Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobbieschicks]

Double Yeah! Just found the Maran and Silky back on their nests. They were both out in the yard this morning. The Maran was walking around again with the RIR momma and her three chicks. Can't believe they will be a week old soon.

Just looked back at the date, they are four days and 17 hours old right now. Lol

 

[calichicken]

Yeah! The chicks have shipped. Hoping I still have a broody when they get here.

X2...ours come Thursday

 

[bobbieschicks]

X2...ours come Thursdaye

Awh great! What are you getting? Mine will be 4 EE and 4 OE from Meyers. I'm thinking of splitting them 5 to the Maran and 3 to the silky.

 

[calichicken]

Awh great! What are you getting? Mine will be 4 EE and 4 OE from Meyers. I'm thinking of splitting them 5 to the Maran and 3 to the silky.

I am getting 6 Bantam Cochin eggs. My girl is a Black Bantam Cochin also, so wanted to stick with the same!

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the whole broody thing and I have a couple of questions.

I have a two year old sebright hen. Both her eggs hatched out this weekend and she now has two beautiful chicks. She is being kept in a dog crate in my coop. It is elevated about 3 feet off the ground.
Throughout incubation it worked very well for her. I kept the door open on the cage and she went for breaks as she pleased.

There is chick food and water inside the cage with her. I have not seen her chicks eat yet though. (The nest is made out of a cardboard box and in order to get the feed the chicks must leap out of the nest, which I haven't seen them do yet).

In my flock I have two brahmas, 1 sebright rooster, 1 australorp, and 1 production red. My questions include:

Do I keep the cage door open for my hen and her babies? Or is the jump to the ground too far (three feet). Should I lower the cage onto the ground of the coop? Or should I worry about the rest of my flock harming the babies?

The flock is on layer pellets, how do I offer chick feed to the mother and babies without my large hens eating all the chick feed?

Should I assume that my sebright hen will protect her chicks from the big hens I have?


Thanks in advance. I love this thread.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the whole broody thing and I have a couple of questions.

I have a two year old sebright hen. Both her eggs hatched out this weekend and she now has two beautiful chicks. She is being kept in a dog crate in my coop. It is elevated about 3 feet off the ground.
Throughout incubation it worked very well for her. I kept the door open on the cage and she went for breaks as she pleased.

There is chick food and water inside the cage with her. I have not seen her chicks eat yet though. (The nest is made out of a cardboard box and in order to get the feed the chicks must leap out of the nest, which I haven't seen them do yet).

In my flock I have two brahmas, 1 sebright rooster, 1 australorp, and 1 production red. My questions include:

Do I keep the cage door open for my hen and her babies? Or is the jump to the ground too far (three feet). Should I lower the cage onto the ground of the coop? Or should I worry about the rest of my flock harming the babies?

The flock is on layer pellets, how do I offer chick feed to the mother and babies without my large hens eating all the chick feed?

Should I assume that my sebright hen will protect her chicks from the big hens I have?


Thanks in advance. I love this thread.

If you can lower her cage so they can get out it will be helpful. Otherwise shortly the momma will leave the open cage and the babies will follow. Three feet is a pretty big drop for that size chick, so lowering will help them. Otherwise I've seen mommas take the babies down with them to the ground from the nest boxes. Our old ones were two feet off the ground and she had the babies on her back.

They probably won't return to the nest or cage. Normally the broody finds a new safe place to start her training of the chicks.

As far as food, you should put down a waterer and feed dish for them. Find either chicks size stuff or make your own. If you use a large waterer just put some pebbles in it so the babies can drink without drowning. Although I've not had that happen and I've not put in pebbles. Your call.

I feed my newly hatched Chick Starter Medicated, they also sell unmedicated, crumbles. The older ones will taste and sometimes eat it, but mostly they stay with layer crumbles and the chicks stay with baby food. I've not had a chick or hen that gorged themselves on the wrong food enough to harm them. My chicks usually leave the layer crumbles alone.

Congrats on the fuzzy butts!

Oh and yes, she will protect them and train them to understand pecking order. Or they will figure it out themselves the first time they get pecked by an older one at feeding time.

 

[bobbieschicks]

My chicks have shipped! Can't wait!

 

[loobyloo88]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6467335/width/200/height/400[/IMGl]

this is the only egg I can see has pipped (out of 9) but its only day 20 so hoping I'll see lots more tomorrow. Getting anxious to see how we get on!

 

[bumpercarr]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the whole broody thing and I have a couple of questions.

I have a two year old sebright hen. Both her eggs hatched out this weekend and she now has two beautiful chicks. She is being kept in a dog crate in my coop. It is elevated about 3 feet off the ground.
Throughout incubation it worked very well for her. I kept the door open on the cage and she went for breaks as she pleased.

There is chick food and water inside the cage with her. I have not seen her chicks eat yet though. (The nest is made out of a cardboard box and in order to get the feed the chicks must leap out of the nest, which I haven't seen them do yet).

In my flock I have two brahmas, 1 sebright rooster, 1 australorp, and 1 production red. My questions include:

Do I keep the cage door open for my hen and her babies? Or is the jump to the ground too far (three feet). Should I lower the cage onto the ground of the coop? Or should I worry about the rest of my flock harming the babies?

The flock is on layer pellets, how do I offer chick feed to the mother and babies without my large hens eating all the chick feed?

Should I assume that my sebright hen will protect her chicks from the big hens I have?


Thanks in advance. I love this thread.

If possible, I would move the entire dog crate down to ground level. Momma will sleep in there at night with the chicks until they are able to get up a ramp or ladder or whatever set up you have. She should protect her chicks from the others, generally they've learned from the brood period to leave her alone but not always. I put my entire flock on chick starter (medicated or not is your choice, I don't use medicated for my chicks that are with a mother but use it for incubator hatched) and put a separate dish with oyster shell out for the hens to have free choice. The chicks will eat whatever everyone else is eating and the layers is not good for them, where the layers can eat what the chicks eat provided that they have calcium provided for them.

Because of the number of chicks that I hatch out each year, my flock is never on layers. I keep them on Flock Raiser year round, the chicks (not under broody) get chick starter until they are 4 weeks old and put in with the rest of the flock. When I have a broody raising chicks, I switch every one to chick starter until the chicks are 4 weeks old.

 

[mylittlehippie]

I'm so excited my eggs just shipped. What is the best way to get them under her and take out the dummy eggs she is on? Should I do it at night or wait until she comes out to eat? If she is used to being moved would it be ok to just pick her up, take out the dummy eggs and put in the good ones? Also would it bother her if I check in on her while she is nesting or would she be bothered enough to abandon the eggs or chicks?