Moving eggs from 'bator to broody hen, anybody?

[dancingbear]

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I'll do it that way. If you guys were closer, you could borrow a broody from me. I certainly have enough of them.

Quail_Antwerp, I've had buff and light brahmas, but only the light ones got broody. My buff B's never showed the least interest in brooding at all. The lights make up for it in fanaticism, though.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Too funny... I have had lt brahmas and black australorps for 2 years now and neither breed has gone broody on me yet. It's always my silkies and Millies!

 

[Chicabee19]

let us know what happens!

cb19

 

[dancingbear]

Absolutely, I will post the results.

There seems to be a lot of variation in breed behavior, I've had lots of buff orps, but only had ac ouple ever go broody. Other folks have them brood all the time. I seem to have gotten a super-broody lt Brahma, and all of her female offspring got the trait, even the mixed breed ones. Or would that be my lt. Brahma roo came from a super broody hen, and his female offspring got the trait? I get confused with chicken genetics.

I sold him to a neighbor, when I had too many roos. I couldn't bring myself to eat such a gorgeous hunk of roo, even though that's what DH and I usually do with extras. Once in a while there's one that you just can't.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I move eggs from incubator to hens all the time.
Weekly actually because I've only been setting a doz or so every week and I move Day 18 eggs out to under a hen to finish instead of plugging in the hatcher.
No real problems except the occasional broken egg or mashed chick.
Good luck!
Lisa

 

[chickenfanatic]

sounds like u have a plan good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[Rock Wyandotte]

I'm resurrecting this old post because this is happening for me right now. All of your posts have helped a lot - I now know there's many ways to pull the switcheroo. My only issue is that I live in Vermont and it's supposed to be down to about 20degrees at night when they're supposed to hatch this Fri/Sat. In this instance would you do the switch on day 18 or wait until the chicks have hatched and dried and then put them under the hen?

 

[tgrlily]

I'm glad you resurrected this thread!

I've determined that I absolutely stink at hatching.

My last 2 hatches from my own silkies were alive & kicking at day 18 when I moved them to the hatcher. I ended up with 5 out of 16 the first hatch then 4 out of 18 this last time! I'm going to change the batteries & re-calibrate the hygrometer for my hatcher to see if that's the problem, but I don't want to kill anymore chicks! I was on here looking for suggestions on when would be the best time to move eggs from a bator into a broody. I've never used a broody to hatch, but I'm certain they'll be better at this than I am!!!!!

This is what I was thinking:
I have 2 silkies who are broody so I'm going to try an experiment... I have 17 eggs at day 11 in the incubator. Tomorrow I'll move the girls into our "hospital crate" which is a fairly large wood & wire cage DH built. It's in my garage so I'll be able to keep an eye on them. The smaller girl will get 5 eggs, the bigger 6. I'll keep the other 6 in the bator for now & move them to the hatcher on day 18. That way I won't have "all my eggs in one basket!"

Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome.

Rock Wyandotte... do you have a dog crate or something you can put your broody in so you can move her to a warmer place? Our garage is a little warmer than the silkie coops & I just feel better about having them in so I can watch.



Quote:

 

[Rock Wyandotte]

That is a good idea, tgrlily. I do have a large pet carrier that I could put her in tomorrow night and move her into our utility room which is probably about 55 or 60 degrees - waaay better than out in the coop. Weather.com is saying that Friday is supposed to be very cold here again and that day should be the start of the hatch.

 

[tgrlily]

It's gonna be cold here too... BRRRRRRRR!!! I think I'm going to put them in my greatroom instead of garage so they'll be nice & warm. Besides, my husband is building the wall panels for my breeding pens in the garage & I don't want him to disturb the girls.