Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobbieschicks]

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?

Depending on when my chicks arrive I plan to give each a drink of electrolyte water then put them under my girl by removing the eggs and then slipping them under her one by one. Making sure to cover them with my hand so if she pecks she will get me and not the chick. I'll do this as soon as the chicks arrive no matter the time of day. Then check on them about ten minutes later to see what happens and again 30 minutes later. That's what I did last time I used purchased chicks and it worked fine.

If your broody is like mine, she will be over the moon to have chicks.

 

[chippysmom327]

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?

Just put them in her nest and take the fake eggs out. Mine doesn't mind when I check on the nest at all, but some broodies are super aggressive and will take a chunk out of your hand to protect her babies.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Just in case anyone was curious...the chick I helped last night is still alive and snuggled up under my broody! For a first time broody I am so impressed with her. Last night when I took that chick back out, she was MAD as soon as she heard it peep. I set it in front of her and she reached out and tucked it in under her. Then gave me a look that clearly said "you are dismissed. Off with you now"

Congratulations!! Good Save!

Isn't it amazing how expressive a chicken's face can be, especially considering that they don't have lips!?!

 

[loobyloo88]

I think our first chick trying to hatch hasn't made it looked good about 3 hours ago but looks pretty listless now, is it resting or probally gone? :0( what causes could be possible? Its day 21 tomorrow so hoping the rest will break for freedom soon..

 

[Sydney Acres]

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). Chicks do not need to eat or drink for the first 3 days after hatching, which is why they can be shipped through the mail. Young chicks are usually quite shy for the first 2-3 days, so they may not come out from under mom while you're watching. Tiny bantam chicks may also be reluctant to jump out of the nest, as they may be too small to get back in if there's any step up.

In my flock I have two brahmas, 1 sebright rooster, 1 australorp, and 1 production red. Are they all hens except the sebright rooster? Are they all large fowl except the sebrights, or are the brahmas and australorp bantams (there's no such thing as a bantam production red, is there?)? 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 drop isn't as big a factor as the ability to get back in the nest. Tiny chicks bounce easily, especially if the landing is softish. But they won't be able to get back up without a ramp, which they will need to learn to use and might not figure it out for a few days. So you can put the cage on the ground, or you can supply a second ground-level nest that the hen can use if she can't get the chicks to follow her up the ramp. IN MOST CASES the flock will respect the broody and won't harm the chicks, and she will defend them against anyone who gets too close. But it is important to closely monitor the flock when the broody and chicks are first let out, and for several hours afterwards. Not all birds are hardwired right, so tragedies can happen if we're not watching. If everything works as it should for the first few hours, then it's likely that the broody will be able to keep everything under control. (Note -- this may not apply if there is more than one hen broody at the same time.) You will also need to make sure that other birds don't try to get into her nestbox, especially when she's in there with her chicks, as a fight within an enclosed space is likely to end with trampled chicks.

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? You have two easy options that I can think of. First, switch everyone off layer pellets, and feed Flockraiser pellets in the adult feeders, Flockraiser crumbles or chick starter in the chick feeders, and have oyster shells available at all times for the extra calcium that layers need. That would be my preferred option. Alternatively, if your other birds are large fowl and not especially messy, you could stick with the layer pellets in elevated feeders (up to the shoulder level of the australorp -- you may need to provide a small step in one spot for the sebright rooster) and use Flockraiser crumbles or chick starter in the chick feeders. It will be some time before the sebright chicks are big enough to eat anything the size of a pellet, and if the pellets are elevated out of their reach and the hens don't scatter food around much, then the chicks won't end up eating much of the layer pellets anyway. That will work for a little while, but they may start flying up into the feeder after a while, in which case you'll need to try something different if they're eating much layer food.

Should I assume that my sebright hen will protect her chicks from the big hens I have? Usually broodies will fiercely protect their chicks, but monitor closely for several hours just to be sure. Not every bird got the memo!!


Thanks in advance. I love this thread.

 

[Sydney Acres]

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?

It all depends on the hen, and what she's used to. Theoretically, you should either do it when she's off the nest, or you should do it at night. But a hen that is tame and picked up off the nest every day probably won't think anything of you reaching under her anytime.

There are a few things that I would recommend, regardless of her temperament. First, evaluate the eggs carefully. (Always wash your hands thoroughly before handling hatching eggs, and be sure that your hands are entirely dry before touching the egg. Any moisture on your hands can compromise the bloom, which is the shell sealant that keeps the egg from getting infected from surface bacteria. Do not wash hatching eggs. If they're so dirty that they need washing, don't use them. Mildly dirty eggs are fine if the bloom isn't compromised.) Since these are shipped eggs, some may not arrive in good enough condition to use, and should not take up nest space. Read about shipped eggs here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101. Be sure to candle them to evaluate the air cell, and let them sit quietly for a day at 50-60 degrees before starting the incubation. If she is a first time broody, do not give her more than 6-8 eggs (or possibly less if the eggs are large and she is small). Assign each egg a number or letter. Draw a line around the equator of each egg that is used, and write that egg's number or letter repeatedly along that line. You may never need to identify any specific egg, but there are many unexpected circumstances where you do, and it's nice to have it set up ahead of time, where it can be seen when the egg is in any position.

Be sure that the nest has adequate padding for real eggs, and that the padding doesn't slip out of place as the hen shifts around on the eggs. If eggs get too close to the floor of the nest they can be cracked under the broody's weight. There are many, many different options. I have started using 2 inches of aspen shavings, topped by 2 inches of very high quality timothy hay (American Pet brand is soft, non-stemmy, clumps around any messes, and smells fantastic), which can be found in the rabbit food department of large pet stores like Petco. If you need to make any nest modifications, do it before you put in the new eggs, just to be sure that she accepts the upgraded nest.

