Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bumpercarr]

Can someone please make me a long photo with something with livestock/gardening/ etc because I made a Farm buy sell trade page and I need a cover photo but I don't know how to make one so I would REALLY appreciate it if someone could make me a calloge of homestead or livetock pictures thanks so much and it said it has to be 400 pixels long or somehting....thanks soooo much

I have absolutely no idea what you are asking for.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Can someone please make me a long photo with something with livestock/gardening/ etc because I made a Farm buy sell trade page and I need a cover photo but I don't know how to make one so I would REALLY appreciate it if someone could make me a calloge of homestead or livetock pictures thanks so much and it said it has to be 400 pixels long or somehting....thanks soooo much

Is this for the BYC Forum buy/sell page?

You should be able to simply upload a graphic or photo of your own. Go to your member page and click on photos...upload...then upload from your computer in jpeg or gif

The photo editor in BYC will instruct you as to size.

Is that what you mean?

Lady of McCamley

 

[RI Redd]

Thanks for all the help everyone ! I will let you know the turn out.

 

[chicken farmer]

Is this for the BYC Forum buy/sell page?

You should be able to simply upload a graphic or photo of your own. Go to your member page and click on photos...upload...then upload from your computer in jpeg or gif

The photo editor in BYC will instruct you as to size.

Is that what you mean?

Lady of McCamley

No it's for a group I made on facebook

 

[quailtrail]

Well day #4 and she is off and been running around outside for 2 hrs now I put a bunch of shavings in there to keep from them from getting too cold I went to check and there is a 5 th egg...so do they lay when broody or was she off and someone else laid an egg? I'm sad I was hoping she would stay on them

 

[Lady of McCamley]

No it's for a group I made on facebook

You need to upload to facebook and deal with their editors to manipulate your photos for that page.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Well day #4 and she is off and been running around outside for 2 hrs now

I put a bunch of shavings in there to keep from them from getting too cold

I went to check and there is a 5 th egg...so do they lay when broody or was she off and someone else laid an egg? I'm sad I was hoping she would stay on them

She may have laid it or someone else...hard to know. She doesn't sound committed to brooding yet, but don't give up hope. Mark the eggs if you haven't already. Watch her. She may finally settle or just stop. Some hens never fully commit to brooding. It is totally up to the toss of the genes if the individual hen has enough genetics for strong brooding...some breeds are more likely than others.

If you have your heart set on broody hatching, buying a Silkie will almost always solve that problem. But maybe you'll luck out and this girl will settle for you.

One thing that might help...I don't know if you've mentioned what you've done...but make sure if she is a less dominant hen that she can't be pushed off the nest by more assertive hens. Some less dominant hens even though they want to brood can be intimidated off the nest. I find I need to completely separate them from the flock and give them their own quiet corner to keep them on the nest.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Sydney Acres]

Well day #4 and she is off and been running around outside for 2 hrs now

I put a bunch of shavings in there to keep from them from getting too cold

I went to check and there is a 5 th egg...so do they lay when broody or was she off and someone else laid an egg? I'm sad I was hoping she would stay on them

My hens either totally stop laying when they go broody, or only lay into the first day. I've only had one hen lay the second day, and she had started her brood late in the evening, so actually only 36 hours into her brood. If they lay too far into their brood, then the clutch won't all hatch within a 1-2 day time frame, and she will have to abandon the late eggs in order to take care of the active chicks. (That is assuming, of course, that they are fully broody. Some hens will have a mild, on and off again brood. They'll cluck but not set, or they'll set for an hour or a day but not have a full on commitment. Those hens can continue laying like normal until the hormones balance out and they either stop brooding altogether, or they brood full-on.)

If you found a new egg on Day #4 in the nest of a full-on broody, it probably came from another hen, either while the broody was off the nest, or the other hen pushed in beside her while she was trying to brood. Sometimes other hens will attack a broody for hogging the nest, and a sensitive broody can be driven off. If you see wounds or scabs on your broody's comb, you know she's being harassed.

Most broodies prefer a private area that is quiet and has dim lighting (although there are exceptions). That will give you your best chance of her sticking with the brood for the full time needed. If you need to move a broody, do it quickly, efficiently, quietly, and at night. This has to be a no-drama event. Have the new nest area all ready to go, with the appropriate bedding, box, whatever you plan to use. It should be in an area where she cannot go back to her original nest, if possible. Get some of her original nesting material, feathers that she's plucked, and the eggs moved with her. Depending on your circumstances, it may be best to do this all in one trip, or in two trips, but have everything planned out before you do it. I personally prefer to have the broody pen all ready to go, and have a nest in a box, as opposed to a nest that can't be easily picked up and moved. I collect some of the original nest bedding and brood feathers earlier in the evening, and put a little bit of the new nest bedding in her original nest at that time so she becomes familiar with the smell before the move. I put several heat packs in the new nest box and cover it to slightly warm the bedding. Then after it's fully dark and she hasn't been disturbed for at least 3-4 hours, I wash my hands (because I'll be touching the eggs and don't want to get any new bacteria from me on them), remove the heat packs from the new nest box and take it to her with the dimmest light where I can see what I'm doing. (Important note: If you're using a flashlight in your pocket, be sure that the light cannot fall out of your pocket when you bend over. Luckily, it missed the eggs by an inch!!!) I pick her up and put her in the new nest box, then quickly put the eggs under her as she wiggles in to settle them in the right place. I keep the light out of her face, and have it as dim as possible, or off, so she's not disturbed by the light and can't see her original nest. Once she's settled in the nestbox, I pick it up and slowly walk it to the new location. (Note: my broodies are very tame and get handled daily. This may not be as easy with a bird that never gets touched.) Typically this can be done without the broody breaking her "trance," which keeps her on the nest. When she can see where she is in the morning she will have been on the new nest for 6-10 hours already, and hopefully will accept the new location. If not, make the location darker (build a large wire cage over the nestbox and put a sheet over it) and hopefully she will settle down.

If laying hens have access to broody nests, it is very important to mark each egg that the broody started with. Use a pencil or non-toxic marker to draw a circle around the entire middle of the egg so that it can be seen no matter what position the egg is in. That way you can keep track of which eggs are the originals, and remove any new eggs from other hens. The new eggs, if laid more than two days after the start of the brood, won't hatch in time to be part of the clutch, so there's little benefit in brooding them unless you want to finish them in an incubator. But if she gets too many eggs (6-8 for a first time broody, 10-16 for an experienced broody, depending on her size) she may not be able to rotate or cover the eggs properly, and some embryos may die. The eggs get rotated from the center to the periphery regularly, so all may take their turn getting cold. Too many eggs can end up with a smaller hatch than you'd have gotten if you'd stuck with just a few eggs, or sometimes a complete loss.

 

[quailtrail]

She never went back to the nest...oh well placed them in the incubator with the others...maybe next time...

 

[Mrs Hutcherson]

One of my girls went broody so I gave her some eggs, does anyone know what a blue laced red wyandotte rooster over a barred rock hen would look like?