Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

Oh Bitty, i have some that look just like that, except their 2 and 3 weeks old now..

they are precious.

 

[stonykill]

there is nothing like pics of mama hen and her little ones

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well we have a game hen out in the woods somewhere nesting, she has been out 2 nights, came home today to eat, and i tried to catch her, boy is she fast, then we spent a good part of the day looking for her, even let the dogs look, nope no where to be seen, so tomorrow we're going to try and follow her back to where she is hiding. always something, I think most of the girls are laying there too only got 3 eggs today..

 

[stonykill]

Quote:
I'm going thru something similar. I have another Black Sumatra showing all the broody signs, and I'm down a few eggs a day. Tomorrow I hope to find the nest.... I hope. She so far is returning home every night. That's a good thing.

 

[Miss Lydia]

that is stony, It's worrisome when they stay out all night, we lost 2 last year because of this.

 

[stonykill]

I lost one myself last year, and another barely left with her life, but lost her eggs. I found the nest after the fact. Ferrel chickens are a handful... but my Sumatra's are still my favorites! Ferrel or not

 

[Miss Lydia]

Games must be close as far as being pretty wild, When we got our first hen [miss lydia] she was living in the woods where my dh worked at the time, there was a rooster living there too, she went and hatched 10 chicks, my dh and some of the people that he worked with caught her and her chicks and we adopted them, they are well adapted to our terrain, woods and mountains, but we do have alot of predators too, they go into the coop everynight, and had been laying there too till mamas and chicks started coming. I hate it when they don't come home.

 

[annaraven]

Buffy hatched EIGHT out of 12 (so far).

One even hatched last night! So there's still hope for the other 4.

(No hope for the "extras" her sister slipped in helpfully,...)

The fact that they're still hatching made it really easy to swap out the hatchlings for the 3 babies we're keeping. I'll post pics of mama with her new babies later this afternoon. And maybe we'll get another hatchling or two while we're at it.

(Edited pic)

 

[BittyBanty]

Congratulations!!!! They're sweeties.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Love the colors, Congrats for sure!!!!