Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[pmcatnip]

What bhj said. The one building a clutch may well go broody though.

 

[pmcatnip]

We're coming out of an icy snap and one of my cuckoo marans is broody. I found her sitting on some eggs on the porch. The eggs were frozen solid and cracked from the expansion. For one, can't she tell the eggs are goners and for two, why would she think going into winter is a good time to have babies?

 

[1876 Farm]

I would like to know the answer to PNCARNIPS question too. I thought it would be instinctive for hens to go broody only in the spring/summer only. I've had hens since 2009 and have never had one go broody during the winter months.

Can a hen tell a bad egg from a good? Last year my hen was sitting on 9 eggs, they were all there the week before they hatched. After hatch 1 was missing, I had 7 chicks and 1 non fertile egg. Where did that 9th egg go?

 

[fisherlady]

I would like to know the answer to PNCARNIPS question too. I thought it would be instinctive for hens to go broody only in the spring/summer only. I've had hens since 2009 and have never had one go broody during the winter months.

Can a hen tell a bad egg from a good? Last year my hen was sitting on 9 eggs, they were all there the week before they hatched. After hatch 1 was missing, I had 7 chicks and 1 non fertile egg. Where did that 9th egg go?

There is no 'absolute' when it comes to broody hens... I have one who goes broody right through the winter. Gracie is currently raising 3 chicks hatched the first of December. Last winter she hatched in January. She raises them in the coop with the temps in the 20's and the only 'help' she gets is the reptile bulb (60 watt) we place in her nesting area over the watered in there. The watered in her scratching area is often froze so we swap it out twice a day.
One other broody hatched in May, and then went broody again in late August and had a hatch in September, she just left those chicks about 2 weeks ago, so don't know if she'll go broody again over the winter yet, but sure wouldn't surprise me. A third broody had a hatch in June and has shown no interest in cold weather brooding....

Some hens will roll bad eggs out of a nest, others may break and eat eggs they don't think are developing, and some folks simply have eggs disappear with no explanation ever found.... but some hens don't seem to differentiate between the good and bad eggs and will sit on them no matter what. This is the only time I intervene really. I candle at about 10 days and any that are 'clear' or obviously sloshy and not developing get pulled to avoid a problem with exploding rotten eggs later on. If any eggs fail to hatch within 24hrs of the first hatch we candle for movement or to see if they quit. 90% of the time they are pulled as 'not going to hatch' eggs and disposed of so mama hen will quit worrying about them and get out and about with the new chicks. Pulling the eggs like that works for us, but we are careful about avoiding staggered hatches, so all the eggs would be expected to hatch in the same time frame.

 

[1TurkenLover]

Some hens will roll bad eggs out of a nest, others may break and eat eggs they don't think are developing, and some folks simply have eggs disappear with no explanation ever found.... but some hens don't seem to differentiate between the good and bad eggs and will sit on them no matter what. This is the only time I intervene really. I candle at about 10 days and any that are 'clear' or obviously sloshy and not developing get pulled to avoid a problem with exploding rotten eggs later on. If any eggs fail to hatch within 24hrs of the first hatch we candle for movement or to see if they quit. 90% of the time they are pulled as 'not going to hatch' eggs and disposed of so mama hen will quit worrying about them and get out and about with the new chicks. . . . . Pulling the eggs like that works for us, but we are careful about avoiding staggered hatches, so all the eggs would be expected to hatch in the same time frame.

I'm getting my first Chicken Incubator today. and have a few eggs to put in.
1 ) How do I put all the eggs in @ Same time when they lay them every Other day.
2 ) How long from 1st egg to last egg time to put ALL in incubator ?

 

[fisherlady]

I'm getting my first Chicken Incubator today. and have a few eggs to put in.
1 ) How do I put all the eggs in @ Same time when they lay them every Other day.
2 ) How long from 1st egg to last egg time to put ALL in incubator ?

Eggs don't need 'set' in an incubator or under a hen for a number of days after being laid. They can be stored for up to 10-14 days with good viability. Now the fertility does decline over time, so the less time they are stored, the more likely they will be to hatch, but 10 days should be plenty of time to gather enough eggs to make a good clutch for an average hen.

Eggs should be stored in a cool environment (think basement stairwell or broom closet) I think the suggested temps are 55-65 Fahrenheit, I use a cardboard egg carton, store them pointy side down and place a 1 inch wood block under one end and switch the block from one end to the other twice a day (tilting helps prevent the yolk from sticking to the shell if it is in contact with it for a long period of time). I actually have a dark corner of my kitchen counter that works for me. As you place the eggs into your storage container I would date them so you know how many days they have been stored so you can swap out the oldest if you are simply storing them in the hopes that a hen goes broody. If you are just collecting them to be used within a week it really doesn't matter so much. You can just mark them however you normally would when you set them in the incubator or under the hen.
We have used this method numerous times for our broody hens. We often have a carton of eggs from our favorite hens or best meaty birds setting on the counter in 'wait mode'. Then when we have a hen go broody we are ready with a clutch of preferred eggs for her, based on what our breeding needs are at the time.

