Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[gabrielle1976]

Ok 2 questions about my broody hen and her chicks

#1. What will be better when I take her chicks from her ( if I cant ship them with her) doing it a day or two befor she shipps out or doing it when Im getting her ready to ship?? Will she be more anxious in the box while being shipped if she just had her chicks taken? Or is doing it a few days befor just dragging out her anguish as she will still hear them peeping for her.?
#2. Would it be feasble to ship 3 weekish old chicks with there mother in a shipping box or are they to young to go up to 3 days with nothing but grow gel ?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

 

[delisha]

Ok 2 questions about my broody hen and her chicks

#1. What will be better when I take her chicks from her ( if I cant ship them with her) doing it a day or two befor she shipps out or doing it when Im getting her ready to ship?? Will she be more anxious in the box while being shipped if she just had her chicks taken? Or is doing it a few days befor just dragging out her anguish as she will still hear them peeping for her.?
#2. Would it be feasble to ship 3 weekish old chicks with there mother in a shipping box or are they to young to go up to 3 days with nothing but grow gel ?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

1. If you are seperating them I do not think it will matter if you ship same day or earlier or later. Shipping is stressful, but, they be should fine no matter what you decide.

2. If you decide to ship together you could put in a piece of cabbage. That will help with moisture too.

 

[CoopChick719]

Hatch day is Feb. 1st for my little Sizzle w/the 6 assorted eggs under her. She's in the coop with 4 other hens & 1 roo.
I know that usually no one messes w/a broody mama & her chicks but I have 1 hen who I'm not sure I'd trust w/chicks. I'm going to build a pen around mama & babies but something see through so everyone can see each other.

I'd like to candle the eggs 1 more time. I'm new at this. I think at least 5 eggs are good. #6 looked porous but I put it back under her because I thought I saw a small dark mass in it. What is the last day that I should candle? Day 19? Day 20?

 

[fisherlady]

Hatch day is Feb. 1st for my little Sizzle w/the 6 assorted eggs under her. She's in the coop with 4 other hens & 1 roo.
I know that usually no one messes w/a broody mama & her chicks but I have 1 hen who I'm not sure I'd trust w/chicks. I'm going to build a pen around mama & babies but something see through so everyone can see each other.

I'd like to candle the eggs 1 more time. I'm new at this. I think at least 5 eggs are good. #6 looked porous but I put it back under her because I thought I saw a small dark mass in it. What is the last day that I should candle? Day 19? Day 20?

Our last candling was done on day 10 (we had also done one on day 7)... we saw clear movement then so decided to leave them alone. But our coop temps were in the 20s and for our last week it was frequently in the teens. So we figured the less we messed with the hen and eggs the better we were.
Ours all hatched on day 21, which we were amazed and tickled about. I don't know if anything we did or didn't do would have changed things, but with the cold temps I went with letting the broody do her thing and it worked for us.
Other than changing air cell size I'm not sure what all else you will see that far along... unless you are worried about a bad egg?

 

[CoopChick719]

Thank you fisherlady! I candled on Day 10. This past week we've had temps in the teens, single digits & negative #'s so I haven't messed with her at all. We're supposed to have the same this week. The porous egg is the one I'm a little concerned with. I did # the eggs and she does let me reach under her without too much fuss. Maybe I'll just stop worrying and let it be. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pics by this weekend!

 

[delisha]

Thank you fisherlady! I candled on Day 10. This past week we've had temps in the teens, single digits & negative #'s so I haven't messed with her at all. We're supposed to have the same this week. The porous egg is the one I'm a little concerned with. I did # the eggs and she does let me reach under her without too much fuss. Maybe I'll just stop worrying and let it be. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pics by this weekend!

I do not mess with the eggs at all..I have never candled eggs under a hen or a duck. I know some do. We have had some wicked cold nights. -20 was the coldest. She is setting tight. We should have some chicks next weekend..I think the eggs are due to hatch on the first or second...

 

[fisherlady]

Thank you fisherlady! I candled on Day 10. This past week we've had temps in the teens, single digits & negative #'s so I haven't messed with her at all. We're supposed to have the same this week. The porous egg is the one I'm a little concerned with. I did # the eggs and she does let me reach under her without too much fuss. Maybe I'll just stop worrying and let it be. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pics by this weekend!

Hoping you do! I know we worried a lot, even though our common sense told us otherwise... it's frustrating not knowing what is going on! I guess deep down we all have some control issues that working with a broody hen just drives nuts! LOL

Good luck to you, and your broody! Will look forward to some pics!

 

[bobbieschicks]

So you don't section off the mom and eggs? Fancy Nancy has set up shop in the nesting boxes a foot off the ground. I was thinking that I'd put her in a chicken wire cage of sorts with a nest inside the coop (at floor level) when all was ready to go. I wasn't sure what to do when the chicks hatched. Fancy is super sweet, but certainly not wimpy. Perhaps I should trust her to fend off any unwelcome attention from the other girls.

Topsy had 3 broods in 2012. That was her 1st year of brooding. She will be 70 weeks old on Weds. The 1st and 2nd broods were shipped eggs. The 3rd one was with her eggs with the partridge silky rooster.

