Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

You are correct. Most will not, but, it is very nice when they co-nest. Specially in this cold.

For sure.

 

[3 NH reds]

born December 23rd. This pic was taken on Christmas day. 23F was the high that day. Today it is in the single digits and mama and babies are out and about. Mama provides all of the heat a baby needs. Heat will only do harm in the long run.

Darn now you have me thinking about a winter hatch, I always thought it was bad but now I see it is possible. If my Buff continues to sit on eggs for a few days I could put my NH red layer in the dormant Turkey coop with a Jersey Giant rooster and get some fertile eggs for Bufff to hatch. How long after a match up are the eggs fertile? 3 day a week or? With a coop for Buff she could raise them hassle free. I will just have to clean the heck out of the coop when getting turkey late spring if all this works out.

 

[prizma]

Tomorrow will be day 1 if you set the eggs today.

Oh okay!! I thought today would count as day 1. Thank you!!

 

[prizma]

If you are going to give her eggs decide how many you want, gather them over a day or two and keep them somewhere cool with pointed end down... when you have the right number collected then you can give them all to her at once to start the process. If you add a couple eggs each day for two or three days to her you will cause a problem when it is time for them to hatch.... it will cause a 'staggered hatch', and the hen would have to decide to either stay on the eggs that still need to hatch and possibly neglect already hatched chicks, or take care of the hatched chicks and neglect the eggs still in the nest.
Not a good situation. Spreading the hatch out is hard on someone... any way you look at it.
I kept my silkie on 'dummy eggs' for a while before I got the eggs that I wanted her to hatch out... then I swapped them for the dummy eggs... and now we wait!!
Also, mark the eggs that you give her to sit on... the other hens will try to lay more eggs in with her if they can and you may have to remove extras each day!

I decided to give her fresh eggs that were just laid today by some other girls. So I'm putting them all under her today and she's ready to go! She has a very determined look about her! Thank you for the tip about marking the eggs, I'm about to go out and do that. And if tomorrow starts counting as day 1, then if I'm not mistaken, they are due to hatch on February 14th, for Valentine's Day! Perfect! Teehee!

 

[fisherlady]

I decided to give her fresh eggs that were just laid today by some other girls. So I'm putting them all under her today and she's ready to go! She has a very determined look about her! Thank you for the tip about marking the eggs, I'm about to go out and do that. And if tomorrow starts counting as day 1, then if I'm not mistaken, they are due to hatch on February 14th, for Valentine's Day! Perfect! Teehee!

Sounds great! Hhmmmm... I'll have to remember the date for next year.... 'hey honey, I want to hatch out a few more chicks, you know it will be Valentine's day when they hatch!'.... hehehehe... what guy would dare say "NO" to that one?????

 

[prizma]

Sounds great! Hhmmmm... I'll have to remember the date for next year.... 'hey honey, I want to hatch out a few more chicks, you know it will be Valentine's day when they hatch!'.... hehehehe... what guy would dare say "NO" to that one?????

lol I know, right? My hubby isn't going to be thrilled when I tell him I decided to let her hatch babies, but here's to hoping the hatch date will soften him up a bit!

 

[stonykill]

Darn now you have me thinking about a winter hatch, I always thought it was bad but now I see it is possible. If my Buff continues to sit on eggs for a few days I could put my NH red layer in the dormant Turkey coop with a Jersey Giant rooster and get some fertile eggs for Bufff to hatch. How long after a match up are the eggs fertile? 3 day a week or? With a coop for Buff she could raise them hassle free. I will just have to clean the heck out of the coop when getting turkey late spring if all this works out.

well I don't encourage my girls to brood in the winter. Some just do

. All of my coops a;ready have roosters in them, so I'm not sure about how quickly the eggs are fertile. As I've never had to think about it

 

[delisha]

it takes 23 hours for an egg to develope. Fertility needs to happen before. Most big breeders use a two week window to make sure another cockerel has not fertilized the egg before the match up. Because semen is viable in the hen for two weeks.

If you put her with a rooster, check the fertility after day two. Keep checking with every egg till you are good to go.

I concure with Stony. I would not encourage a winter hatch. This has been a wierd winter and this is the first time any of my birds have gone broody in January. I did try to break her for a week before I just let her set.

 

[tommysgirl]

delisha, said

Usually if a chicken goes broody it is when they lay about 7-10 eggs in the same nest. They do not set the nest until the eggs all have been layed, some hens may lay during the first few days, but, usually not. All her egg laying energy goes into nesting. We, as egg collectors take eggs out of the nest daily to discourage a hen from going broody. Some go broody reguardless if we take the eggs or not."


THANK YOU!!!! I now have a couple more questions for you or anyone else out there

How does one check for fertility?

Do people just leave eggs in a nest for a week or more to encourage broodiness? Are they really fooled by the falsies? Is it usually free ranged hens then that hide eggs and then go broody with a nestfull of their own? I guess my confusion is this. If a person like me is out there collecting eggs a couple of times a day even a broody hen might not go broody because we are collecting the eggs and she never gets a clutch together.

I am getting a couple of hens Speckled Sussex and Dorkings specifically because the broodiness is still a part of their behavior. I want to encourage it in the best way so they will take care of hatching and brooding for me.

 

[pysankigirl]

How does one check for fertility? break an egg open and look for a bullseye instead of a white dot on the yolk.

Do people just leave eggs in a nest for a week or more to encourage broodiness? yes...or golf balls Are they really fooled by the falsies?Yup Is it usually free ranged hens then that hide eggs and then go broody with a nestfull of their own?Yup I guess my confusion is this. If a person like me is out there collecting eggs a couple of times a day even a broody hen might not go broody because we are collecting the eggs and she never gets a clutch together.yup

I am getting a couple of hens Speckled Sussex and Dorkings specifically because the broodiness is still a part of their behavior. I want to encourage it in the best way so they will take care of hatching and brooding for me.