Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[sktlmt]

My broody hen is doing some strange things to the nesting material. She's on day 16 and yesterday she covered all the eggs in bark chips and straw and poo. Is this a hen's version of lockdown? Or is she nuts? I think she lost her broodiness the other day. It seems she has let the eggs cool too much. I don't have much hope of anything hatching. I'm just waiting till day 21 or so to see what happens. I think she is not a super dedicated broody. She's a barred rock. Maybe she just needs practice. It's her first time.

My Austerloupe Fat Mama just got done hatching eggs. More then once during the 21 days when she made her daily outing one of my other girls would lay an egg for her cause but when Fat Mama came back they were still in the box so she would hop into the next box over and would forget her eggs were next door and in the evening I would find her in the wrong box and the eggs would feel cool. I would put her back on the eggs and on day 21 6 of the 7 hatched out the last one was a dud. The chicks are now a week old.
Not sure what is up with the bark chips straw and poo... That seems a little nutty!

 

[702marine]

A little tough to see but what do you all think? Fertile?

 

[ochochicas]

I can't really tell from the photo. Sometimes I let mine sit out for a day or two before cracking them open. Seems like it is easier to tell after a couple of days.

 

[cwrite]

I appear to be having a staggard hatch. I suspect that at least one, maybe two chicks hatched late on the11th, then four yesterday & there may be four more today. Snowy is a white leghorn (with possibly a dash of ancona) so she is quite slender, but I gave her 12 eggs anyway. She had managed to hoard 14 infertile eggs & they were all warm when I removed them.
She hasn't moved off the nest since Thursday & ate a chink of watermelon yesterday as her first meal or drink in days. I mixed scrambled egg with chick starter this morning & put a bowl in the nest before I realised that more had hatched. Snowy scoffed some down & broke up bigger pieces of egg for the chicks while I tried counting them. She looks keen to get moving, but after wanting her to get off the nest & eat properly & poop for days, I'm now worried about the survival chances of the newest arrivals.
Does anyone have experience of chicks hatching over 3 days & how likely it is that some may be abandoned or left getting cold for too long if mum goes off before the little ones are dry or ready? I had to tuck partially dry babies under her a couple of times while the feeding frenzy was going on. They barely look conscious.

 

[appps]

If she gets off and leaves the rest you don't have an incubator to finish off do you? I'm getting confused with all the hatches, is it you or telia with the second broody? Just wondering if it's possible to finish any she leaves under someone else then sneak back under her when they hatch.

 

[appps]

I think deep down I've given up un this hatch. I will candle tonight as we click over to day 24 to see if I can see if there is any internal pips or movement but don't honestly know that I'd recognise that anyway and it's more curiosity than thinking I can save anyone.

So think the next big question is where from here? Penny has been on the nest just over 5 weeks all up now so I am hesitant to just put more straight under her without allowing her to recover somewhat. Bit heartbreaking after all her hard work that it's come to nothing but I have very limited room for new stock so don't want to buy any old newborn chick for her and not be able to then get the ones I really wanted.

Im toying with buying another batch of blue australorps next time she is broody and trying again but at the same putting some salmon favorelles in the incubator from a different breeder so I have two chances of them making it as posted eggs. I've tried looking locally but the stock is pretty below average.

 

[cwrite]

I don't have a second broody or incubator. I just went outside again & something smells. I think she may have pooped in the nest again.

The only thing I can think of to do is set up the brooder & maybe I should take her off the nest later to clean it up. But if I take her off the nest that may encourage her to leave her newest chicks.

Which is worse?

 

[appps]

I don't have a second broody or incubator.  I just went outside again & something smells.  I think she may have pooped in the nest again.  The only thing I can think of to do is set up the brooder & maybe I should take her off the nest later to clean it up.  But if I take her off the nest that may encourage her to leave her newest chicks.    Which is worse?

This is the fine print we didn't read when we decided to hatch isn't it lol

 

[ochochicas]

I used to take my broody out of the nest once a day so she could poop and move around. She always went right back to the nest within 20 minutes. She never messed in the nest. Her eggs hatched fine and the babies were fine as well. You can take them out to clean and/or count chicks. The hen will take care of the chicks where ever they happen to be at the moment.

 

[cwrite]

Yup! I also realize now that my day old chicks I bought in Feb were at least a week old, if not more. My nerves are not designed for this.