Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[vpatt]

It's day 21 for my broody hen! I'm hoping to hear some peeps today or tomorrow

Any news yet? My hatch date is Saturday.....curious to see if any of my chickens eggs hatch.....last time the eggs were from a neighbor.

 

[StarMeKritten]

This afternoon, my hen very suddenly decided not to be broody anymore and even started laying again. Now the eggs are in the incubator. No pips yet.

 

[vpatt]

This afternoon, my hen very suddenly decided not to be broody anymore and even started laying again. Now the eggs are in the incubator. No pips yet.

Good luck.....I hope it goes well.....wonder what's up with the hen?

 

[StarMeKritten]

I think she was just broody too long. I let her sit on her own eggs because I assumed they were fertile. They weren't. About a week in, I candled the eggs and they weren't developing. So I gave her new eggs from my layer flock that I knew were fertile. Everything looked good until yesterday. I think she just gave up. Either that or she knows that they won't make it. We'll see. She's about a 3 year old silkie cochin mix who has hatched and raised chicks for me before.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I think she was just broody too long. I let her sit on her own eggs because I assumed they were fertile. They weren't. About a week in, I candled the eggs and they weren't developing. So I gave her new eggs from my layer flock that I knew were fertile. Everything looked good until yesterday. I think she just gave up. Either that or she knows that they won't make it. We'll see. She's about a 3 year old silkie cochin mix who has hatched and raised chicks for me before.

Yes most likely you were just pushing the brood too long. A lot of hens will give up by week 4, if you are lucky week 5.

I can get them to stick a longer brood by swapping eggs that are more developed...ie those having been started by incubator or another hen so that it only extends about a week if they have sat for 3 already...only my pure Silkie will stick to 5 weeks.

Usually with experienced broodies once they hear chicks moving in the eggs they stick...perhaps those eggs were not developing well either?

Lady of McCamley

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

This afternoon, my hen very suddenly decided not to be broody anymore and even started laying again. Now the eggs are in the incubator. No pips yet.

Fingers crossed!

I think she was just broody too long. I let her sit on her own eggs because I assumed they were fertile. They weren't. About a week in, I candled the eggs and they weren't developing. So I gave her new eggs from my layer flock that I knew were fertile. Everything looked good until yesterday. I think she just gave up. Either that or she knows that they won't make it. We'll see. She's about a 3 year old silkie cochin mix who has hatched and raised chicks for me before.

Yes most likely you were just pushing the brood too long. A lot of hens will give up by week 4, if you are lucky week 5.

I can get them to stick a longer brood by swapping eggs that are more developed...ie those having been started by incubator or another hen so that it only extends about a week if they have sat for 3 already...only my pure Silkie will stick to 5 weeks.

Usually with experienced broodies once they hear chicks moving in the eggs they stick...perhaps those eggs were not developing well either?

Lady of McCamley

Seriously, I must have a five star broody then. My girl was sitting at least 2 weeks before I gave her the fertile eggs. Before that, I had two break her twice in the broody breaker (am I allowed to use such "language" on this thread? ) since July.

Now she is such a good Mama! Although I know she doesn't like being in the house... . Once the chicks all fully feathered, I will send them out with her.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Fingers crossed!

Seriously, I must have a five star broody then. My girl was sitting at least 2 weeks before I gave her the fertile eggs. Before that, I had two break her twice in the broody breaker (am I allowed to use such "language" on this thread?

) since July.

Now she is such a good Mama! Although I know she doesn't like being in the house...

. Once the chicks all fully feathered, I will send them out with her.

Yes...indeed...you do have a 5 star broody. I have found they are worth their weight in gold.

I have hens who will sit for 3 to maybe 4 weeks, but weary of motherhood before the chicks are fully feathered (important in cool weather hatches); then hens who won't even sit for 3 weeks to hatch eggs but sulk and shift between nests, on and off.

It is truly blessed to have a hen who will stay the course no matter how long til hatch and then mother until chicks can handle the elements and life well on their own...yet still keeping a watchful eye as they integrate into the flock. Then turn around and do it all again. While I have had mostly good success with my seasonal broodies,keeping in mind their limitations, a diligent broody is a hen that you can plan hatches around, pick up and thrust on a nest to save abandoned eggs, and trust to foster feed store chicks. Those are more rare indeed.

I feel the loss of my Silkie Oma-San tremendously for those reasons...but am hopeful that I will find another such diligent broody in the new hens I have acquired (genes and breed types and conditioning are in my favor) but if not, I will continue the search until I do.

Lady of McCamley

 

[StarMeKritten]

Yes most likely you were just pushing the brood too long. A lot of hens will give up by week 4, if you are lucky week 5.

I can get them to stick a longer brood by swapping eggs that are more developed...ie those having been started by incubator or another hen so that it only extends about a week if they have sat for 3 already...only my pure Silkie will stick to 5 weeks.

