Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[artsyrobin]

well, my cochin banty izzy is still sitting, one egg she keeps booting out, i candled a few today and one has veins!! so exciting, i've never had a broody before, she is in the spare bathroom tub with her box and food, and she comes out a couple times a day to eat- we are at the end of the 2nd week....

 

[mskittydjs]

Well, my hatch has come to an end!

Kinda mixed feelings about it! Had placed 12 eggs, Cinderella got rid of one, 11 left. 7 hatched (between Monday and this morning) and my son and I just went out and candled the remaining 4 eggs. We could see the air sacs in all 4 but when we gently shook them, we could feel the sloshing in 3 and then no movement in the 4th at all. As a 12 year old boy, he wanted to know what was inside and DH had a fit...Not in the house!!! (Like I was really gonna bust a bad egg in the house!!)

So we put all 4 eggs in jars and with expert precision, we broke the shells. 3 of the 4 ( that we could feel the sloshing in) were full of liquid. The 4th had a dead baby in it. From the photos I researched, it looks like it stopped growing about day 16 or so. So thankful that none of the 3 busted under momma and the babies!! I am torn now between leaving them in the cage that she brooded in (when I go out there and start talking to them, they pop their little heads out and come check me out!) or moving them to the large dog house which would be on the ground and then momma can take them out with her when she wants. Only a few of my 28 girls are friendly and I so want these to be. They already come over to me and walk up in my hand and they arent even 3 days old yet. Will definitely get a family photo to post 2moro!! We ended up with 4 blondes, 2 blacks and a gray one! Can't actually tell you what they are since I took eggs from all the chickens and we have BO, BA, PR, RIR, BR, SLW, Americauna ladies and BO, PR, Americauna and Dominique Roos! All 7 look different and some have fuzzy faces already but I can't wait to see what they end up looking like!

When I put the chick starter out there this morning for Momma to teach them about, she started making a different noise than I have ever heard her do before. 4 of the 7 came right out and stared at the food like they were saying, " You want us to eat that???" She said YES! So they took a few bites! They came over and got a few drinks of water. She hadn't left the nest since they started pipping on Monday so I picked her up and noticed all the broody poo

and it was nasty. She didn't take kindly to me moving her to clean it all up but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all 7 at once!!

I have to say thank you to all of you!!! You guys have taught me so much over the last three weeks and I have felt all the long distance hugs!

Kinda hoping another lady decides to go broody soon but hubby said, lets get the bator and do it up big!!! I think we'll just have to wait and see! I want to enjoy these babies!

Still praying for you all! Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[featherz]

Oh no! I may have a SECOND broody! And she's in a favored nest box. Plus she's my grump nasty hen. On the plus side, she is also my roo's favorite girl and having her broody and unavailable may allow the feathers on her head to grow back (she already has a saddle). So, if I want her to set somewhere else, I should move her at night? If I put a cat carrier in the coop and move her and a few eggs to it will she stay or pop back to the best nest box? I am not looking forward to moving her anywhere - she's my only hen that I can't handle without her screaming bloody murder, even in the dark.

I cringed when I went to shut up the coop last night and saw her sitting in the nest box.. eep!

Broody #1 is still sitting - she booted out one egg, leaving only four. I candled the egg she booted and there was no development (this is day 7).

 

[stonykill]

MsKittydjs, I've always called that sound the "happy rooster sound" because until my broody this year, I have only heard roosters do it. My roosters find a great meal, make that really cute peeping sound, the hens come over, and the rooster moves aside for the hens to eat. I see and hear the broody mom, make the same sounds and react the same way. I guess it's chicken talk for "dinners on"....lol

 

[stonykill]

this is my 1st Sumatra hatch that didn't start on day 19. Today at 2pm, day 21 starts. Mama S got up for about 3 minutes this morning, like she knows it is about to start. A really quick candle showed all 10 eggs are viable. I'm ready!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh mskitty can't wait to see pictures, congratulations to you!! and looking forward to hearing about Mama S hatch stony, and good luck with grumpy ole hen featherz, I have one of those too, she thought she wanted to be broody too, but changed her mind yesterday [thank goodness]
pontoosuc, mama will keep them babies toasty warm no need for the light. and congrats too you also!!!!and artsyrobin, looking forward to hearing how izzy is doing too!!!


and BarefootMom, congrats to you on the new chicks, and I have a muscovy sitting on eggs too hatch day first part of June..

and congrats to WhiteMountainRanch for the Broody, keep us updated!!!!

all my hens and chicks are doing great, I can't believe my first broody of the season that her chicks will be a month old tomorrow

the color of the one is so pretty will try to get a picture but it's hard to keep the little buggers still.

disappointed I didn't get a frizzle out of one yet. I love my lil frizzle keep hoping for another one. Well Happy Hatching, and Chick watching, better than house work and TV..

 

[chics in the sun]

Quote:

 

[BarefootMom]

Finally was able to get some decent pics of Iris and her three babies...

And this is Ethel one of my muscovey broodies
I had to crawl on the ground to get this pic!

If you look at the picture you can see a bunch more eggs to the left of her. I don't know if someone else is making a nest under there or what! There is no possible way for either me or my husband to get under there without taking away some of the foundation from the building! I would guess that Ethel is sitting on at least 20 eggs and there are probably 20-30 more under there!!

This is the building she is under...
You can see her head in the bottom right corner--

I have another broody muscovey that is nested under our Chicken coop..I literally had to lay flat on the ground to see her nest...I couldn't get a good picture though. And I have no idea how many eggs she has under there. I noticed a few eggs under there about a month ago and grabbed them, guess I should have left them under there! lol So there is probably 20 eggs or so!! The thought of so many babies is so exciting and scary...what if they all hatch and we have 40 little ducklings running around the first part of June! AHHH!

 

[Miss Lydia]

What will you do with all those ducklings that grow up to be ducks? How many do you have now? I have 8 Muscovies 2 drakes and 6 hens, so I am taking all the eggs from her that the other girls are lying in her nest and have maked 3. I have to keep my # where I have room for everyone. Do you eat them? we haven't. I'm hoping for 3 girls

we have processed extra roos but none of our ducks and we've had some of them 7 years. They are the sweetest ducks I love them.

 

[BarefootMom]

Quote:
We will probably try to sell some of them. This is our first year haveing ducks I have 9 hens and 1 drake. There are always WTB ads on CL for Muscovey ducklings so we will probably sell some. Most people are getting $3-4 each for them. We would like to keep some of them and raise up, but I don't know. We live on a 300 acre farm and if we keep letting them just free range we won't have to really worry about room. But DH is wanting to pen them up so we can sell hatching eggs...also lots of ads for hatching eggs. I have sold 4 dozen this week at $10 a dozen!