Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[kabhyper1]

So far most of our broodies hatch day 19 or 20. Silkies and Cochins. My girls brood inside in rubbermaid totes and I take them out twice a day for the first week and a half to go potty. They have food and water in front of them at all times. This brood with Henley has been difficult because of her eating habits, but generally it goes very smoothly. The last 10 days of brooding I only take them out once a day. Sometimes I leave them on lock down starting the 18th day and take them out when the eggs have all hatched. I have had eggs wait for 5 days after the first one hatches and if they go potty in the nest just clean it up. They don't want to, nor try to get up once the chicks start hatching. I just keep the food and water where it is for the hatched chicks to eat with mom while the rest are hatching. Once everyone is out and fluffed, they go in a temporary box while I clean out the brooder. I keep them all in the brooder until They are about 6 to 8 weeks old and then introduce mom and kids back to the flock. So far it has worked really well. I would leave them to brood in the coop, but silkies tend to want to all brood on top of one another and eggs get smashed. Btw, thanks everyone for your advice about Henleys diet, she is eating two eggs a day, and a little crumbles with cracked corn and grit mixed in sits in front of her if she wants it. She feels like she has put a little weight back on and she has a lot of energy when she goes out to poo.
Henleys last brood

Some of our mamas from this year. We only use broodies. No incubators here. No need with silkies.

Cochins are great mothers too.

 

[appps]

So far most of our broodies hatch day 19 or 20. Silkies and Cochins. My girls brood inside in rubbermaid totes and I take them out twice a day for the first week and a half to go potty. They have food and water in front of them at all times. This brood with Henley has been difficult because of her eating habits, but generally it goes very smoothly. The last 10 days of brooding I only take them out once a day. Sometimes I leave them on lock down starting the 18th day and take them out when the eggs have all hatched. I have had eggs wait for 5 days after the first one hatches and if they go potty in the nest just clean it up. They don't want to, nor try to get up once the chicks start hatching. I just keep the food and water where it is for the hatched chicks to eat with mom while the rest are hatching. Once everyone is out and fluffed, they go in a temporary box while I clean out the brooder. I keep them all in the brooder until They are about 6 to 8 weeks old and then introduce mom and kids back to the flock. So far it has worked really well. I would leave them to brood in the coop, but silkies tend to want to all brood on top of one another and eggs get smashed. Btw, thanks everyone for your advice about Henleys diet, she is eating two eggs a day, and a little crumbles with cracked corn and grit mixed in sits in front of her if she wants it. She feels like she has put a little weight back on and she has a lot of energy when she goes out to poo. Henleys last brood Some of our mamas from this year. We only use broodies. No incubators here. No need with silkies.

How cute!! Are the little chipmunks partridge silkies? Sounds like its very common to hatch a day earlier with broodies. Silly question probably but can you hear them pipping under a broody? I keep reading things about hearing the chicks pipping in incubators but wasn't sure how loud they are and if the feathers would muffle it. Though I might take the kids up to have a listen (without touching) tonight if you can.

 

[krista74]

Funny you should say that about day 20 as I was reading a blog of a woman who broody hatches 100's each year and she made the comment that broody's hatch day 20 and incubators day 21. Today is day 19 for us so she may be feeling something is about to happen perhaps.

Yeah, I have only hatched two batches, the first one of which only had one live chick. He came on Day 20. With the second hatch, two chicks hatched early on Day 20, and four hatched late in the evening on Day 20. I guess it depends on many factors - maybe the temperature of the season affects it, how well the broody hen covers tem etc. I guess they are all different - I have herd of some no hatching until Day 23, so you never know. Good luck with your hatch!

Krista

 

[losttexan]

I have a strange question. I just got through incubating one egg and setting seven eggs under my first broody at the same time (mostly for the experience comparison). When my broody's chicks were done hatching, I went in to clean up the now-empty shells and any mess. Every single shell had the cap neatly reversed and tucked into the bottom half. Not believing my hen could be that fastidious, I laid them out and each cap was matched with it's bottom (like a puzzle). From watching the incubator chick hatch, I knew this was not something that would naturally occur, so the only thing I can conclude is that my hen, while the chicks were hatching, matched each cap with the bottom, and nested them neatly together for each egg. Is this a usual occurrence, or do I simply have an OCD bird?

 

[kabhyper1]

How cute!! Are the little chipmunks partridge silkies?

Sounds like its very common to hatch a day earlier with broodies.

Silly question probably but can you hear them pipping under a broody? I keep reading things about hearing the chicks pipping in incubators but wasn't sure how loud they are and if the feathers would muffle it. Though I might take the kids up to have a listen (without touching) tonight if you can.

I can hear it. It's muffled. That's usually how I can tell if they are out or not so I don't peek too early.

 

[cwrite]

I gave the girls scrambled egg mixed with oats, a multivitamin, water & pellets this morning. Snowy had starter crumbles instead of the pellets & I'm so glad I did. I don't always catch her off the nest. I check for signs that she has eaten & pooped, so hadn't seen her for a couple of days & her comb is looking shrivelled. She scarfed down a good amount of food, but I'm looking forward to the chicks arriving now so that she can go back to normal feeding.
I gave her the eggs on a Saturday evening so going by the comments I should expect them on Friday/Saturday instead of Sunday. YAY!
I also haven't candled the eggs at all & am torn about doing it now. I think I should do it tonight if I'm going to do it at all, but as we are on day 18, what are the chances of an egg explosion now?

