Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Betty1]

My eggs are due to hatch on my birthday!

 

[luvmychicken]

My eggs are due to hatch on my birthday!

Cool present

 

[fisherlady]

Hello everyone! I'm preparing to hatch eggs using two methods at once, broody hens and an incubator. This will be my first time hatching! I have two silkies who tend to go broody often. One is broody right now, but the fertile eggs aren't here yet! (I have no roosters in my flock) I'm trying to tempt the other silkie with a nest of ceramic eggs to see if her feelings will come around within the next 1-2 weeks when the eggs arrive. My question is, is there any harm if my first broody sits on some fake eggs for ~1 week before I give her real eggs, adding another 21 days to her set time? Will this throw off her internal clock? What's the best option here? Maybe I could give her 2-4 fake eggs, and bump it up to 8 when they're actually fertile, showing her that there are additions? Open to ideas

She should be fine, easiest way to answer is to copy one of my own posts from a few months back....

Meet Gracie.... She went broody in mid December, we gave her fertile eggs on Jan 5 and on Jan 26 she hatched out 8 chicks! My biggest concern during her 'sit'... other than the cold... was her physical condition. We made sure she always had high quality food and treats available, and her daily 'treats' were actually things like cooked multi grain rolled cereal with raisins, and chopped fish, canned corn (rinsed)or other foods with good protein or calories. It helped keep her weight up and she came through in great shape. So I would evaluate her physical condition and make your decision from there. Good luck!

 

[CarolinaHen]

Really??? Both of my Silkie hens decided to go broody this week. I have eggs in the incubator set to hatch next Sunday

Why couldn't they have done this a week ago so I could have put all of the eggs under them??? They are both sharing one nest, so you can bet the farm that I will surely try to swap the eggs they have with the chicks from the bator as soon as they hatch and put the ones they are sitting on in the bator.

 

[lindz8504]

Really???  Both of my Silkie hens decided to go broody this week.  I have eggs in the incubator set to hatch next Sunday  Why couldn't they have done this a week ago so I could have put all of the eggs under them??? They are both sharing one nest, so you can bet the farm that I will surely try to swap the eggs they have with the chicks from the bator as soon as they hatch and put the ones they are sitting on in the bator. 

What you might want to do is to slip the incubator eggs under them at lock down. That way they do hatch under the hen. Just a suggestion.

 

[CarolinaHen]

What you might want to do is to slip the incubator eggs under them at lock down. That way they do hatch under the hen. Just a suggestion.

Good idea! I usually just sneak the biddies underneath during the night if I have a broody. I hope these girls will have been broody long enough to accept babies by the time the ones in the bator hatch. If not, I'll let them just hatch their own and put the others in the brooder. It is so much easier when hens raise them though!

 

[pmcatnip]

Our two broodies and their chicks are doing great. The chicks range from 3-5 weeks old and we're starting to let them have some time in the evening to free range. No problems with the rest of the flock so far. There are 7 of our own chicks hatched at home being raised by the GLW, plus two of ours and five from the feed store being raised by the cuckoo maran.




(two buff orp chicks not shown--these little buggers just don't sit still

)

 

[ChickyD]

Violets chicks are four weeks old now and they are starting to sleep on the roost. She's a great first time Mom

 

[MEMama3]

Violets chicks are four weeks old now and they are starting to sleep on the roost. She's a great first time Mom

Awww. I love the hug appearance. I'm melting.

 

[Grannychick55]

Violets chicks are four weeks old now and they are starting to sleep on the roost. She's a great first time Mom

That is a very sweet picture. Looks like a really good mom