The first two times I put her in a special sectioned off area of the coop - it was a bit of a pain, but it made me feel better about putting shipped eggs under her. The last time I let her hatch her own eggs. She wouldn't leave the nestbox - so I just left 5 eggs under her. Only one egg ever got smooshed - it wasn't viable and I think she purposefully smooshed it. Boy did it stink! When the eggs finally hatched I thought I would have to intervene somehow - but no. She got all four babies down herself. They were running around on the floor of the coop with her when I went out to clean up. She moved them to another area of the coop - in a corner and that's where they have stayed. Topsy abandoned them around the 6th week, but Vanilla Ice stayed with them. Then Vanilla finally abandoned them around week 10 and moved up on the roost. She is now 24 weeks old and starting to be mated by the rooster - so she needed to move on. Topsy was trying to go broody again and the babies had joined her on the floor on the coop. She's since abandoned being broody - but hasn't left the floor nest at night - so the three 12 week old babies (one disappeared a week ago) huddle with her on the floor.

This was one of my earlier broods - Smokey on the left and Topsy on the right divided with landscape fabric from each other and hardware cloth from the rest of the flock.


Here's another one of my early attempts at helping the broodies - neither one stayed in the broody containers I provided. They moved their eggs out onto the straw or shavings.



Here's the nest box area of my coop. Topsy sat the entire time in the favorite box - the one on the right that has the White Leghorn in it in this pic. She was joined by her previous "daughter" Vanilla Ice who sat in the box with her pretty much the whole time after Vanilla's hatchmate was killed by a hawk. Vanilla was never broody - she just helped with the momma aspect of it. So cutte to watch them both calling the chicks to food.



Topsy is the black silkie and her baby Vanilla Ice is the white/splash silkie mix. The 4 little silkies are against the run door.


Here is Vanilla Ice forcing her way into the nest box with Topsy shortly after her hatchmate was killed by a hawk. I just let Topsy hatch here because I wasn't worried about the cost of the eggs if they didn't make it. Plus it was easier on me.


I forgot to put in this post that the chicks that Topsy hatched in the nest box, that is 20" off the ground, were silky chicks. They were teeny tiny and by the 2nd day she had them out of the nestbox and down on the floor of the coop - without my help. I didn't watch them get down. They might have fluttered down to the ladder first then hopped to the ground. But judging from the way they exited the coop the first time - I think they probably just jumped from the edge down. It's also possible that Topsy brought them down herself as I have seen her carry ping pong balls under her wings.

I say all this to help reduce your fears about the babies dying from falling out of the nest box. Does it happen - yes it could - but that doesn't mean it will.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Hatch day is Feb. 1st for my little Sizzle w/the 6 assorted eggs under her. She's in the coop with 4 other hens & 1 roo.
I know that usually no one messes w/a broody mama & her chicks but I have 1 hen who I'm not sure I'd trust w/chicks. I'm going to build a pen around mama & babies but something see through so everyone can see each other.

I'd like to candle the eggs 1 more time. I'm new at this. I think at least 5 eggs are good. #6 looked porous but I put it back under her because I thought I saw a small dark mass in it. What is the last day that I should candle? Day 19? Day 20?

I put up a piece of hardware cloth between the broody area and the main coop the first couple of times I had broodies. Then I stopped doing it when I found how clever the chickens were - they would go over the wire and squeeze through a tiny gap to get in/out. I had found older chickens in the broody area and chicks in the main coop. The 1st one didn't bother me because the broody will take care of her babies - but the second one was troublesome because only the broody would take care of the chicks - so one running around loose was a danger. Still not sure how the baby got around that hardware cloth - but they are resourceful. If you decide to wire them off be sure to make it the larger chicken wire so the baby can run back and forth - but the bigger ones will hopefully not get in.

I wouldn't bother to candle the eggs at this point - they're due this weekend. You will know if they are going to hatch - she will manipulate them herself and show you. She will abandon the eggs that won't hatch - but don't be too quick to pull them if it's warm where you are. I give the eggs longer to hatch in cold weather. Maybe day 25 I would candle to see if still viable. Remove any stinkers or cracked eggs. If you must candle this week don't do it past Weds. as she is manipulating the temps and humidity for the eggs. And at this point you will probably see a big dark patch and that's about it.

Oh and the sweetest little pullet will become the most ferocious momma should anyone dare touch her babies. Smokey, my Aruacana EE, was so nice her 1st brood I petted her and rubbed her and she let me pick up her babies and everything was lovey dovey. Then on the 2nd day the rooster got up in the coop with her and for some weird reason picked up the Welsummer baby and flung it. It wasn't hurt - but Smokey went crazy! She flew at the rooster and attacked him. No one could come near her babies after that - not even me. So I wouldn't worry too much about momma taking care of babies.

Topsy, my silky, teaches her offspring to avoid trouble. She does a fantastic job of teaching them who is in charge and how to duck and run if the need arises. She will however not back down if someone is trying to hurt her babies. She becomes just as fierce as Smokey and will attack if necessary.

 

[3 NH reds]

I need broody hen help, please.
My Buff Orpington just went broody. She is currently sitting on about a half dozen unfertilized eggs, which I will be replacing with fertile eggs I've had in my incubator for a few days. I also want to move her out of the henhouse and into the garage to a safe, cozy brooder.
Can I just move her off of the nest and onto the eggs I want her to hatch? Do I need to be sneaky about this?

The best way I have found was to use the same nesting box when moving a broody, I use one from tractor supply so it is small and easy to move. I nevertook her out of the box. When you do move her bring some of the bedding with her it will be familiar to her. As far as egg swapping use the advice here in the thread and swap them at night.

Hoping you do! I know we worried a lot, even though our common sense told us otherwise... it's frustrating not knowing what is going on! I guess deep down we all have some control issues that working with a broody hen just drives nuts! LOL

Good luck to you, and your broody! Will look forward to some pics!

I had this problem the 1st time, I read books so I thought I should be in charge. But low and behold; #1 chickens don't read books, # 2 they do it all by instinct. I got out of the way and all was well.