Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

Thanks!
I have a couple broody rocks already. I'll try to encourage a couple of brahmas. Any tips? I was planning to put a clutch of fake eggs in a couple of nests as bait. Or just put my hatching eggs in.

Maybe a dark coop with no outside access?

I usually just go with the golf balls in a good nesting area. If you have regular laying boxes you may add in a cat carrier (or something similar) with a bit of bedding in it somewhere quiet in the coop and add the fake eggs to it. I wouldn't put your good hatching eggs in an empty nest till you have a confirmed broody for them. Eggs will last a week to 10 days with minimal loss of viability, but they should be kept at a constant temp/humidity during that storage time to minimize problems with them. If you put them in a nest they may have way too much of a temp swing day to night or even if the hen is on them for a while and then off again.

 

[Island Roo]

I usually just go with the golf balls in a good nesting area. If you have regular laying boxes you may add in a cat carrier (or something similar) with a bit of bedding in it somewhere quiet in the coop and add the fake eggs to it. I wouldn't put your good hatching eggs in an empty nest till you have a confirmed broody for them. Eggs will last a week to 10 days with minimal loss of viability, but they should be kept at a constant temp/humidity during that storage time to minimize problems with them. If you put them in a nest they may have way to much of a temp swing day to night or even if the hen is on them for a while and then off again.

I've got some plywood boxes I use as portable nest boxes.- that'll be perfect. With golf balls.

If I don't get enough broodies in the next couple of days I think I'll start the eggs in the incubator. Then if I can get another broody within 3 weeks I can sneak the partially incubated eggs under her. That should work - yeah?

 

[fisherlady]

I've got some plywood boxes I use as portable nest boxes.- that'll be perfect. With golf balls.

If I don't get enough broodies in the next couple of days I think I'll start the eggs in the incubator. Then if I can get another broody within 3 weeks I can sneak the partially incubated eggs under her. That should work - yeah?

Yep, broodies don't count days, so you should be able to hatch eggs out under them if they are started in the incubator and you get someone go broody.

 

[what did I do]

Thanks Bobbies Chicks and Chiqeta for the response to my last question.

I have a new question. I have another broody hen who just went broody. Would it be ok to give the new broody hen some of the hatching eggs? I don't need any more chicks.

 

[chiqita]

My experience is if they have not been broody for 10 days or so they won't accept chicks just continue to sit and ignore the chicks.

After that usually anything goes

 

[what did I do]

My experience is if they have not been broody for 10 days or so they won't accept chicks just continue to sit and ignore the chicks.

After that usually anything goes

She has been broody only 3 days so I guess I'll let her sit on her own eggs. Thanks.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Thanks Bobbies Chicks and Chiqeta for the response to my last question.

I have a new question. I have another broody hen who just went broody. Would it be ok to give the new broody hen some of the hatching eggs? I don't need any more chicks.

I'd give it a try. Slip the hatching eggs under her and watch what she does. Smokey was broody a week when I slipped some day 17 ones under her. She hatched them and mothered them just fine. If your girl doesn't want to momma them, move the hatched ones under the other broody and let this one sit on a few eggs of her own.

 

[Susan Hillside]

Hen sometimes attacking my mother hen:
I have a mother hen with 15 chicks. They were mail order chicks that she accepted after her clutch of eggs did not hatch. I think my rooster has low fertility. I keep her and her brood in a seperate fenced in area in the chicken house with their own outdoor run. One of my hens has taken to attacking her through the fence. Any suggestions on why and how I can manage this. I have draped sheets over the fence and that has put a stop to most of it. But I am woried about when I introduce the mother hen and her brood into the flock as a whole.
Susan Odom

 

[Johnn]

I think my mother orpington is done with the chicks, when i arrived she was with them but didn't wait up for them like she usually does when running down the field and after feeding time she just left and sat in the food shed and ignored the chicks when they called for her. She doesn't mind them being with her but they have to keep up with her, not the other way around! It makes a difference from last time as she was with them until they were 22 weeks old and this time only 6 weeks. I think she is coming back into lay as she has started submitting when i walk behind her and she is getting vocally load. Does it sound like she will start laying again soon? She doesn't look as evil on this pic:

One of the chicks acting like a lost boy in the play ground:

 

[bobbieschicks]

I think my mother orpington is done with the chicks, when i arrived she was with them but didn't wait up for them like she usually does when running down the field and after feeding time she just left and sat in the food shed and ignored the chicks when they called for her. She doesn't mind them being with her but they have to keep up with her, not the other way around! It makes a difference from last time as she was with them until they were 22 weeks old and this time only 6 weeks. I think she is coming back into lay as she has started submitting when i walk behind her and she is getting vocally load. Does it sound like she will start laying again soon? She doesn't look as evil on this pic: One of the chicks acting like a lost boy in the play ground:

Yeah it sounds like she's getting ready to start laying again. Bunny stopped watching out for hers around week 5 but I've noticed them still following her around at times. One of the silky Roos has taken a shine to Bunny and acts like their daddy.