Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Leahs Mom]

Another question...is it absolutely necessary that I candle? I know some thing the hen will throw out bad ones but I've sure heard a lot about them bursting in the nest.

 

[stonykill]

Another question...is it absolutely necessary that I candle? I know some thing the hen will throw out bad ones but I've sure heard a lot about them bursting in the nest.

I've had an awful lot of broody's over the last few years. This year I stopped counting at 25. There were quite a few after that. A few years ago I candled all of the time. This year I only candles Miss Penelope's eggs, our Runner duck. Simply because I never saw Patrick "do the deed". 6 of 8 hatched from that...so he is just a private guy

. The rest of them I left to them to handle and everything turned out well.



Oh, and I've never had an egg burst in the nest. 100 broody's or so, never seen it happen. I'm sure it does, but never has here.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Another question...is it absolutely necessary that I candle?  I know some thing the hen will throw out bad ones but I've sure heard a lot about them bursting in the nest.

I've candled plenty of eggs but the thing is most of my brown and tan ones are hard to see through even with a highpowered flashlight. I keep them as long as they aren't completely clear or stinky. Eventually they'll either hatch or not. Occasionally one will be bad and generally the broody will remove it herself. Twice I've had a mess to clean up when broody squashed a bad egg. The last time Smokey had a cracked egg in her nesting area, I stupidly thought it was hatching and moved it under Topsy, so that made a big mess under her. Topsy's last clutch I came out to find her sitting on a smooshed egg that stunk something awful and I knew it was rotten.

The best days to candle are 7 and 14 unless you have white eggs, then you can candle as early as day 3 to see development. In blue, tan, green, or brown eggs, day 7 tells you if they are developing (not clear means something is growing) and day 14 shows if they are still growing (larger dark blob).

 

[cluckcluckluke]

2 of my hens do lay, if i can find some pics i will post the pics of their nests

That is actually so cool, I'd love to be able to do that, having reed like grass would be great.

 

[Johnn]

That is actually so cool, I'd love to be able to do that, having reed like grass would be great.

It's cool when you know were to find them!!

 

[kingsfarm]

nest stealing going on....black hen sitting on 11 eggs...now red hen sitting on them....black hen moved to 4 eggs in another nest...red hen LEFT...I took the 4 eggs away and put black hen back on her nest.....this am....red hen back on nest and black is on other again.......what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will take away the blacks new eggs again...will she go back to original? should I move the hen, nest and eggs out of the hen house? what do?

 

[Miss Lydia]

nest stealing going on....black hen sitting on 11 eggs...now red hen sitting on them....black hen moved to 4 eggs in another nest...red hen LEFT...I took the 4 eggs away and put black hen back on her nest.....this am....red hen back on nest and black is on other again.......what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will take away the blacks new eggs again...will she go back to original? should I move the hen, nest and eggs out of the hen house? what do?

Some times thats all you can do, unless you want to keep the roulette going. can you make a spot in the coop where you can put blk hen and red hen can't get to her? sometimes just a large dog crate works.

 

[Lacy Blues]

nest stealing going on....black hen sitting on 11 eggs...now red hen sitting on them....black hen moved to 4 eggs in another nest...red hen LEFT...I took the 4 eggs away and put black hen back on her nest.....this am....red hen back on nest and black is on other again.......what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will take away the blacks new eggs again...will she go back to original? should I move the hen, nest and eggs out of the hen house? what do?

If it's possible, in the position of the black's nest, perhaps you can construct some kind of separator, be it fencing or whatever. This is where separation is handy. However, moving the nest may not work so well, it might cause your black to stop brooding. Your red hen is higher on the pecking order than your black and if she is allowed continued access to the black's nest, she will boot her off of it every day. Make sure you're taking the new eggs out of the black's nest too, or you will have some very staggered hatching going on. Not fun and not good for the chicks which have already hatched as Mama may stay on the nest because she hears new babies peeping in their eggs, when the hatchlings need to get out and eat.

 

[kingsfarm]

Thank you Lydia and Lacy for the advice...brought a new bucket nest for black hen in corner of henhouse (moved all eggs and added 2 green only because I would like them to hatch- started the eggs on midday 15th and added 2 midday 17.-- think that was too long?) the red hen is in the original nest sitting on 4 golf balls and seems to be quite happy .. this evening anyway....keeping my fingers crossed, the black is so gentle she let me move her and her eggs without a sound....thank you for answering so soon....G

 

[Lacy Blues]

I don't know that I would leave the blue eggs. That will be two days later than the others. She will want to wait at least a couple days after the first ones hatch to take the chicks out, thereby leaving the other eggs that haven't hatched or she will wait on the two other eggs because she can hear the babies inside. In the meantime, the two day old chicks will be ready to eat by day 3 and she'll wait two more days before venturing forward because of the new babies. I just think it would cause more problems than it is worth. If your blue egg layer is still laying, I would just collect some in hopes that the red hen will actually go broody.