Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

a few pics of my best broody "Mama". Here she is getting ready to get a drink.

and getting ready to fly away from a rooster

and here she is on the roof of the house about 2 seconds later

Love the pics of mama stony especially the ones on the roof. She is so pretty. Thats a sweet pic of you and your girl too. I know they are good layers but wasn't sure how they would fit in with bantams. I am in need of some layers. I have 2 lil bantams laying right now, 8 EE's coming along 4 close, 3 girls sitting but one of them Miss Lydia is not laying much anymore at close to 4 yrs. and the rest either have chicks or have gone through menopause.

I can't cull my older hens , They will live the rest of their lives in retirement here.

 

[FarmGirlLC]

I had four broody hens and 3 are sitting on two eggs and one is sitting on five =] So far the leghorn has hatched out four, and one of my SS has hatched out one, I am so excited.

 

[stonykill]

Love the pics of mama stony especially the ones on the roof. She is so pretty. Thats a sweet pic of you and your girl too. I know they are good layers but wasn't sure how they would fit in with bantams. I am in need of some layers. I have 2 lil bantams laying right now, 8 EE's coming along 4 close, 3 girls sitting but one of them Miss Lydia is not laying much anymore at close to 4 yrs. and the rest either have chicks or have gone through menopause.

I can't cull my older hens , They will live the rest of their lives in retirement here.

I hear you on the older hens. Right now other than broody's all of mine ae laying. But when an old girl stops laying she gets to retire.

I find our RIR's get along great with little hens. My bantam Sumatra hen lil blue hangs with 3 to 4 rir's and a jersey giant /rir mix all day long. LIL Blue is a tiny girl. 2 to 2.5 lbs at most I would guess. My other bantam Sumatra hens also get along fine with the RIR's. The only hens I have that don't get along with anyone and I would call mean are my 2 white leghorn hens. They are penned up with a white EE and a black sumatra roo. Until I put the roo in with them they were beating everyone up. I originally had 3 RIR's in there with them. The white leghorns beat them up so I had to remove them to save their lives.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I hear you on the older hens. Right now other than broody's all of mine ae laying. But when an old girl stops laying she gets to retire.

I find our RIR's get along great with little hens. My bantam Sumatra hen lil blue hangs with 3 to 4 rir's and a jersey giant /rir mix all day long. LIL Blue is a tiny girl. 2 to 2.5 lbs at most I would guess. My other bantam Sumatra hens also get along fine with the RIR's. The only hens I have that don't get along with anyone and I would call mean are my 2 white leghorn hens. They are penned up with a white EE and a black sumatra roo. Until I put the roo in with them they were beating everyone up. I originally had 3 RIR's in there with them. The white leghorns beat them up so I had to remove them to save their lives.

Wow, well don't think leghorns will be on my wish list.

 

[Johnn]

My orpington is not drinking and eating much, im getting worried about her now, would giving her sugar water help? because its suppose to give them a energy boost, would this help? or would it encourage her to get off the nest and pack in all together

 

[mnferalkitty]

My orpington is not drinking and eating much, im getting worried about her now, would giving her sugar water help? because its suppose to give them a energy boost, would this help? or would it encourage her to get off the nest and pack in all together

I prefer electrolytes over sugar water.

 

[mnferalkitty]

I have a broody BA her eggs are due to hatch either 2,3,4th. This my first broody hen. I was able to look at the eggs she got off them to eat and I noticed that 3-4 of them are duck eggs and the others about 15 are chicken, the chicken eggs will hatch first, will she continue to sit on the duck eggs? they will take another 7 days to hatch.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Wow, well don't think leghorns will be on my wish list.

Awh, that's too bad - my WL Snow White is a great white egg layer - and she's sweet, but while not overly friendly she lets me hold her.

 

[bobbieschicks]

My orpington is not drinking and eating much, im getting worried about her now, would giving her sugar water help? because its suppose to give them a energy boost, would this help? or would it encourage her to get off the nest and pack in all together

Maybe molasses water? I had to give that to a cat once who was diabetic and slipping into a coma. It helped her blood sugar levels. But something like Gatorade would be better then molasses water.

 

[JakRat]

Just to update, everything is going well!

I am probably going to be moving babies and mom outside to the coop tomorrow. We will see though. The egg I gave her a few days ago seems to have been abandoned. I even contemplated walking around with it in my shirt to keep it warm, but I doubt it will hatch (hatch date is apparently tomorrow). If an egg gets to cold a few days before hatch, is it totally done for?