Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobbieschicks]

Thanks! . Do you have any chicks yet??

No, we are on day 13. I'm trying to decide if I should just go ahead and purchase chicks to slip under two of the girls while letting the silky finish hatching any eggs that might still be viable. But, if none of the eggs turn out I do t want to have to rush out and get her chicks too. I'm starting to wish I'd have kept one of my roosters.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Hi All,

Im new to the group and my Buff O is on her first batch of eggs, day 8. We started out with 13 and candled last night at day 7, took out 4 (3 yolkers and 1 that died around day 6) and left 6 good ones and 3 that we aren't sure about. We plan to candle again at day 14 to check again. She's in a private tractor and seems very content on the nest box so fingers are crossed!

A few questions -

How involved are you guys on hatch day? We plan to be around but do you just leave them alone and let mama handle it all? Do you check often? And will she help them if they have trouble getting out? I would hate to lose one I could have helped hatch but Im tempted to just let her handle it to avoid bothering her. Thoughts?

Thanks!

As someone who likes to get in there and get involved, I find that it's almost impossible to see exactly what's going on under the hen without lifting her up, which could end is disaster. The chicks are VERY fragile immediately after they hatch and are still wet. They can't move out of the way of the broody's feet if she were to move around, which she doesn't do at all when they're hatching. I don't think my broody moved a muscle for several hours after the eggs hatched. So if you move her at all and she then goes back on the nest, the babies could get trampled as mom returns to the nest, and mom could be very upset, even if she's tame, as she has very specific instincts not to move at that time. It's hardwired into her, and being tame doesn't change that. And if she's not tame, you could really cause problems by hovering. She might feel the need to defend her newly hatched chicks and accidentally trample them, or redirect her aggression onto them as she's trying to attack you. Broodies that aren't regularly handled and who didn't enjoy your company while they were brooding definitely shouldn't be messed with while the chicks are hatching,.

She will not help the chicks out of the shell, even if they're in trouble. That's something that they have to do on their own.

It's a huge dilemma for people who want to help the chicks if needed, but still want to hatch under a broody instead of an incubator. A broody gives you inadequate access to monitoring the hatch, whereas an incubator gives you a great view. But it doesn't start talking to the chick when it first peeps in the egg a few days before the hatch, and it doesn't have warm feathers that stabilize a newly hatched chick and keeps it from flailing around in a panic. And broodies don't forget to add water to the humidity wells or have power outages or forget to go into lockdown or any of the other hundred things that can go wrong in an incubator. So even though you can't easily monitor the hatch, statistically you'll still probably get a better hatch with a good broody than with an incubator over the long run, although you won't be able to hatch out as many unless you have tons of broodies.

To give you an idea of what can happen, please go back 10-12 days on this thread and read my long post about my first hatch, and the responses from experienced hatchers afterwards. The hatch was on 6/16/14, and I think I posted a few days afterwards. I lost a chick, a very important chick, that I probably wouldn't have lost if the eggs had been in the incubator for me to monitor. But despite that loss, I still prefer broody hens. We may be able to hatch out chicks with technology and some basic knowledge, but we can never replace everything that momma does. That's obvious when I look at my 2 sets, soon to be 3, of broody-raised chicks.

One thing that does help you monitor, if you're inclined to interfere like I am, is to write an identifying number many times around both the equator and long axis of each egg. Then when you lift up her wing or feel under her chest, if you just can't help yourself, check for and remove any hatched egg shells. That way you can keep track of the hatch easier. When you've got lots of eggs and chicks under there, or if you only have 2-3, it can be hard to know how many have hatched. Unless you intrusively get your hands underneath her, which risks injury to the chicks, it can be very difficult to know how many chicks are under her. You usually only see 1-2 at once when they're first hatched, if you see any at all. But if you remove every numbered egg shell you find, you at least know that those specific eggs have hatched. But don't be concerned if you don't find every egg shell -- some of them just vaporize into thin air!!

