Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Chickenny]

@Sydney Acres we bought fertile eggs and stuck them under one broody hen, shortly there after the other 3 hens decided they wanted to be mommas too! We don't have am incubator but I will get one from a friend to have on hand. So far everything looks good, one hen who has no eggs to sit on just waits around has finally nestled between two of the hens and all seems well. I'm trying to reduce the amount of times I open the coop and look in, since she doesn't seem that broody she usually gets up and starts moving sound when I open the coop. That's when disaster can happen. So I'm onlycchecking once in the morning once at lunch and then before bed. Is there anything else I can do for these ladies or just let nature take it course for the most part?
Maybe next time we will do incubation or at least sperate the one broody hen since it seems to be so 'contagious' with our hens lol

 

[jtbrown]

Allowing nature to take its course has worked for me. Some people have had bad 'group broody' hatch experiences. We have been lucky with no broken eggs and successful group rearing of hatchlings 3 times now.

Right now I have a Mille fleur d'uccles and Old English game hen raising 4 chicks with coparenting, lol. The chicks actually hatched under the Mille fleur, the eggs were a no go (candles and didn't develop) under the old English, she waited a day and couldn't stand it, and started with one chick. Now the 4 chicks are 2 1/2 weeks old and the hens raise them side by side, both calling them, etc.

It helps if all the eggs go under at the same time. So the hatch is within a day or two of each other. Bloodiness is catchy, I have 5 in the other coop that I am trying to break. Good luck!

 

[poodlechicks]

I had to copy and paste the image to see if would work. Here are Summer and her 4 chicks. The fifth chick was an assisted hatch at day 25 and is at home under the heat lamp. Thanks for all your help and support. I'll try posting a picture of my little special needs one.

 

[poodlechicks]

Sorry, it didn't work. Now, that's an embarrassing post...

 

[bumpercarr]

Sorry, it didn't work. Now, that's an embarrassing post...

Hit the little picture icon to add a picture. You can't copy/paste into the threads.

 

[Chickenny]

So here what I ended up doing today because the one hen who isn't sitting on any eggs gets all panicky when I open the coop to check on the mommas she jumps and trys to squeeze in close to the broody hens and that's where I worry. So today when I went out she was out in the run scratching and pecking so I snuck up and shut the coop door. She was a little upset clucking and going on but I think it's for the best. I was then able to gently lift the other hens and check on the eggs! Out of 6 right now we have one chick hatched and from what I could tell from the breif peak there's another one piping as we speak!
My question did I do the right thing by locking out the other hen? She has been in there for the last 21 days sharing true nest box with her sister but it seems that her sister has kicked her out in the last couple days cuz she has no place there she just sits on the platform above and watches over. But then if I go in she all over everyone... There is no safe way to check on the chicks or hens with her in there I think

 

[Sydney Acres]

So here what I ended up doing today because the one hen who isn't sitting on any eggs gets all panicky when I open the coop to check on the mommas she jumps and trys to squeeze in close to the broody hens and that's where I worry. So today when I went out she was out in the run scratching and pecking so I snuck up and shut the coop door. She was a little upset clucking and going on but I think it's for the best. I was then able to gently lift the other hens and check on the eggs! Out of 6 right now we have one chick hatched and from what I could tell from the breif peak there's another one piping as we speak!
My question did I do the right thing by locking out the other hen? She has been in there for the last 21 days sharing true nest box with her sister but it seems that her sister has kicked her out in the last couple days cuz she has no place there she just sits on the platform above and watches over. But then if I go in she all over everyone... There is no safe way to check on the chicks or hens with her in there I think

Are all three of the other hens on at least one egg? If there's a hen without an egg, I would pair her with the non-broody and also break her brood. But if all three have an egg that they're incubating, then you have to decide if you want all 3 to raise their chick(s) and have the non-broody alone in an adjacent run (not totally isolated, but just no physical contact), or do you want to reassign the chicks after they're hatched to just one or two hens, and pull out the other broody(ies) to give company to the non-broody. Either was will work, as long as the non-broody isn't completely isolated, but also doesn't have access to the nest to cause problems.

I agree that locking the non-broody hen out is the best option, under these circumstances. Once the hens have the chicks out and about you may be able to safely reintegrate the non-broody back into the flock (or maybe not, depending on how protective the broodies are of the babies, and how the non-broody acts around them).

 

[Johnn]

Bella's mothers left her chicks now. In about 3 weeks I will be complaint about her being broody again. Mark my words

 

[Sydney Acres]

Bella's mothers left her chicks now. In about 3 weeks I will be complaint about her being broody again. Mark my words

Oh My, what beautiful vistas (and the hens are gorgeous too)!

Is that parrot grass through the pasture, and stinging nettle in front of the fence? Maybe WA state is a bit like the U.K., if we have similar wet climate weeds!

 

[Johnn]

Oh My, what beautiful vistas (and the hens are gorgeous too)!

Is that parrot grass through the pasture, and stinging nettle in front of the fence? Maybe WA state is a bit like the U.K., if we have similar wet climate weeds!

We call that long grass stuff "reshes" and yep, they are stinging nettles. They are a pain when they grow behind the sheds where the nest boxes are!