Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[PD-Riverman]

Pine straw? I know straw, which I don't like as it always molds in my humid Oregon...but what is pine straw?


Do you use pine straw on hard wood? Do you have a photo of your nest box itself?

Thanks for your input!
LofMc

Most all my nest are the plastic milk crates with coastal bermuda hay in them. Pine straw is a southern slang for pine needles that fall off our many pine trees which happens before they are cut down and lumber is made out of them as well as "pine shavings" and other things. If I have a pen where they are bad about raking the "hay" out the nest---I will put pine needles in those nest-------they do not seem to rake them out as bad.

I use the plastic milk crates mainly so if I have a broody hen------I can pick the whole crate, hen, eggs and all at one time and set it in one of the hatching pens.

 

[song of joy]

After 2 years of failed attempts at hatching and brooding chicks with a broody hen, it finally happened! My 10 month old olive egger (appears to be a marans / ameraucana mix) successfully hatched out 6 of 6 fertile eggs on Day 20. She was a very faithful broody, and so far has been a good mother.

I separated her from the flock for the incubation and hatching period, setting her up in a dog house within a 6 x 10' chain-link dog kennel covered in chicken wire. The challenge now is to figure out how and when to re-integrate her with the flock which consists of 9 laying hens. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bumpercarr]

Here are the 3 little Isbar rescues in their brooder box...2 with little boots for splayed toes...little Blackie was eating on its own today and hobbling a bit better (one leg still tries to shoot out)...Little Cream is holding its own, looking stronger (today was its official hatch day)...Blue looks pretty good...eating and drinking and a LOT happier with siblings in the box...they all fell asleep together. Whew, silence at last. (thank you @bumpercarr for the advice to put them in if they can hold their head up...they are a lot happier even wobbling together).

LofMc

I think they gain strength faster when they have each other. Glad it is working out for you. Let me know if there are any more issues with them...I have a vast amount of experience in brooder raising chicks.

 

[vpatt]

Chick update:

My three little abandoned chicks are still doing good. At first i caught them every evening and put them in the pet carrier inside the coop. After 4 or 5 nights they began going in the coop on their own. They look so tiny in there with the big birds! But what troopers. Boo, hiss at jessica for leaving them so soon. They are only at four weeks and two days now. I'm afraid jessica won't be raising anymore chicks.

Miss Frizzle and Mr. Darlin' are taking good care of their four babies.....he even sleeps in the nest with them and calls them to breakfast every morning.

Neezie is still with her three at week six. What a sneaky girl she was with her hidden nest.

Olivia, Monster Mom, is not letting man or beast near her 7 Tennessee chicks. They are doing great at 2.5 weeks.

LofMc, I hope things are going better now?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My second wave of broodies

There are 3 in the cages and 1 in the litter box between the nest boxes. Before I moved them, there was a hen in each nest box, 1 under the feeder and 1 hiding in the corner of the coop beside the nest box the rooster is sitting on. The other girls were laying their eggs in another corner under the roost bar

They seem happy to have the nest boxes back!

This girl is in my other coop. The look on her face when I snapped this picture struck me as funny! She's sitting on 3 Silkie eggs and 2 LF eggs, I can't wait to see how THAT goes. I've had turkey hens hatch and raise bantams in the past, but this is her first time sitting. She's been very dedicated to her little eggs though

I have 4 other hens roaming my Silkie pen with chicks and 4 brooders full of incubator babies, things are CRAZY around here right now

 

[sktlmt]

our brooder would do that as well. if her box was occupied, she'd just hop in another. I always put her back in her box once it was free. we didn't have high hopes for the eggs either but we managed to hatch 3 out of 3 which was a miracle.

One eggs hatched today and Mama


kicked it out. I found it stone cold in the pine chips. I scooped it up and rubbed it chest and back and I could see slow shallow breathing. I have 10 day old chicks in the house so I held it under the light while waiting for the incubator to warm up. I had a light on it and I think it got too hot. It became very lethargic. It has not been in the incubator for about 2 hours and is perking up. I am watching my broody Homicidal Mama like a hawk. fairly certain I will have to rescue the other 2 if they hatch. She is about done with me now. I go out and check on her every 20-30 minutes.

 

[emmyeagle]

Yay! One chick out & another external pipped. 5 others are not doing much for now. Candled 3 days ago & all looked good. Star is a nice hen. She lets me peek.

 

[kristin07035]

My silkie is sitting on 3 silkie/showgirl eggs due tomorrow & all 3 are piped tonight hoping to wake up to babies tomorrow

 

[McCaskill]

my FBCM sat on 11 eggs 5 frizzle bantams and 6 SLW mixes 8 made it to lock down (4 of each) and all are now happy and warm under mamma (Cali is my momma and she has been so good lets me look as much as I like but keeps everything else away she even chase out my 90 lb lab mix that was a hoot lol)

 

[moali99]

Its my first time experiencing a broody hen!

 I'm just wondering how many eggs this hen can hold under her. She's got 4 at the moment and the other 2 hens are laying eggs each day and adding the eggs to her collection. How will this work out in terms of what days the eggs will hatch?