I believe there are numerous threads mentioning storage of hatching eggs, do a search on 'how to store hatching eggs' to get reading lists to go through for more or different methods people use. I only do small amounts and am by no means an expert at it. Others undoubtedly have more know how than me.

To avoid staggered hatches I would set eggs all at the same time, or at most no more than 24hrs from first to last set. Extending that time frame may not be a big deal if you are incubating and brooding in your house, but can cause more problems for a broody hatch. No reason to invite more problems for a broody if it is easy to avoid them.

Edit to add.... a staggered hatch may cause trouble with humidity settings for the last 3 days or so in an incubator. You need to research for specific incubator hatching to find out how folks deal with the humidity needs with staggered hatches. My experience is with broody hens and they take care of humidity settings for us.

 

[bethnesbitt]

I have so somewhat disagree with the term "unable to make a hen go broody".

We have golden comets and they are not supposed to be broody, yet, this past summer a few went broody, first one, than a few others, almost as if the broodiness became infectiousness. Yes, they were broody, they pecked me, ruffled their feathers and puffed out. One Missouri 357 became the same way, so I had her sit on a batch of eggs, she sat but only one was fertile. Being unsure of the mother instincts I immediately removed the chick and raised it by hand.

Somebody gave us a few Polish laced hens with the rooster and Amerigana hens with a rooster. I want to do this the old fashion way and do have two English game hens that are sitters, as well as good mothers. What I was hoping to do was build a Sitting pens separate and would love to reproduce these Amerigana and Polish chickens, they are a great way of making money since so many people want them for looks. If I were to build a sitting nest, should there be a number to be careful for the broody hens, will they fight, should each hen have it's own area?

To reproduce the Amrigana hens I do know we need to isolate them in an area with the rooster so that he can breed them, but am unsure if they will go broody yet or if we will just have to use the two game hens for sitting.

 

[chicken farmer]

I FINALLY got a tarp for the pen with my broody white silkie hen in it and I put straw on the ground where the tarp was and theres 4 days till they should hatch,i can't wait till Thursday!

 

[pmcatnip]

I have so somewhat disagree with the term "unable to make a hen go broody".

We have golden comets and they are not supposed to be broody, yet, this past summer a few went broody, first one, than a few others, almost as if the broodiness became infectiousness. Yes, they were broody, they pecked me, ruffled their feathers and puffed out. One Missouri 357 became the same way, so I had her sit on a batch of eggs, she sat but only one was fertile. Being unsure of the mother instincts I immediately removed the chick and raised it by hand.

Interesting. Were you able to determine any factors that may have made them go broody? There have been times I wanted to encourage hens to go broody but all the internet wisdom says you can't make it happen. If you figure it out let me know!

This summer I noticed a couple hens going broody because all the cool hens were doing it (I guess it was fashionable?) but they weren't committed. A case of monkey see monkey do, I think. It makes me wonder if setting a fake chicken in a nest box for a while would work the same way that golf balls show them to start laying in that spot.

 

[bethnesbitt]

Interesting. Were you able to determine any factors that may have made them go broody? There have been times I wanted to encourage hens to go broody but all the internet wisdom says you can't make it happen. If you figure it out let me know!

This summer I noticed a couple hens going broody because all the cool hens were doing it (I guess it was fashionable?) but they weren't committed. A case of monkey see monkey do, I think. It makes me wonder if setting a fake chicken in a nest box for a while would work the same way that golf balls show them to start laying in that spot.

That is what you would think the golf balls are for, they say you can't make a chicken go broody but to put golf balls in a nst to see if that will make them sit, isn't that almost the same idea as getting them to go broody?

We have 100 chickens and pick up the eggs twice a day because, according to one book I read, to many eggs will cause some hens to brood if you do not pick up the eggs frequently. One English Game hen we have is just very broody so we decided to hatch the old fashion way and moved her to her own area to sit. She sat and raised the chicks twice, is finishing up on raising this last brood right now. I never did the golf ball thing, the Game Hen was down in the main chicken house, kept getting broody, so I grabbed enough eggs, put them in a new nest, moved her and she sat right on them. The second time she would not sit when I put eggs in the nest so I wondered, well what I I put her back down with all the laying hens, and sure enough she sat after a few days. Again I moved her to the secluded area, that time she was agitated for a few hours, but did eventually sit. A few buff orphingtons went broody but when I moved them they never even sat, one even started eating the eggs, it seemed they would only go broody down in the main house, which we did not want, so we gave up on those.

Now with these chickens that we want to reproduce, we have decided to make a large area just for sitting hens. Somebody is going to give us a few English Game Pullets, so that helps with they worry of having enough sitting hens. This is because they know we do the old fashion hatching and would like a few of the Polish Laced and Amerigana Chickens for themselves.

Basically, they issue with broodiness is if I left to many eggs in a nest for a long period of time during any given day.