Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[rebrascora]

Congratulations. It is so exciting! Hope it all goes smoothly. How many eggs is she sitting on and what breed(s)?
My last batch of chicks are just over a week old and broody brought them out into the big wide world today for the first time having spent the past few days exploring the hen house and learning how to keep them all together. I had my doubts at first about her ability to look after them but she's doing a great job. My other broody is on day 12 with her 2nd clutch of 10 eggs. I'm overrun with chicks.... what a happy condition to be in!

Keep us posted on their progress

Best wishes

Barbara.

 

[Gardenlady2]

Thanks! Broody is a Delaware - first time. She's on 9 eggs that are any possible mix of Delawares, Dominiques, and Welsummers. She had 10 eggs, but one broke on day 6. It was viable- cracked open & I saw blood veins, a dark spot, and a beating heart. Sad to lose it, but fascinating to see.

I've only had one other broody so far- a Welsummer that I only gave 4 eggs to. Two hatched alive but died within a day or two. I think she either crushed them or they were overheated/dehydrated. This time I moved the broody to a nest on the ground after week one, so this time the chicks can get to water much easier. Hopefully I'll have better luck this time around.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again Gardenlady2

Sorry to hear about your previous bad luck. Keeping fingers crossed this hatch is more successful. Quite amazed that you could see a beating heart at just 6 days. That is fascinating if a bit grizzly! It sounds like your chicks are going to be really pretty whatever mix of those breeds they are.

My first hatch was a little disappointing colour wise but made up for it in numbers. It was an araucana cross broody with my cream legbar cockerel and they were all her own eggs. I got 12 barred chicks and 2 cream/white ones (the broody is white with the odd black fleck). One of the barred pullets died at 4 weeks but the rest are now 11 weeks and I still can't really tell them apart, other than that 7 are pullets and 4 are roos and the white ones are both roos. For some reason I don't find the barred ones or the white ones attractive, although the smaller white male has personality and is charming his way out of the pot list!.
My current week old chicks are 4 exchequer leghorns, 2 cream legbars (a male and a female) and 2 CLxRIR, so they look very different and really pretty scurrying around together and it's much easier to count 4 yellow/black and 4 brown, 3 of which are chipmunk striped. Trying to count the 11 barred juveniles on the roost on a night when they are all jostling for position, to make sure they are all in, is really difficult. I'm going to have to build some more roosts cos things are getting crowded on the more popular levels.

Anyway, I look forward to reading your latest report in the morning when hopefully you will have some gorgeous little fuzz butts to boast about and hopefully post photos of at some point.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[fisherlady]

What a Happy Labor Day! My broody's eggs started to hatch today!!!!
Today is day 20. Mid-morning I was out by the coop and heard a loud peep!! Broody was softly clucking away. My husband came out to listen with me. Another hen approached broody's nest and bit at her head, so broody got up and chased her off. Before she got back on the nest, my husband was able to see the eggs- one has a hole in it and he saw the chick moving inside!! Broody got back on and we didn't hear much other than one soft peep before we decided to go back inside and give her some privacy. I'm so anxious for evening feeding time to roll around so I can peak or at least listen again. So excited!!!

Congratulations!! Hatching day is still exciting no matter how often you experience it... our dog usually Knows first when chicks are hatching because she hears them.
Hoping the hatching goes well and you'll be able to share pictures soon!

 

[ochochicas]

My first hatch was a little disappointing colour wise but made up for it in numbers. It was an araucana cross broody with my cream legbar cockerel and they were all her own eggs. I got 12 barred chicks and 2 cream/white ones (the broody is white with the odd black fleck). One of the barred pullets died at 4 weeks but the rest are now 11 weeks and I still can't really tell them apart, other than that 7 are pullets and 4 are roos and the white ones are both roos. For some reason I don't find the barred ones or the white ones attractive, although the smaller white male has personality and is charming his way out of the pot list!.

That is interesting since I don't find the white or barred ones attractive either. LOL Our barred Rock ended up being a cockerel and I decided from the start that he was not to breed. Poor guy. Now we have a rooster that is a blue egg producer - Crested cream legbar x ameraucana. He is a beautiful color with minimal barring.

My favorite gray pullet ended up growing up to be a bright white plymouth rock. I don't plan to breed her either, but she can certainly be a broody and raise someone else's chicks if she wants. She has a great personality despite her color.

