work for different ones of us. It took me about three hatches to learn how to use mine and what settings I needed to use. I still got pretty good hatches those three times, I was just tweaking it to get even better.

I don't know what your set-up looks like. Do you plan to let the broody hatch with the flock and raise any chicks with the flock or will you isolate her for hatching or raising? In any case, incubator or broody hen, you need to start the eggs at the same time.

I let my broody hens hatch and raise with the flock. I mark the eggs before I set them and then check every day after the others have laid to remove any that don't belong. When the chicks start to hatch I make sure there is food and water on the coop floor so when the hen brings the chicks off of the nest they can get to food and water. That's pretty much all I do, I leave everything else up to the hen.

To me the big risk to this is that sometimes when the broody hen comes back to her nest another hen is on her nest laying an egg. Most of my broody hens climb into the nest with the hen laying the egg so all is well, but occasionally the broody hen goes to the wrong nest and stays there. When I see that I just put the broody back on her correct nest. Obviously that is not something you want to happen and it can be pretty stressful when you see it. I've always gotten good hatches when I've seen that, even when the eggs felt ice cold, but it is not a good thing to see.

Many people like to isolate the broody from the flock. Put her in a pen with a nest, food, and water and not much else. It's good if the other chickens can see her, you just do not want her to be able to leave that nest and go back to her old nest and you don't want another hen to be able to get in there and lay an egg. A broody hen should know by instinct to not poop in her nest but she doesn't know that about her food or water. Instead of checking under her every day for new eggs you may be cleaning and providing food and water.

Which method is easiest? That's going to depend a lot on you and your preferences, which incubator you get and how well it performs, your set-up for the broody, and what you experience. If everything goes the way it should they can all be pretty easy, but something can go wrong with any of them.

If you plan on doing much hatching in the future you are probably better off buying an incubator. That way you control when you can hatch. You never know when or even if a hen will ever go broody. For this hatch, put some eggs in the incubator and some eggs under the broody hen. You can probably give any incubator chicks to the broody to raise for you, just start all the eggs at the same time so they should hatch at the same time. I do this a lot, practically any time I put eggs under a broody I put some in the incubator. That way, no matter what happens she gets chicks to raise. I don't consider either one hard.

See which you think is easiest. Easy is a very personal thing. Once you gain experience you will know which is easiest for you.

 

[sdm111]

Broodies by far

 

[CHlCKEN]

There are opportunities and challenges with both. Some incubators are almost a set them and forget it, the incubator does everything from turning the eggs and handling humidity while others leave a lot of that up to you. I think they all should be calibrated since factory presets for temperature and (if they do humidity) humidity can be off. And you have the stress of trying to figure out which humidity levels to use. Different humidities work for different ones of us. It took me about three hatches to learn how to use mine and what settings I needed to use. I still got pretty good hatches those three times, I was just tweaking it to get even better.

I don't know what your set-up looks like. Do you plan to let the broody hatch with the flock and raise any chicks with the flock or will you isolate her for hatching or raising? In any case, incubator or broody hen, you need to start the eggs at the same time.

I let my broody hens hatch and raise with the flock. I mark the eggs before I set them and then check every day after the others have laid to remove any that don't belong. When the chicks start to hatch I make sure there is food and water on the coop floor so when the hen brings the chicks off of the nest they can get to food and water. That's pretty much all I do, I leave everything else up to the hen.

To me the big risk to this is that sometimes when the broody hen comes back to her nest another hen is on her nest laying an egg. Most of my broody hens climb into the nest with the hen laying the egg so all is well, but occasionally the broody hen goes to the wrong nest and stays there. When I see that I just put the broody back on her correct nest. Obviously that is not something you want to happen and it can be pretty stressful when you see it. I've always gotten good hatches when I've seen that, even when the eggs felt ice cold, but it is not a good thing to see.

Many people like to isolate the broody from the flock. Put her in a pen with a nest, food, and water and not much else. It's good if the other chickens can see her, you just do not want her to be able to leave that nest and go back to her old nest and you don't want another hen to be able to get in there and lay an egg. A broody hen should know by instinct to not poop in her nest but she doesn't know that about her food or water. Instead of checking under her every day for new eggs you may be cleaning and providing food and water.

Which method is easiest? That's going to depend a lot on you and your preferences, which incubator you get and how well it performs, your set-up for the broody, and what you experience. If everything goes the way it should they can all be pretty easy, but something can go wrong with any of them.

If you plan on doing much hatching in the future you are probably better off buying an incubator. That way you control when you can hatch. You never know when or even if a hen will ever go broody. For this hatch, put some eggs in the incubator and some eggs under the broody hen. You can probably give any incubator chicks to the broody to raise for you, just start all the eggs at the same time so they should hatch at the same time. I do this a lot, practically any time I put eggs under a broody I put some in the incubator. That way, no matter what happens she gets chicks to raise. I don't consider either one hard.

See which you think is easiest. Easy is a very personal thing. Once you gain experience you will know which is easiest for you.

Thanks.
Is it better to let her raise them alone or within the flock? I had planned to set up a space for her in my barn, I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to let her raise them within the flock. It also may be easier that way so I don’t have to pick out the others’ eggs.

 

[CHlCKEN]

So if I do hatch with her I should have an incubator on hand too?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is it better to let her raise them alone or within the flock?

I let mine raise her chicks with the flock. That way she handles integration. Other people for their own reasons keep the broody hen and her chicks isolated and handle integration themselves. There is no "best" way, there are different ways we do it, each way with plusses and minuses.

I had planned to set up a space for her in my barn, I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to let her raise them within the flock. It also may be easier that way so I don’t have to pick out the others’ eggs.

Lots of people do it that way. Nothing wrong with it. That may be a good idea for your first time. You sound really nervous, it may be a good way for you to see a broody hen in action and gain some confidence in a broody hen. This is about you as much as the chickens, your comfort level is important too.

So if I do hatch with her I should have an incubator on hand too?

You don't have to, the broody should be able to manage everything herself. If you are going to buy one anyway it would give you flexibility to have it on hand if something does go wrong with the broody.

 

[Percheron chick]

Just take a marker to the eggs you want to hatch to take the guess work out of the equation. The problem with every hatch is some eggs can be a day or two or three behind the rest. If the hen quits sitting then the almost finished chicks are goners. Simple to pop them in an incubator to finish then slide them under the hen at night.