Usually with experienced broodies once they hear chicks moving in the eggs they stick...perhaps those eggs were not developing well either?

Lady of McCamley

Still no pips from the incubator eggs. I candled and saw movement in one but I couldn't see much in the others. There's still hope!

Fingers crossed!

Seriously, I must have a five star broody then. My girl was sitting at least 2 weeks before I gave her the fertile eggs. Before that, I had two break her twice in the broody breaker (am I allowed to use such "language" on this thread?

) since July.

Now she is such a good Mama! Although I know she doesn't like being in the house...

. Once the chicks all fully feathered, I will send them out with her.

Thank you!

Yes...indeed...you do have a 5 star broody. I have found they are worth their weight in gold.

I have hens who will sit for 3 to maybe 4 weeks, but weary of motherhood before the chicks are fully feathered (important in cool weather hatches); then hens who won't even sit for 3 weeks to hatch eggs but sulk and shift between nests, on and off.

It is truly blessed to have a hen who will stay the course no matter how long til hatch and then mother until chicks can handle the elements and life well on their own...yet still keeping a watchful eye as they integrate into the flock. Then turn around and do it all again. While I have had mostly good success with my seasonal broodies,keeping in mind their limitations, a diligent broody is a hen that you can plan hatches around, pick up and thrust on a nest to save abandoned eggs, and trust to foster feed store chicks. Those are more rare indeed.

I feel the loss of my Silkie Oma-San tremendously for those reasons...but am hopeful that I will find another such diligent broody in the new hens I have acquired (genes and breed types and conditioning are in my favor) but if not, I will continue the search until I do.

Lady of McCamley

Well, at least now I know how long mine will sit before she gives up. She mothered her last chicks until they were almost 3 months old! One was twice mom's size by then.

This hen probably won't accept chicks if they hatch. Thankfully, I have a little old frizzled cochin hen that would be happy to mother them. She won't sit on eggs but she sure loves some babies!

 

[Faraday40]

Is it common for a known broody to adopt chicks? - even if she no longer has chicks of her own?

My accidental broody did great last year. (Refused to stop sitting on imaginary eggs, so I finally gave her some.) When chicks were 3.5 weeks old, I sent them to their new home. Princess kept looking in the garage for her babies. I felt bad, but we just don't have unlimited space for chickens. A few days later, I brought the incubator chicks to the garage. (Same cage that Princess used.) Princess heard peeping & hopped inside to see the chicks. The 2-3 day old chicks knew me as mama & pecked at Princess's shiny eyes. OUCH! After several pecks, she disciplined them & they all ran over to me for safety. I was too nervous to leave them alone together & too busy to monitor them. (These chicks were already sold/promised, so I couldn't chance anything happening to them.) I took Princess out of the cage, & she returned to the flock. She started laying about 10 days later. I often wonder if Princess would have adopted them. She did adopt the ones hatched the same day as hers. I just slipped them under her as soon as I took them from the incubator.

Two weeks ago, Princess started diving into the garage as soon as she saw an opening. Once inside, she started searching. I have a feeling she was looking for her broody nest/cage. The recent artic blast & snow has stopped the behavior.

 

[fisherlady]

Is it common for a known broody to adopt chicks? - even if she no longer has chicks of her own?

My accidental broody did great last year. (Refused to stop sitting on imaginary eggs, so I finally gave her some.) When chicks were 3.5 weeks old, I sent them to their new home. Princess kept looking in the garage for her babies. I felt bad, but we just don't have unlimited space for chickens. A few days later, I brought the incubator chicks to the garage. (Same cage that Princess used.) Princess heard peeping & hopped inside to see the chicks. The 2-3 day old chicks knew me as mama & pecked at Princess's shiny eyes. OUCH! After several pecks, she disciplined them & they all ran over to me for safety. I was too nervous to leave them alone together & too busy to monitor them. (These chicks were already sold/promised, so I couldn't chance anything happening to them.) I took Princess out of the cage, & she returned to the flock. She started laying about 10 days later. I often wonder if Princess would have adopted them. She did adopt the ones hatched the same day as hers. I just slipped them under her as soon as I took them from the incubator.

Two weeks ago, Princess started diving into the garage as soon as she saw an opening. Once inside, she started searching. I have a feeling she was looking for her broody nest/cage. The recent artic blast & snow has stopped the behavior.

I have had 1 known great broody who has adopted chicks of varying ages, but she is a rarity... there are just a few who seem like they want to mother every little critter they can. If you find one of them they are priceless and are worth holding onto. I wouldn't trade my Janeway for anything. I know if I have any orphan chicks I can just set them in front of her and she will let her 'mother mode' kick in. I have other broodies who are great mamas, but she is the one who seems willing to adopt anything that cheeps!