My nine chicks all hatched buff and are going to be some variation of Wheaten/salmon. The cockerels are so cute now with the gray and black color coming through. Even my Turken is a cutie. It is too bad we can't keep them all!

 

[QueenofKings]

Snuck in chicks underneath the broodies but of course, life enjoys laughing at my expense. Found another hen being broody. And of course this happens right after we gave our roo away for some one else's stewpot. We're renovating the coop anyway so it's gonna be rough and tumble but seriously? I guess when the broody bug hits, it hits hard.

my golden sex link of course, is happy since she has the entire roost bar to herself.

 

[rebrascora]

"I guess when the broody bug hits, it hits hard".

Yes, my neighbour is being hit particularly hard by it....For some reason he was persuaded by a magazine article to buy Croad Langshans for his allotment garden.... he had previously had black sex links. When he got them, the breeder had Light Sussex as well, so he got 3 of each... so with his one remaining and extremely aged Black Star, Molly, he has 7 hens...... well 5 (yes FIVE) of them are broody all at once at the moment but at least 2 or 3 of them have been throughout the summer and of course he has no inclination to hatch eggs. He is fuming as he only got 3 eggs last week and good old faithful Molly, at 7 years of age, laid one of them!
Actually it is just as well he is not interested in hatching because when he was away earlier in the summer and I was looking after them, I decided to give them some of my hens fertile eggs to sit on since I was desperate for a broody. They cracked some, rolled others out of the nest and climbed back into the wrong nest after they had been off and left the eggs to chill. I was very unimpressed with them.... there was only a choice of 2 nest boxes.... well actually there are 6 but only 2 of them are ever used by the hens and they still got it wrong! Think I probably need to write a review on them!

Come on Gardenlady2!!! We are desperate for news! How is it going? Fingers and toes are crossed but it's getting uncomfortable!

@ochochicas

We seem to think alike in a lot of respects. Your chicks sound gorgeous! Where can I see photos or are you technically challenged like me and unable to post them? I really must grasp the nettle and get the necessary knowledge/equipment to take and download photos. I really feel like I am missing out on a whole dimension of the forum that everyone else can participate in.

 

[Gardenlady2]

Update: when I went out to feed them around 5pm yesterday, Snow White (my broody) didn't come out to eat like she had in the morning before we heard a peep. I watched her for quite a while. Heard a few soft peeps but didn't see any chicks - but I did see an empty egg shell!!! Mama was just softly clucking away
I'm going crazy already this morning- I had to leave really early and it was pouring down rain so I wasn't able to go check on them. It might be dark by the time I get home, so I might not have any more updates until tomorrow morning. Today is day 21 so I expect most will hatch today. It's probably a good thing that I'm not there because I'd be peaking in all day long & disturbing her. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will go out to find a lot of little peeping fluffballs!!!
My roosters are a Dominique and a Delaware. My hens are Dominiques, Welsummers, and a Delaware. The Delaware is the broody and I don't think any of her eggs are in the clutch since she went broody a few days before I let her start sitting. 3 of the 9 eggs are from Welsummer hens, so I'm pretty sure the other 6 are all from the Dominique hens. I'm curious to see what the chicks look like!!!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree that it is out there everywhere and they have to develop tolerance to it. I think that the difficulty with brooder raised chicks is that the temperature is a constant high and that allows the protozoans (sorry, I kind of lump everything into bacteria even though I know there are several different disease causing agents) to grow at a more rapid rate. There isn't a normal evening cool off, dry and wet according to the daily weather, a fresh breeze scattering protozoa and bacteria in a larger area, etc that exists in a natural environment. I take mine off at 2 weeks, by then they have to sink or swim. I am very hesitant to use any medications on my chickens as a whole, generally settling for natural methods and if those don't work then I allow that the chicken in question will probably never be a fit member of the flock. Fingers crossed, the only real problems that I've had is cocci in the brooder and injuries (which are a different story all together).

Just remember that the Amprollium (either in the water or the starter feed) will not cure cocci if your chicks are suffering from an infection, all it is designed to do is act as a probiotic.

It's actually a moist environment that the coccidia require to complete their life cycle. The brooder temp won't matter as long as the bedding is bone dry.
Coccidiostats like amprolium are not probiotics, rather their effectiveness is as a thiamine blocker that starves the coccidia.

 

[QueenofKings]

I am so annoyed with my two broodies. They flat out rejected the chicks I got and were fighting over an egg. I dumped water on both of them and snatched the egg away. (It should be only 1-2 days old)