Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[ochochicas]

hi all, getting the hatching itch! I have a broody that has been patiently sitting while I take away the eggs daily... getting in some shipped eggs in another week and a half (poor thing waiting!)

anyhow, wondering how many eggs to put under my little broody silkie and how many to put in my bator? getting in 18 + shipped.... last year when ordering from this gal (two separate orders) had 80% hatch success on my shipped eggs so hoping for that again! these are silkie eggs i'm getting in so will be her size, not full sized eggs.... any info appreciated.

Thanks!!!
Val

With my large black copper marans I only put 8 eggs under her since it was winter. Incubating the eggs was no problem, but the chicks needed room under her to stay warm. Since your hen has been broody for a while, can you give her a half dozen eggs now and then put the rest in the incubator when they arrive?

I just rehomed the 5 cockerels out of the 7 chicks that hatched. They were 6 weeks old and getting rather large for all of them to stay in their carrier at night. Momma seemed a bit sad to only have two pullets left, but a day later and she is back to her normal self.

 

[minihorse927]

Then I'll make a guess of 26.
LofMc

a little high

 

[Faraday40]

this is my broody for the night, anyone care to guess how many she's sitting on? I will say she is a almost 3lb English chocolate orpington and you can't fit another egg under her. She is 7 months old. No she will not get to keep all the chicks if they all are fertile and hatch for her sanity and safety of everyone involved. They are bantam size eggs. Looks like I am going to have valentines day chicks!!!

She looks & acts like my little Orp. My Cookie's been spending a lot of time in the nest & makes the crazy dragon noise when I gather the eggs. I've been removing the eggs daily & making sure she's on the roost each night. At some point I'm sure she'll win & be allowed to go broody. I just would prefer if she waited another month. About how many eggs LF eggs would fit under your bantam Orp? She's certainly convering a lot of bantam eggs.....

My other question is how well will she integrate back into the flock after hatching? I had an injured hen inside for maybe 2 weeks. When she went back out, the flock harassed her for 2 days. (She was in the top half of the pecking order.) No one bothers Cookie now, but she's 1/2 to 3/4 the size of the other hens. She'd be missing for at least 5 weeks & she's the only bantam.

 

[minihorse927]

She looks & acts like my little Orp. My Cookie's been spending a lot of time in the nest & makes the crazy dragon noise when I gather the eggs. I've been removing the eggs daily & making sure she's on the roost each night. At some point I'm sure she'll win & be allowed to go broody. I just would prefer if she waited another month. About how many eggs LF eggs would fit under your bantam Orp? She's certainly convering a lot of bantam eggs.....

My other question is how well will she integrate back into the flock after hatching? I had an injured hen inside for maybe 2 weeks. When she went back out, the flock harassed her for 2 days. (She was in the top half of the pecking order.) No one bothers Cookie now, but she's 1/2 to 3/4 the size of the other hens. She'd be missing for at least 5 weeks & she's the only bantam.

I would say you could cram 8 to 10 if you wanted to push your limits on lf eggs. I am going to give it away and say she on 21 EGGS. Safely for a English bantam size orpington on lf, 4 to 6 eggs. I would take some of these away but I am not sure how long she's been sitting. If it was just yesterday or the day before also. I am going to candle on February 1 and throw out any bad/clears from under her. After a good 7 to 10 days of sitting I will move her to a different coop where she will be by herself. That way she won't break from being moved. Once she hatches I am going to take most of these chicks away from her as there is way to many to expect her to care for and watch after. Once she is done raising the chicks I will put her in the coop with the others inside of a cage where they can see her but not get to her for a few days. Once they ignore her after a couple days I will release her to the group while it is dark so they just wake up with her the next night. I have always done it this way and have had minimal pecking order issues. They generally regain the order within a couple days. She has been in with my ohiki so she is actually bigger than most others in the pen. She is 1 of the 4 chocolate orpingtons (2 pullets 7 months old and 2 hens 1.5 years old) in this pen.

 

[vpatt]

Lady Olivia's chicks are now 8 weeks old. She is still caring for them and trying to snuggle them under her wings on the roost....its not working well, lol. She has been a very good mama. I wonder when she will let them go and how that works...does she just begin to ignore them...and are they okay with that? I am already feeling sorry for them....but I really am missing Olivia's pretty eggs.

Jessica Noel's 2 chicks are 1 week old today. She had them out with the flock at day 2. Since that first day out there have been no more incidents with other chickens. At least none I have seen. They look so tiny! I have been having to help one of them into the nest every night without any fuss from Jessica. Tonight they both went in on their own. I have no idea of their sex so I am calling them girls. I can see that olivia is not as aggressive towards other chickens regarding her chicks as Olivia has been. But she is very attentive to them. I can't say she is a bad mama but I definitely see the difference in the two mothers.

 

[minihorse927]

Lady Olivia's chicks are now 8 weeks old. She is still caring for them and trying to snuggle them under her wings on the roost....its not working well, lol. She has been a very good mama. I wonder when she will let them go and how that works...does she just begin to ignore them...and are they okay with that? I am already feeling sorry for them....but I really am missing Olivia's pretty eggs.