 

[fisherlady]

Do hens go into lockdown? If you know what I mean lol

I'm wondering if lockdown in an incubator came about because of something hens do differently in those last three days or if it was a human invention?

Most mornings my broody gives a little growl and then comes out for breakfast when I open her box but we are now in "lockdown" and this morning there wasn't a peep out of her and she didn't move from the eggs. Just wondered if they start to hear/feel something going on and stay put and if that is where the whole lockdown came from.

Or this could just be one of those odd mornings she doesn't come out and totally unrelated lol

Each hen is different, but most do sit tight after day 19 or so... if they do go out the breaks are usually much shorter the last couple of days before hatch.... and yes, they do hear and feel the chicks moving and most of my hens I can hear start to 'talk' to their eggs the day before hatch, most noticeably within about 12 hours of pipping. One of my hens in particular is very vocal with her chirrupping and purring noises right before hatch.

I'm not sure if this is everyone's hens or just mine, but when mine go broody they usually have their 'last meal' on Day 19, and then sit firmly until all the eggs have hatched.

On both occasions where I have hatched chicks there have been some chicks out and about on Day 20, so I am guessing the Broody knows when things are starting to happen. Perhaps this is their version of lockdown.

Krista

Yep... same with ours!

Funny you should say that about day 20 as I was reading a blog of a woman who broody hatches 100's each year and she made the comment that broody's hatch day 20 and incubators day 21. Today is day 19 for us so she may be feeling something is about to happen perhaps.

Many broody hens hatch on late day 19 or on day 20. I have one hen in particular who hatches every time on day 20. My husband and I always start expecting activity in the hatch on day 20 and make sure that food/water and any chick set up needed is done before then.

How cute!! Are the little chipmunks partridge silkies?

Sounds like its very common to hatch a day earlier with broodies.

Silly question probably but can you hear them pipping under a broody? I keep reading things about hearing the chicks pipping in incubators but wasn't sure how loud they are and if the feathers would muffle it. Though I might take the kids up to have a listen (without touching) tonight if you can.

We often can hear the cheeping after pipping, and if we listen very closely we can sometimes hear them before they pip, though it is much more muffled. Our dog always hears them first... we know when they are making noise because Mindy parks herself in front of the nest to wait for the hatch to happen, much to the hens disgust! LOL

I have a strange question. I just got through incubating one egg and setting seven eggs under my first broody at the same time (mostly for the experience comparison). When my broody's chicks were done hatching, I went in to clean up the now-empty shells and any mess. Every single shell had the cap neatly reversed and tucked into the bottom half. Not believing my hen could be that fastidious, I laid them out and each cap was matched with it's bottom (like a puzzle). From watching the incubator chick hatch, I knew this was not something that would naturally occur, so the only thing I can conclude is that my hen, while the chicks were hatching, matched each cap with the bottom, and nested them neatly together for each egg. Is this a usual occurrence, or do I simply have an OCD bird?

Well, your hen may be a little more OCD than most... but the neatly tucked shells are something we have found many times, though I don't think any of our hens have done it to more than 2 or 3 eggs in a hatch. I think the hen rearranges the shells in an attempt to make room for the next egg hatching.

 

[losttexan]

For my first attempt at hatching, I put one egg in an incubator and seven under a broody (the old buff orp we inherited with the property). Of the seven, one was a non-starter, and another quit after about day 11. My incubator chick hatched no problems, and then the broody's eggs started the next day. Luckily, I was able to stick the new chick under momma with no difficulties whatsoever.

Patient momma. No idea if this was her first, but she handled it like a champ.


And - hatching is a go . . . .


Incubator chick hanging out with momma while siblings hatch.


Likely barred rock mix:




EE mixes one and two:








Possible offspring of BSL. They are yellow with identical head stripes:








The happy family:

 

[appps]

How gorgeous are all those little chicks!! Making me even more impatient if that was possible lol

 

[ochochicas]

I have a strange question. I just got through incubating one egg and setting seven eggs under my first broody at the same time (mostly for the experience comparison). When my broody's chicks were done hatching, I went in to clean up the now-empty shells and any mess. Every single shell had the cap neatly reversed and tucked into the bottom half. Not believing my hen could be that fastidious, I laid them out and each cap was matched with it's bottom (like a puzzle). From watching the incubator chick hatch, I knew this was not something that would naturally occur, so the only thing I can conclude is that my hen, while the chicks were hatching, matched each cap with the bottom, and nested them neatly together for each egg. Is this a usual occurrence, or do I simply have an OCD bird?

Some of my shells were put together like this, but not all of them. I also had a smaller egg that was inside the larger shell of a chick that had just hatched out. I thought the egg had gotten lost somehow, but upon closer inspection I saw that is was inside a shell of a different color.