Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[daesee]

Thanks again for the advice. Here is Lulu and her three chicks, just hours old. They hatched a bit earlier than expected (20.5 days). No sign of the other two even though she is trying to roll them out of their eggs. 3 out of 5 isn't bad though, and so cute!

 

[CoopChick719]

I just read the answer to my questions a few post ago I was wondering if going broody was contagious because 1 of my hens went broody and then within 3 days there are 8 that are it seems like everyone wants to sit at the same time, we are out of room for egg laying. I also wanted to ask if anyone has ever had a chicken steal eggs I have a banty that is broody I put a big tomatoe cage around her and right next to her another hen is sitting and I caught the banty putting her head though the squares and getting eggs right out from under the other hen and pulling them through the wire and putting them under her I was looking for a snake because the eggs under the hen were disappering and I could not figure out where they were going until I saw banty stealing them.

My 2 broodies stole each others eggs. Sometimes reaching right under each other and rolling the egg out. Funniest thing to watch!!

LOL If it were me and I was sitting on a mess of soon to be kids I'd be sneaking the eggs I was sitting on under the chicken next to me!!!!

That banty chicken has it all wrong.

 

[Jharper]

My hen has 7 chicks that are 4 1/2 weeks old and I am having to be forced to sell them Saturday. Will they be ok? I mean we had to sell her last ones and they weren't but 3 1/2 weeks old and she didn't hatch those off, but she did these.

 

[chickeneer45]

Okay so I have three hens and one has baby chicks right now because she went broody about a month ago. The other two have been acting odd recently. One is brown and the other is black and they keep on going "broody". Its really weird. They take turns sitting on the eggs but it seems to me like the brown one is much more committed. Anyways, both of them will sit on the eggs whenever they get a chance but the thing is that they are both at the very bottom of the pecking order. So whenever "big momma" comes into the coop with her chicks she bullies whoever is sitting on the eggs near her (90% of the time the brown one who is the absolute lowest in the pecking order). So then the brown one has to leave to avoid being attacked. I decided that since this was happening I could put the brown one in a cage by itself to be broody in peace... The only probably with that is that she hates humans. Out of all of my chickens, she is the most skittish and untrusting. So today I set up a cage with food and water and bedding for her. I went out when it was dark and she was sleeping. Big momma was now sitting on the eggs along with her chicks and the brown one was huddled in a corner sitting on bedding. She still appeared to be broody so I grabbed her up really quick and put her in the cage, but
I still had to get the eggs. So I lifted up big momma and pulled them all out and I put them in the cage with brown chicken. But as I was doing that, brown chicken ( who was very distressed) escaped from the cage and ran back into the coop. By this time, all of the chickens were awake and probably distressed. I spent 5-10 minutes trying to catch her. Meanwhile, there were still a couple of eggs in the coop, and when I looked back in, the third hen was sitting on them contently. Anyways, I finally caught brown chicken and put her in the cage with the eggs. She was very upset- understandably. In the morning I will check on her again, but I have a bad feeling that I broke her of her broodiness, but
i guess I will see. Any advice would be great on this topic. Thanks!

 

[bobbieschicks]

My hen has 7 chicks that are 4 1/2 weeks old and I am having to be forced to sell them Saturday. Will they be ok? I mean we had to sell her last ones and they weren't but 3 1/2 weeks old and she didn't hatch those off, but she did these.

Yes they'll be fine. Unless its super freezing cold where you are they won't need a heat lamp. Try to sell them in batches of 3 or more so they can still huddle together and protect each other. That's usually when the broody stops mothering them and they're on their own anyways.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Looks like its just the one chick for Vanilla Ice and Shirley Jones. They were outside the coop with it last night while the other egg lay in the coop unattended. When I tried to scoop up the baby I got attacked by two mean broody mommas. Managed to get it in the coop and the mommas eventually got up there too. They are super protective.

 

[Jharper]

Yes they'll be fine. Unless its super freezing cold where you are they won't need a heat lamp. Try to sell them in batches of 3 or more so they can still huddle together and protect each other. That's usually when the broody stops mothering them and they're on their own anyways.

The high is in the 90's all this week so I believe that they don't need a heat lamp.

 

[OHfarmerswife]

I have a baby!!!!! 1 of 12, so far. Was so worried with the severe thunderstorms last night. Will be difficult to start away from the coop today. Thank goodness it's pouring.

 

[Johnn]

They are getting so big!:

 

[OHfarmerswife]

They are getting so big!:

soooooo cute