Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[holm25]

Well, basically entered lock down for my LF cochin. She started with 17 eggs. I pulled one clear at 10 days and she has broken 4 of them. Hopefully what is left will hatch. A few eggs have quite a lot of yolk dried on them, but this late in the game I don't think it would be smart to try to clean them up. It is what it is, I guess.

I've heard some people mention that LF cochins are clumsy and have also had broken egg issues. Anyone else? This is her first time, and honestly the main reason I got LF cochins--- to brood big clutches. It will be interesting to see what comes of this hatch.

My LF Cochins have never broke eggs before. But I use mine for hatchimg duck eggs and the shells on them r harder. One hen just hatched a few days ago.

 

[A2Kzoo2]

3 chicks out of 4 eggs. The 4th apparently wasn't fertilized. Glad it didn't explode. All eggs came from my big (in size and numbers) flock. I don't know who the mommas are, but all are at least 1/2 RIR. My little silkie momma is doing a good job so far. It's her (and my) first chicks. I moved them out of the barn and into a little coop and new run last night and they seemed to have settled in.

 

[holm25]

Congrats!

 

[Shahann]

Congrats on your first hatch! They are adorable.

 

[kpiddy]

Hi! I have a broody hen sitting on eggs for a long time. She successfully hatched 5 chicks seven days ago and 1 chick two days ago. I did not know she had gone broody and was sitting on eggs, so the 17 eggs were laid under her over the course of at least a week and a half. After doing the float test, there's one egg moving, and she's still willing to sit on him if I take away her chicks.

My questions are:
Am I hurting the six chicks development if I remove them from Mama hen every day? They're all perfectly content, taking dirt baths, drinking and eating in a rubbermaid container full of pine chips outside in the 90 degrees heat under an umbrella.

For how long do I let Mama hen sit on this last egg? She's been on her eggs a long time. She seems healthy and hasn't pulled her feathers out or anything...She has food and water in her box with her. I don't hear peeping from this egg, just movement when placed in a glass of water.

The other chicks laying has all gone so smoothly and I'm just not sure I know enough to understand to intervene for the last egg.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hi! I have a broody hen sitting --- I did not know she had gone broody and was sitting on eggs, so the 17 eggs were laid under her over the course of at least a week and a half.


My questions are:
Am I hurting the six chicks development if I remove them from Mama hen every day? They're all perfectly content, taking dirt baths, drinking and eating in a rubbermaid container full of pine chips outside in the 90 degrees heat under an umbrella.

For how long do I let Mama hen sit on this last egg? She's been on her eggs a long time. She seems healthy and hasn't pulled her feathers out or anything...She has food and water in her box with her. I don't hear peeping from this egg, just movement when placed in a glass of water.

The other chicks laying has all gone so smoothly and I'm just not sure I know enough to understand to intervene for the last egg.

To help us all learn and understand------how did you not know she was setting?

How do you know the eggs were layed over "at least a week and a half"?

Is other hens still laying in her nest?

I have know "people" that remove the chicks as they hatch------in a staggered hatch situation----and let the hen keep hatching for weeks. Thats your call and your hen. As long as she is eating etc----she will probably be ok for a while.

 

[Fowl Menagerie]

Probably most of us on here have been raising chickens for so long that to not know a hen is broody seems strange. Basically, a hen will not stay on the nest overnight if she is not broody. She will fluff up and make noise when you try to collect her eggs. When she is off the nest, she will run around all fluffed up and try to discourage the roosters from mating with her, eat drink, maybe dust bath and return to nest. To me. you loose the advantage of having the mother with the chicks taking care of them to save yourself a lot of work. I would put the mother with the babies and add the leftover eggs under another broody. if you had one. Once you determine one of yours girls is broody, you should mark her eggs so you could remove any new eggs that happen to be laid in her nest. I have covers that I place over the nest (I use cat litter boxes with the tops) so once a day I throw the hens off and when they return I cover them until the next day. This prevents other birds from laying in their nests. I also set duplicate hens on the sane day and when they hatch I give all the chicks to one mother. Eventually, the mother that has no chicks will start to lay again and it will be her turn to raise the chicks. Many chickens, and geese I have will remain on the nest whether they have eggs or not. Eventually they give up or I pen them up away from their nest until they give it up.

 

[kpiddy]

I have one rooster and two hens three years old. Neither of the hens have ever been broody before. We were out of town and had a house sitter and when we came back she was sitting on 17 eggs. Since we only have two hens, I am guessing these were layed over at least a 10 day period, if not more. Normally, our chickens free range and I collect the eggs daily but our house sitter kept the chickens in their coop while we were gone. So, never having had a broody hen before we didn't expect this to happen. We have six healthy chicks so far having let the Mama do all the work in hatching. Thanks for the feedback.

No other hen is laying with her. We marked the 17 eggs and after six hatched, 11 is all that remain.

 

[lilfarmgirl80]

I have questions I"m hoping you guys can answer! I have a broody black australorp, She is die hard dedicated, and I"ve tried the methods to break her. Ice cubes, putting her in a raised wire cage for over a week( a few days just didn't do the trick for her), setting her in a cool, shallow water bath, locking her out of the coop.... nothing has worked. She gets herself all worked up and breaths with her mouth open and just runs around like a crazy bird. The entire week she was in the wire cage, she was restless, I don't think she slept at all. As soon as I let her out, she BOLTED to her nesting boxes where she started, and settled right in. I had decided to just give her some eggs so she can relax! Problem is, she never sticks to the same box, and moving her just didn't work for this monster of a brooder lol. I am fine with getting her a couple day old chicks so she thinks she did this amazing job, but I"d prefer to put the fertile eggs I have from an insanely handsome silkie mix rooster under her. ANy new tricks to getting her ok with moving her nest? I built her a snazzy brooder in the coop about a foot away from her original spot, it was bigger, and I fenced off a large portion of the coop for just her. SHe will have no part of moving. I considered cutting my nesting boxes so she can have the original one, but thats just not feasible lol I need to do something, as she has been sitting there "brooding" (haha, see what I did there) for nearly a month. This girl has got to get up and eat some real food!

 

[lilfarmgirl80]

OH! I forgot to mention, the nest boxes she is determined to use are about 2 feet off the ground.