Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Moni]

[/IMG]hopefully i will have some little fluffy's starting tomorrow. She and her chicks will be the 1st to try out the new broody pen i got for my birthday. So excited!!

 

[Moni]

 

[karlamaria]

The shed is closed up, but I put a makshift ramp from the door to the grass outside so when mama goes out (when I prop open the door), theoretically they can follow her... they just don't really try, just scream for her. Does she need to teach them to follow? Maybe she's too desperate herself to take the time. That's why I was thinking maybe I should carry them out the first time or two. Thoughts?

They have food and water where she's nesting (which is randomly in the corner of the shed by a hay bale, rather than in the nice shaving-filled kiddie pool I set up for her. )

my last years broody was like this, ran out and the chicks were frantic. I got my self a little net ( butterfly net) caught the babies and took them right out to her. After a few days of this they followed. Mama is to excited to go slowly and leaves them behind lol.

 

[wolftracks]

My Phoenix are not good at raising chicks, but good at hatching them out. I have 2 broodies on a nest. I gave up trying to move them, just wasn't going to work. So far out of 11 eggs they've hatched out 4 chicks. Hadn't been on this thread in so long I was excited to have chick pics to share.

 

[Johnn]

We are supposed to get snow tomorrow , hope the broody wont let any eggs roll out from under her!

 

[Audio51]

What is this made from?

 

[Audio51]

I went out this morning to bring in a few of the eggs under my broody hen to put in the incubator. She had 11 over them under her and they were due on 4/15/13. I'm not sure how this is possible, but when I reached under her to take some of the eggs, she already had 2 hatchlings under her!!! They were put under her on 3/25/13 and I have no roosters, so there is no way they can have been started any other time. Has anyone ever had this happen before? How can they hatch in 2 weeks???

 

[melissaG]

I went out this morning to bring in a few of the eggs under my broody hen to put in the incubator. She had 11 over them under her and they were due on 4/15/13. I'm not sure how this is possible, but when I reached under her to take some of the eggs, she already had 2 hatchlings under her!!! They were put under her on 3/25/13 and I have no roosters, so there is no way they can have been started any other time. Has anyone ever had this happen before? How can they hatch in 2 weeks???

It's possible, perhaps she hid them on you and moved them in from somewhere else.. I've had chickens do that.. no idea how much skillz it took them to tuck it under and take it up to the next box with them.. but yup. It can happen, or bantam eggs? or... aww, the possibilities

 

[lawatt]

my second broody, Frances the SPPR, has now traded in her three fake eggs for 13 real ones! a dozen araucana eggs, plus one from my CL Lucy i just couldn't resist adding. several of the araucana eggs are quite small, and Frances is large, so she's had no trouble tucking them all in under her. and I labeled all the incubating eggs with pencil, so will know which to remove if the other girls keep laying in the broodies' nests -- in the meantime, the fake eggs (also now labeled FAKE with a sharpie) have been distributed into the "empty" nests.

so one broody is on 10 eggs (4 birchen marans, 4 SFH, and two CL/SFH crosses) and the other is on 13 (12 araucana + one more CL/SFH cross) -- and these will be my first hatches EVER! so exciting!!!

 

[OffGridMAMA]

No activity yet with my broody #1... but I'm hoping to see or hear chicks soon

And now I have two more girls hanging out in nests all day today! I actually have purebred eggs I'd love to hatch out!!! (Sfh, spr , marans) and polish crosses..... so I'm giving them a few days just to make sure!

Possible broody #2

Possible broody #3