Jessica Noel's 2 chicks are 1 week old today. She had them out with the flock at day 2. Since that first day out there have been no more incidents with other chickens. At least none I have seen. They look so tiny! I have been having to help one of them into the nest every night without any fuss from Jessica. Tonight they both went in on their own. I have no idea of their sex so I am calling them girls. I can see that olivia is not as aggressive towards other chickens regarding her chicks as Olivia has been. But she is very attentive to them. I can't say she is a bad mama but I definitely see the difference in the two mothers.

My broodies will start trying to hide from their chicks somewhere between 8 and 10 weeks generally. I had one who would always abandon them at 6 weeks. Mine literally hide from the chicks and leave them out on their own. The chicks follow the flock back at night and look for momma but she is usually hiding in the roost with the rest. If it is a group I separate out from everyone then as soon as the hen seems agitated with them I take her out and put her with the flock. By the time they are 8 weeks old they should be feathered and able to withstand most climates.

 

[ochochicas]

Lady Olivia's chicks are now 8 weeks old. She is still caring for them and trying to snuggle them under her wings on the roost....its not working well, lol. She has been a very good mama. I wonder when she will let them go and how that works...does she just begin to ignore them...and are they okay with that? I am already feeling sorry for them....but I really am missing Olivia's pretty eggs.

Jessica Noel's 2 chicks are 1 week old today. She had them out with the flock at day 2. Since that first day out there have been no more incidents with other chickens. At least none I have seen. They look so tiny! I have been having to help one of them into the nest every night without any fuss from Jessica. Tonight they both went in on their own. I have no idea of their sex so I am calling them girls. I can see that olivia is not as aggressive towards other chickens regarding her chicks as Olivia has been. But she is very attentive to them. I can't say she is a bad mama but I definitely see the difference in the two mothers.

One of my broodies left her chicks at 5 weeks, and the good momma stayed with hers until 9 weeks. One night she flew up to the roost and was done with them. During the day she would let them follow behind her, but if they came up to eat with her, she could peck at them. They were fully able to fend for themselves and didn't seem to have any trouble with the idea that they were on their own. The 5 week olds did have trouble transitioning into the rest of the flock. I blame the broody for not doing a good enough job with them. I will not let her raise chick again.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Lady Olivia's chicks are now 8 weeks old. She is still caring for them and trying to snuggle them under her wings on the roost....its not working well, lol. She has been a very good mama. I wonder when she will let them go and how that works...does she just begin to ignore them...and are they okay with that? I am already feeling sorry for them....but I really am missing Olivia's pretty eggs.

Jessica Noel's 2 chicks are 1 week old today. She had them out with the flock at day 2. Since that first day out there have been no more incidents with other chickens. At least none I have seen. They look so tiny! I have been having to help one of them into the nest every night without any fuss from Jessica. Tonight they both went in on their own. I have no idea of their sex so I am calling them girls. I can see that olivia is not as aggressive towards other chickens regarding her chicks as Olivia has been. But she is very attentive to them. I can't say she is a bad mama but I definitely see the difference in the two mothers.

So happy to hear your chicks and broodies are doing well.

As to your question...others have responded but I will add that it totally depends on the broody.

My Silkie never cut the apron strings...she would continue to mother them until they were bigger than her and they finally started to dominate and pick on her (the little ungrateful monsters)!

My LF hens were different. One simply paced frantically insisting on being let out of the broody pen at 5 weeks leaving her babies (and the Silkie ended up caring for hers and her own).

Another LF tired at 6 weeks and got really snotty with them chasing them away from her until they got the idea that she was no longer mom.

Yet another carefully trained them in all things chicken finishing them with roosting lessons, and then simply wandered away. She would not linger around them at all during the day but would roost next to them at night.

At first the chicks do appear quite lost, but they get over it pretty quickly....or some softy in the flock, like my goofy Silkie, takes them under their wing until they are spoiled rotten.

LofMc

 

[rebrascora]

My best broody cast her first brood off at 5 weeks but that was in the middle of summer. She had raised all 13 of them within a mixed flock, taught them everything they needed to know and was an extremely attentive mother. The day she cast them off was the day she started laying and boy was she mean to them that day! I can only assume that hormones were responsible. They got the message very loud and clear! I was horrified at the time but they took no harm at all and perhaps it was the final lesson in pecking order....

 

[vpatt]

Thank you all so much! I guess since the first batch is 8 weeks this could happen any time.....oh I really am feeling bad for them thinking about it. But I know they are big enough and this is how it works. Hopefully I will survive it....lol.

Possible snow again! I know our weather is nothing compared to what some of you get. But I am thinking of those week old chicks.....maybe I should not open their door. It is amazing to see them out in a winter drizzle and think about how diligent you need to be with a heat lamp for incubator chicks. I know mom is warming them, but they are out in the cold a lot. I think they must be hardy to be winter chicks.

And a new concern...will my hens broodiness coordinate with the availability of hatching eggs in the next month or two. I have had the two broodies hatch eggs in the first 5 months of starting my flock. But I know that does not mean they will brood according to 'my' schedule. This is all fascinating and fun!

I love this site!