My First Hatch!

[PeckinChicken]

Last month I had 2 Buff Orpington hens go broody for the first time. They have a total of 19 eggs under them. They are due to hatch this Thursday and Friday but when I checked this morning, there was one fuzzy little yellow chick! I'm so excited. I haven't candled or anything, they are in the coop with other chickens and I've just let them go at it all natural. Other than a few peeks along the way of course. I'll keep updating as they're hatched.

 

[Joe Gonzalez]

That's awesome. I just have a question about buff orpingtons since I'm fairly new to chickens and I have 10 buff orpington chicks that I just want for eggs, because I can't have a rooster. Due to their broodiness will it be hard for me to collect eggs???

 

[PeckinChicken]

I really wasnt expecting mine to go Broody. I have Dorkings for that. In my experience, If you keep the eggs gathered they won't normally go broody. They like to have some eggs under them.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have a broody that's been setting on 10 eggs that are due to hatch out by tomorrow. The eggs are chirping, and one has already pipped. (I did take a peek today) Other than making sure she has fresh food and water available and putting fresh straw down on the coop floor, I've left mine alone, too. I will look again tomorrow to see how many we have.

I gather eggs daily, yet I have chickens that go broody. I had 5 of them last year, 2 so far this year. Broodiness is a hormonal thing. Buff Orpingtons have a reputation for broodiness, although I had one for 2 years and she only went broody once. I had to move her and her nest, she flipped out and it never happened again. She was a hatchery bird, though, so maybe that's why.

You can gather eggs whether they're broody or not. Just reach under and get the eggs. She may peck at you, so if you're worried about that wear gloves and long sleeves. (I don't bother with that - they don't peck that hard) If one of your hens goes broody and you want to break that, there are plenty of posts in the Flock Management section about breaking a broody. I can't give you any advice on that because I have never tried it. I want my hens to raise chicks!

 

[PeckinChicken]

It ended up being a very unsuccessful hatch. No other eggs hatched. When I broke them to check them out all but two had developed to the point they had feathers, but were dead. To top it all off, when the chick was 1 week old mama took it out to free range for the first time and somehow got it into the cattle waterer and it died. That was a very sad day. But, things happen, another hen has gone broody and I put 10 eggs under her on the 14th. Hopefully this time will go better!

 

[chickencrazy999]

It ended up being a very unsuccessful hatch. No other eggs hatched. When I broke them to check them out all but two had developed to the point they had feathers, but were dead. To top it all off, when the chick was 1 week old mama took it out to free range for the first time and somehow got it into the cattle waterer and it died. That was a very sad day. But, things happen, another hen has gone broody and I put 10 eggs under her on the 14th. Hopefully this time will go better!

Aww sorry to hear about your loss hopefully fingers crossed your next hatch will be better in my experience if you keep two broodies together they tend to fight over the eggs which results them not hatching
Good Luck
Ella

 

[PeckinChicken]

On Day 20, 5 fluffy little Buff Orpington's hatched. That was 8 days ago. Mama hen had set in the big coop, but when the baby's hatched she had them outside at only 2 days old. Not only that, she wanted to nest out there on the side of the building. I couldn't understand why she would want to do that, but for safekeeping, they now all happily reside in a chicken tractor that was built for brooding my starter flock. They all seem to be healthy, mom still nests with them outside, rather than in the closed in part of the tractor, but at least now they are safe from everything.