If you take her off the nest to switch out the eggs, do not do it in front of her. Some broodies, even tame ones, will become frantic if they see their eggs being moved around. If they're standing up and they try to intervene, they could end up breaking eggs.

Before I put stored eggs, which are 50-60 degrees, in an incubator or under a hen, I like to slowly warm them up a bit. I can do this by either moving them to increasingly warmer rooms over a few hours, or by putting them in a dresser drawer with a heating pad (not on a heating pad, but with one inside the drawer to heat up the air inside). After they reach 80-85 degrees, then I put them in the incubator or under the hen. Rapidly heating cool eggs can cause condensation on the surface, which can affect the bloom.

Have a separate container to put the dummy eggs in so you don't end up mixing them with the hatching eggs. No need to risk breakage or have anything slow you down. Take out all the dummy eggs before adding any of the hatching eggs so there is no mixup or fumbling. This is especially important if you do it by reaching under the hen while she's sitting on the nest. If you do it at night, be sure that your flashlight doesn't shine in the hen's eyes, and that it can't fall out of your hand or pocket and break eggs (voice of experience here -- just missed them by an inch!). If she's on the nest while you do this, you don't have to put a hatching egg back in the exact same place where you found a dummy egg. Just gently place the eggs, one at a time, under her wings or right in front of her chest and she will wiggle them in to their ideal position. Just don't put all the eggs in one place.

How much you can check on a broody while she's nesting before she gets annoyed depends on the broody, and your relationship with her. My broodies are very tame, and were totally fine with me hanging out with them or taking them off the nest to eat, etc. But some broodies do not tolerate interference at all, and most are somewhere between the two extremes. If she's not tame, don't bother her any more than is absolutely necessary to provide food, water, remove any broody poo from the nest (which rarely happens, but needs to be removed ASAP if it does occur), etc. Brooding is not the time to try to tame an anxious hen!! On the other hand, if she is already tame and enjoys your company, she may be fine with you checking on her, or she may be in hormonal hell and not want you around at all. If she seems upset, don't push it.

 

[Sydney Acres]

I think our first chick trying to hatch hasn't made it looked good about 3 hours ago but looks pretty listless now, is it resting or probally gone? :0( what causes could be possible? Its day 21 tomorrow so hoping the rest will break for freedom soon..

Start reading this link quickly: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

It will answer all your questions, and will help you determine if there is anything that needs to be done, and if so, when.

But in general, a chick will rest for hours, sometimes 12-24 hours, after it has pipped. That is totally normal, and does not mean that it is in trouble. Many things have to happen during this rest period, and if you take it out of the egg before it is ready you will kill it. If the chick has started to zip and then gets stuck for several hours in one place it may need help. Theoretically, they don't start to zip until all the "rest period changes" have been completed. If it is stuck mid-zip for more than 3-6 hours I will typically help it zip. The link will give you all the details of what to do and what not to do, and the details are very important!!

Good luck. Hope your little one is just taking a nap.

 

[bobbieschicks]

That was a lot of fun, not. Just spent 30 minutes chasing three tiny chicks around while getting attacked by their mom. She keeps putting them under the coop at night and it's definitely not secure. She had tried to lure them up the ramps, but they couldn't figure it out yet. So once the auto door closed I picked up mom and tossed her into the coop and closed the door. She was frantic calling the chicks, they were frantic peeping. The chase began and one by one I caught them up and tossed them inside. Of course all of this is while there is a thunderstorm around me with thankfully small drops of rain falling. But I knew the monsoon rain would start soon so I was trying to get them in before that happened and of course now it's pitch black outside.

This is the reason people make cute little coop areas for the mommas and chicks. In another week they will be big enough to fly up into the coop or figure out the ramp - then I'll be a lot happier.

 

[calichicken]

That was a lot of fun, not. Just spent 30 minutes chasing three tiny chicks around while getting attacked by their mom. She keeps putting them under the coop at night and it's definitely not secure. She had tried to lure them up the ramps, but they couldn't figure it out yet. So once the auto door closed I picked up mom and tossed her into the coop and closed the door. She was frantic calling the chicks, they were frantic peeping. The chase began and one by one I caught them up and tossed them inside. Of course all of this is while there is a thunderstorm around me with thankfully small drops of rain falling. But I knew the monsoon rain would start soon so I was trying to get them in before that happened and of course now it's pitch black outside.

This is the reason people make cute little coop areas for the mommas and chicks.

In another week they will be big enough to fly up into the coop or figure out the ramp - then I'll be a lot happier.

LOL

What a crazy ordeal!!!! So this is what we who are waiting the hatch have to look forward to ...eh?

 

[KendyF]

That was a lot of fun, not. Just spent 30 minutes chasing three tiny chicks around while getting attacked by their mom. She keeps putting them under the coop at night and it's definitely not secure. She had tried to lure them up the ramps, but they couldn't figure it out yet. So once the auto door closed I picked up mom and tossed her into the coop and closed the door. She was frantic calling the chicks, they were frantic peeping. The chase began and one by one I caught them up and tossed them inside. Of course all of this is while there is a thunderstorm around me with thankfully small drops of rain falling. But I knew the monsoon rain would start soon so I was trying to get them in before that happened and of course now it's pitch black outside.

This is the reason people make cute little coop areas for the mommas and chicks.

In another week they will be big enough to fly up into the coop or figure out the ramp - then I'll be a lot happier.

I am so glad I am not the only one. My hens (Buff Orpingtons) go crazy when they go broody. I have one with a new chick I am constantly lifting over a fence or something with her pecking me all the while. You would think she has never seen me before. She is normally a nice chicken. The chick is over a week old now, I keep wondering when she is going to snap out of it.