New to hatching using the Broody Hen method.

[lambie333]

I do have some fertile eggs that have been sitting on the counter...just not sure if I should subject her to another 3 weeks of sitting.
Advice greatly appreciated...

 

[Frizzll Farm]

I'm new to the hatching chicks too, Have two incubators with eggs but I also have a broody hen on day 8 of sitting, I hope she does well. I have 10 eggs under her. sometimes I go out and see she has kicked out an egg or two but I pop them back under her. What does it mean when they push an egg out from the nest? If it happens again should I remove that egg permanently?

 

[JennaWisconsin]

Well I'm learning as I go too! My first 2 hens that went broody I just left her I never marked eggs or nothing. Next thing you know my other hens started laying in her best when she would get up and eat. At one point she had about 15 eggs under her. So what I did is wait it out and finally a few started to hatch. After a couple days of no more eggs hatching I tossed them. I didn't want the new babies to starve while mama was patiently waiting for the rest of eggs to hatch. So the lesson I learned is I put the date on the eggs so when other hens drop their eggs in with the hen I can remove them daily. I just had a huge success with 2 hens that I put fertile eggs under each and hen 1 hatched on Saturday which was day 19 and my other hen is on day 17 today and she hatched 3 out of 5 so far. Hen 1 hatched all 4 eggs and babies are doing great! Research that I have done says up to 22 days I think. My first time around was a disaster with rotten eggs so I will always date my eggs. Good luck everyone! This is probably the most fun I've had yet, nothing better than lifting a hen and out peeks baby chicks!!!

 

[Roxannemc]

Give them extra time Ive had them hatch a few days later under my broodyHave you candled any?

Sooo, it has been about 24 days now, since our hen decided to sit on a nest of eggs.  We left her alone in her nesting box for the first 2 and a half weeks, and during that time had a number of hens sharing her box, so I expected a staggered hatch, but, I thought we would have a chick by now, but we peeked under her today, and nothing. We moved her into a small dog carrier about a week ago in the middle of the night, and she settled right back on the nest. What could have gone wrong? Also looking for advice, she sat so long, I hate to just pull them out and shoo her back into the woods. She did get off the nest today for a minute to stretch and eat, and my understanding is that she would have been in lockdown by now? I thought she was giving up, but I checked about 30 minutes later and she was back there on the nest.           

 

[Roxannemc]

i agree I thought incubated babys were cute but open the nest box and have tiny heads pop up here and there under mom was beyond adorable[
quote name="JennaWisconsin" url="/t/797095/new-to-hatching-using-the-broody-hen-method#post_11647679"]Well I'm learning as I go too! My first 2 hens that went broody I just left her I never marked eggs or nothing. Next thing you know my other hens started laying in her best when she would get up and eat. At one point she had about 15 eggs under her. So what I did is wait it out and finally a few started to hatch. After a couple days of no more eggs hatching I tossed them. I didn't want the new babies to starve while mama was patiently waiting for the rest of eggs to hatch. So the lesson I learned is I put the date on the eggs so when other hens drop their eggs in with the hen I can remove them daily. I just had a huge success with 2 hens that I put fertile eggs under each and hen 1 hatched on Saturday which was day 19 and my other hen is on day 17 today and she hatched 3 out of 5 so far. Hen 1 hatched all 4 eggs and babies are doing great! Research that I have done says up to 22 days I think. My first time around was a disaster with rotten eggs so I will always date my eggs. Good luck everyone! This is probably the most fun I've had yet, nothing better than lifting a hen and out peeks baby chicks!!![/quote]

 

[laurabell]

I'm new here, and we're just hatching our first batch with a broody hen too - and are full of questions! We're on day 21 today, and we had our first chick hatch out Sunday afternoon (day 19, unless we were counting wrong), but that one appeared malformed and my husband put it down yesterday. :-(

We had two more healthy chicks hatch yesterday sometime, but there's 5 more eggs that are showing no signs of hatching. Mamma Lucy and babies are starting to get up and move around more (esp. for that chick feed!) Should we leave the eggs a few more days? We put four varieties of eggs under her, so I'm not sure if that might account for different hatching times? I'm mostly getting concerned as we've started getting ants in their box, and I'd like to clean them out before they bother those little babies! (Ok, and I'm impatient to see more little fuzzies in there!) And is it ok to peek under the hen and hold the babies? Or should we be letting them alone?

 

[lambie333]

We finally have a chick! Just one, but mama brought her off the nest so we removed the rest. Wasn't really looking to double my flock anyway and am so happy she got her baby!

 

[lambie333]

Give them extra time Ive had them hatch a few days later under my broodyHave you candled any?

 

[lambie333]

So glad you encouraged me to wait! @roxannemc