Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[lawatt]

any suggestions on how many eggs to put under a first-time broody? she's a basque hen, definitely LF but not a gigantic breed, my marans and silver-penciled plymouth rocks are all a bit bigger than her.

thanks in advance!

 

[Johnn]

I have decided to give you all a summary on my experience with broodies.
Number of Broodies: 11
Number of eggs put under altogether: 101
Number of eggs fertile: 11
Number hatched: 2
The 2 chicks turned out to be one boy and one girl, Bella (the girl chick) ended up being chicken aggressive and a egg eater and Asparagus (the boy) turned out to be human aggressive.
You have got to admit that my experience has been terrible so far!!

 

[gg706]

That is HORRIBLE! So you have had nothing but bad experiences. What did you do? Did you give your hen a couple of babies in the middle of the night and let her raise them?

 

[salt and pepper]

Are welsummers, barred rocks, or EEs know to go broody? My other hens aren't interested, but I was wondering if I have a better chance with these?

 

[Johnn]

That is HORRIBLE! So you have had nothing but bad experiences. What did you do? Did you give your hen a couple of babies in the middle of the night and let her raise them?

She hatched the 2 chicks out herself but then one fell out the nest so she left the remaining fertile eggs. The rest of the eggs I had which were fertile the mothers ditched them about 2 weeks into being broody. It has been terrible so far considering when I eventually got some to hatch they turned out bad! Also I had a Welsummer who was desperate to be a mother, she sat for 8 weeks and then when a chick was on day 20 a hen went in her nest and crushed the egg and it was the only one fertile!

 

[Johnn]

Are welsummers, barred rocks, or EEs know to go broody? My other hens aren't interested, but I was wondering if I have a better chance with these?

Welsummer's are not know for going broody but I did have one who went broody twice

 

[gg706]

She hatched the 2 chicks out herself but then one fell out the nest so she left the remaining fertile eggs. The rest of the eggs I had which were fertile the mothers ditched them about 2 weeks into being broody. It has been terrible so far considering when I eventually got some to hatch they turned out bad! Also I had a Welsummer who was desperate to be a mother, she sat for 8 weeks and then when a chick was on day 20 a hen went in her nest and crushed the egg and it was the only one fertile!

No doubt! That is terrible luck! Not that I am any expert....But I think I would wait for the welsummer to go broody again and seperate her and give her the eggs you want hatched. I had to seperate mine as my wyandottes were going in and pecking her on her comb until she left the nest. My broody has been much more happy being seperated and having privacy.

 

[Johnn]

No doubt! That is terrible luck! Not that I am any expert....But I think I would wait for the welsummer to go broody again and seperate her and give her the eggs you want hatched. I had to seperate mine as my wyandottes were going in and pecking her on her comb until she left the nest. My broody has been much more happy being seperated and having privacy.

She died , The only broody I have left is my BO who managed to hatch the two last year but I kind of blame her for their behaviour but maybe I shouldn't. I will use her to hatch again but I don't know weather to use my own eggs or not because people say aggression can be passed through genes but the dad of the aggressive cockerel was lovely.

 

[Debs55]

Are you sure she's not just kicking out the duds and the other is taking them and sitting on them? Maybe one silky is broody and the other is just pretending? I would put the ones you find back under her if they aren't smelly or cracked. And I wouldn't worry about it.

The only other thing you could do is move them and confine them to a smaller nesting area, but that creates its own set of problems with potential for broken eggs and possible abandonment of the nest entirely. I'd just tuck and not worry.

Thanks for the advice. I got home today and one is sitting on 2 eggs and the other has 3. So I think they are just stealing them from each other

 

[bobbieschicks]

So you give her the scrambled eggs while she us still sitting or after she us done?

This is the best page, with so much info.
Thanks to all for the great questions and even better answers!!

As one with her first broodie who has been sitting for almost 2 weeks , I have learned so much.

Thanks again.

I've done both. They enjoy the eggs as much as I do. I also put a small amount of garlic powder, not salt, on the eggs to help deworm them. My DH loves the smell of the eggs cooking and gets jealous when I'm making them for the girls.