 

[Johnn]

No, we are on day 13. I'm trying to decide if I should just go ahead and purchase chicks to slip under two of the girls while letting the silky finish hatching any eggs that might still be viable. But, if none of the eggs turn out I do t want to have to rush out and get her chicks too. I'm starting to wish I'd have kept one of my roosters.

I'm sure if any eggs hatch you will get at least one! hen you can keep him!

 

[bobbieschicks]

Hi All,

Im new to the group and my Buff O is on her first batch of eggs, day 8.  We started out with 13 and candled last night at day 7, took out 4 (3 yolkers and 1 that died around day 6) and left 6 good ones and 3 that we aren't sure about.   We plan to candle again at day 14 to check again.  She's in a private tractor and seems very content on the nest box so fingers are crossed!

A few questions - 

How involved are you guys on hatch day?  We plan to be around but do you just leave them alone and let mama handle it all?  Do you check often?  And will she help them if they have trouble getting out?  I would hate to lose one I could have helped hatch but Im tempted to just let her handle it to avoid bothering her.  Thoughts?  

Thanks!

I've had several different girls go broody, some even helped with the hatches even if they weren't broody themselves. At first I was diligent about staying away because I read that it was dangerous, etc. but then I decided to chance it and guess what - nothing bad happened. Maybe it was timing, weather, the location of the planets, or a blessing - but I was able to catch a glimpse of the eggs hatch under my girls and not have killed their chicks. Maybe I influenced other eggs not to hatch if I screwed up the humidity or temps, but I doubt it. I would be more concerned about the external factors if it were winter here in Virginia.

That said, I usually leave them alone now after having gone through it so many times, plus the new moms don't like to be bothered while their babies are underfoot. It's more fun to watch a chick suddenly pop out from under a wing.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I'm sure if any eggs hatch you will get at least one! hen you can keep him!

Yep, never fails. If only one chick hatches it will surely be a cockerel. Lol

 

[little]

hi everyone just got home from work theres peeps coming from under tilly.usually i lift her off the eggs and leave her and she goes and gets water food and has a poop.what should i do ?leave her alone or do my usual?its so humid here in wis. only 75 degrees but stormy and humid .i worry about her water intake .will she get up on her own ?i'm afraid to interfere with the natural order god has ordained.any advise is greatly needed.

 

[bumpercarr]

hi everyone just got home from work theres peeps coming from under tilly.usually i lift her off the eggs and leave her and she goes and gets water food and has a poop.what should i do ?leave her alone or do my usual?its so humid here in wis. only 75 degrees but stormy and humid .i worry about her water intake .will she get up on her own ?i'm afraid to interfere with the natural order god has ordained.any advise is greatly needed.

If you are really worried, you can put a little bit of water in front of her...I usually use the cap to a jar (mayonnaise jar is perfect size), it is nice and shallow so if any chicks come out from under her they won't drown. Same thing with food. In the final throes of chick hatching, some will eat and drink and some will not. You'll need to have food and water (shallow) close by for the chicks in a day or two anyway, so it doesn't hurt to get your set up going and tested before the chicks are running around knocking everything in sight over.

Congrats, patience pays!

 

[little]

will tilly just stay on the nest until all the chicks have hatched?as a first timer i don't know what to expect.help!

 

[little]

thank you bumpercarr

 

[bumpercarr]

will tilly just stay on the nest until all the chicks have hatched?as a first timer i don't know what to expect.help!

She will stay on the nest for 3-4 days. I think they can hear or feel movement in the eggs that are hatching and they wait around for those to hatch for a few days. After a few days, they have to make a choice between sitting on the nest or staying with their chicks (by this time, the first hatched chicks are pretty active). If you expect a staggered hatch, i.e. more eggs will be hatching after she leaves the nest, it is important to have something set up to try to finish off the eggs that she leaves in the nest (an incubator for instance). I haven't had much luck with those eggs, but I think some others have. If you don't have an incubator, there are some set ups that you can do with a heat lamp or heating pad. Search BYC for some examples.