Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[kannna]

Thank you.

She

is a blue splash marans. One of the other eggs is peeping. Hopefully it will get out ok. There were only three to begin with. I think the last one is a dud.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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Congrats on the first, waiting to hear about the rest of the hatch,

 

[Miss Lydia]

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It shouldn 't have any problem, isn't that cool that you can hear them in the shell?

 

[stuckinthecity]

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I think he got 21 chicks from that hatch. It was a ton! It was funny watching her try to keep up with all those babies too.

You know, now I have this fear of OMG, what if all 18 ARE viable? lol I really don't want that many...I'm thinking only like half will be viable then some of those may not hatch lol. Guess we will see.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch!

haha And even if you do end up with that many... find a friend that wants some chickens! Or you can just send em my way...

 

[HappyTalons]

Maybe this is obvious to everyone, but apparently black sex links don't make good broodies. Or at least *our* black sex link is terrible at it. Granted we started with mail ordered eggs but we had one hatch, which she promptly stepped on and crushed. We had 7 eggs remaining which I just broke open, they were all dead at different ages, some close to full term but none completely at full term which to me says she wasn't very good at keeping them consistently warm. On top of that she barely ate anything and is now pretty weak. Remind me to never trust a broody hen again!

 

[hokankai]

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You're right! Sex-links are produced for their LACK of broodiness. You also need to take them off the nest to eat/drink, or at least leave some food and water near the nest so she can access it.

Don't give up on broodies! They do such a great job, you just need to get the right broody! There are a lot of breeds that do an excellent job. Unfortunately, sex-links are definitely not on that list.

 

[hensonly]

I'm delighted to find this thread! I wanted a broody dual purpose breed, so I got Dorkings. They are eight months old, and three have gone broody this past month. I didn't plan to hatch anything this year, didn't expect them to go broody so young, but am delighted to know that at least some will do so. I sent some eggs to a breeder a couple of hours away from me, and they should have hatched this past Friday (in an incubator). I'm so pleased to be able to have a preview of what I can expect to get next spring when I hatch my own.

So glad to have this thread to read in the meantime...I'm subscribing to it right now!

 

[Miss Lydia]

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hey just wondering if the chick hatched out yet?

 

[featherz]

It's hot today, so new mommy brought 'her' brinsea chicks out today. They are little heck raisers - everytime I look one is either hanging off a wattle or trying to peck her in the eye. She seems to be handling it well, so I am glad I gave her chicks almost a week early - she's still got a nice red comb, unlike my other broody who is just now getting over the 'pale, broody for a month, hasn't eaten well' look.

 

[Alexander]

Nice pictures.I wonder,doesn't see feel strange that her chicks are white?