Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[AnimalLover99]

Why would you want to keep them locked up for 6 weeks, most mamas want to get their chicks out on the ground in about 3 days, the whole point of having broodies is letting chickens do what comes natural to them from brooding to hatching to raising and all we have to do is make sure they have a safe place to do it all and enjoy the show.

i want to keep them away from the other chickens because the silkie that is brooding them is the only bantam and my chickens are mean and could peck the chicks to death. i would let them be with the flock but im afraid the mom wouldnt be able to protect them because of her size

 

[Leahs Mom]

Neem oil is what i use on my roosts in the coops, no wonder i don't have any Goannas around here

just a joke ya'll

Yep...I bet that's it!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Question ... hopefully this will make sense.

So far I've kept the kiddos and mamma in their separate area of the hen house because it's been very cold and they can't be out for a long time. If it had been a warmer time of year, I think I would have opened the door to the other side so they could get used to each other.

I was afraid if the babies got onto the other side they may get separated, get cold, and have a hard time finding mom...not all of them...I was just worried about a stray getting separated from the group.

When one of the other ladies has been able to get in their side it has been peaceful and mom lets them know not to come near but I usually catch and take out the sneaker before too long.


Now this week it's in the mid 30s - Low 40s I think I'd like to open the door between and observe how things go. But that leads me to my question.

My hen house is up off the ground about 2 ft. w/a pretty steep ramp. I'm concerned that if a baby gets down there by itself, it may not be able to find mom and mom would have to hunker down to warm up the group and a baby may be lost. Of course, I'll hang out at first and watch everything and won't let that happen.

But I'm wondering - considering the temperature swings and the fact that it's going to be cold again shortly.... should I even open things up between the 2 sides at all right now? Perhaps the smart thing would be to open the door between the sides when the pop door is closed and not have the possibility someone will get separated outside.

Experienced folks...thoughts?

Photo: although it is finished differently now (this was an early photo) this is what that ramp looks like. This is an 11 week old hatchery RIR going up the ramp. It's a long way down/up for a tiny little one in cold weather if they get out there!

 

[gg706]

Are Speckled Sussex good brooders?

 

[Haloclimb]

We have chicks! 5 have hatched today, another egg is pipping and there are two more eggs aside from that that'll hopefully do something
I was only able to get a picture of three, but they are still so cute! The 5th chick is still drying out so it's really tired, fingers crossed nothings wrong with it

it's a really colourful bunch this time, I'm so excited to see what they look like when they grow up! More to the point, I hope all the eggs hatch...fingers crossed!

 

[cluckcluckluke]

We have chicks! 5 have hatched today, another egg is pipping and there are two more eggs aside from that that'll hopefully do something
I was only able to get a picture of three, but they are still so cute! The 5th chick is still drying out so it's really tired, fingers crossed nothings wrong with it

it's a really colourful bunch this time, I'm so excited to see what they look like when they grow up! More to the point, I hope all the eggs hatch...fingers crossed!

Wow nice chicks very cute, if you want colourful chick hatch out OEG.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We have chicks! 5 have hatched today, another egg is pipping and there are two more eggs aside from that that'll hopefully do something
I was only able to get a picture of three, but they are still so cute! The 5th chick is still drying out so it's really tired, fingers crossed nothings wrong with it

it's a really colourful bunch this time, I'm so excited to see what they look like when they grow up! More to the point, I hope all the eggs hatch...fingers crossed!

Cute chicks and Congrats!!! mama is pretty too.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Question ... hopefully this will make sense.

So far I've kept the kiddos and mamma in their separate area of the hen house because it's been very cold and they can't be out for a long time. If it had been a warmer time of year, I think I would have opened the door to the other side so they could get used to each other.

I was afraid if the babies got onto the other side they may get separated, get cold, and have a hard time finding mom...not all of them...I was just worried about a stray getting separated from the group.

When one of the other ladies has been able to get in their side it has been peaceful and mom lets them know not to come near but I usually catch and take out the sneaker before too long.


Now this week it's in the mid 30s - Low 40s I think I'd like to open the door between and observe how things go. But that leads me to my question.

My hen house is up off the ground about 2 ft. w/a pretty steep ramp. I'm concerned that if a baby gets down there by itself, it may not be able to find mom and mom would have to hunker down to warm up the group and a baby may be lost. Of course, I'll hang out at first and watch everything and won't let that happen.

But I'm wondering - considering the temperature swings and the fact that it's going to be cold again shortly.... should I even open things up between the 2 sides at all right now? Perhaps the smart thing would be to open the door between the sides when the pop door is closed and not have the possibility someone will get separated outside.

Experienced folks...thoughts?

Photo: although it is finished differently now (this was an early photo) this is what that ramp looks like. This is an 11 week old hatchery RIR going up the ramp. It's a long way down/up for a tiny little one in cold weather if they get out there!

The only thing i can say since I haven't hatched in winter is it does take them a couple days to navigate a ramp. so you may want to take that into consideration and give them more time, but if you get a warm day and you have the time try it that way you'd be there to help if one has a problem, What usually happens here is mama will go inside and some will follow, those that weren't paying attention usually run around trying to find the rest of the group because they can hear mama clucking but can't find her. then either they will find the ramp on their own, or she will come and get them, if both of those attempts fail then I usually step in. But this is during warm weather too so you'll have to see how it goes. At 1-2 weeks they are much more coordinated and smart than 2-3 day olds so they will most likely pick it up pretty fast.

 

[Meredith MMH]

I'm glad to say that I don't these things live in my area of the country!

Some of the predators that you guys have to cope with on this site are amazing, eagles, coyotes, Giant scary lizards,
makes ours look harmless, I live in a kind of rural village and we have foxes and badgers but if you have fencing then they usually aren't a problem.
some of you even get attacked from the sky by Eagles!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Some of the predators that you guys have to cope with on this site are amazing, eagles, coyotes, Giant scary lizards,

makes ours look harmless, I live in a kind of rural village and we have foxes and badgers but if you have fencing then they usually aren't a problem.
some of you even get attacked from the sky by Eagles!

Yep we pretty much have it all, and you forgot to add Bears, wolves, skunks etc. to the list oh weasels, minks...... what happened to all ya'll predators?