Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[rexannastar]

UPDATE: All five eggs hatched! Hooray!

yay! congrats

 

[chickens galore]

Hi could do with some advice, I have 2 pea eggs and 5 serama eggs in an incubator due to hatch in 14 days, One of my wyandottes has just gone broody day 3 on fake eggs, she seems serious, the question is shall i try her with all 7 eggs, do you think the difference in size would matter, or just the peas or just the seramas, any thoughts would be fab

 

[Faraday40]

Hi could do with some advice, I have 2 pea eggs and 5 serama eggs in an incubator due to hatch in 14 days, One of my wyandottes has just gone broody day 3 on fake eggs, she seems serious, the question is shall i try her with all 7 eggs, do you think the difference in size would matter, or just the peas or just the seramas, any thoughts would be fab

You could try giving her a few eggs. If she hatches them successfully, just slip the incubator chicks under her as well. I never had a problem slipping a newly hatched chick under a mama hen. The trick is doing it right away when all the chicks are only 1-2 days old. If there' an age difference, you may have problems.

 

[Pertalote]

I put 10 eggs under my broody silkie cross last year. That was my first time hatching anything.

It was such fun that I have just ordered 10 Buff Sussex eggs for her. They should be here by Wednesday. Can't WAIT!!!!

Has anyone tried leaving their broody hen with the flock? I would be worried that the other birds might kill the little chicks. I'd love to hear!

I tried letting my Silkie broody stay with the flock last summer. As the hatch date approached, I noticed more hens were going broody and joining the nest. When the five babies hatched out, there were four mothers putting in their claims, all clucking away. I had to separate them for fear the chicks would be trampled. There were some broken hearts. So I would say it's best to separate the setting hen before the hatch.

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

I have searched this thread, but even the results are quite a bit of material to go through, and i'm a bit stressed right now. If anyone can answer some questions, I would greatly appreciate it. One of my first year BOs went broody, and i gave her a dozen fertile eggs to sit. On about day 6 an egg broke over all the others. I removed the shells and wiped the goo off the eggs with a dry cloth. I quick changed the straw in the nest too, as it's on ground and ants can be a problem. She's in a chicken tractor, and I nudged her off the nest daily to eat and drink. She was always back on the next within about 10 minutes. I did not candle the eggs. Yesterday was day 21 and we heard several of the chicks peeping through the shell. There were some tiny bugs all over one egg, so i quick changed the straw again, thinking they were lice and not good for the coming chicks, replacing the eggs pretty much like they were. Went out to check her today, and 8 of the 11 eggs had hatched, but the chicks were dead. One was missing most of it's head, so i KNOW she killed that one. One still had some yolk showing, so I am assuming it died on it's own. One was still curled up in the fetal position almost like some one had removed the shell before it was ready. All their shells were still there. I examined the bodies, no marks on them, no ants, just squished, damp, limp little bodies. And i was looking so forward to chicks! So my questions are:

• It was 100 degrees yesterday, do you think the heat was too much?
• do you think Mom killed/smothered the chicks?
• should i keep her in my breeding program?
• if i let her brood again, should i remove the chicks when they start peeping so she doesn't kill/smother them?

Thanx,

 

[PD-Riverman]

I have searched this thread, but even the results are quite a bit of material to go through, and i'm a bit stressed right now. If anyone can answer some questions, I would greatly appreciate it. One of my first year BOs went broody, and i gave her a dozen fertile eggs to sit. On about day 6 an egg broke over all the others. I removed the shells and wiped the goo off the eggs with a dry cloth. I quick changed the straw in the nest too, as it's on ground and ants can be a problem. She's in a chicken tractor, and I nudged her off the nest daily to eat and drink. She was always back on the next within about 10 minutes. I did not candle the eggs. Yesterday was day 21 and we heard several of the chicks peeping through the shell. There were some tiny bugs all over one egg, so i quick changed the straw again, thinking they were lice and not good for the coming chicks, replacing the eggs pretty much like they were. Went out to check her today, and 8 of the 11 eggs had hatched, but the chicks were dead. One was missing most of it's head, so i KNOW she killed that one. One still had some yolk showing, so I am assuming it died on it's own. One was still curled up in the fetal position almost like some one had removed the shell before it was ready. All their shells were still there. I examined the bodies, no marks on them, no ants, just squished, damp, limp little bodies. And i was looking so forward to chicks! So my questions are:

• It was 100 degrees yesterday, do you think the heat was too much?
• do you think Mom killed/smothered the chicks?
• should i keep her in my breeding program?
• if i let her brood again, should i remove the chicks when they start peeping so she doesn't kill/smother them?

Thanx,

There is So many things that could have went wrong, so many answers to your questions, different answers, different ways of doing things. All I can do is tell you what I do----I have set 49 broodies in the last year, I move them each to a private place then I Never touch the eggs again. If I catch her off the nest I look in on her eggs, if one breaks a egg---I let her deal with it because "I" believe if you wipe/smear the broke egg on the good egg------I feel you clog/close up the pores in the egg even worse. If I seen ants, I would circle around her pen with ant repellant/spray/etc. One thing for Sure "I" would never do is lift/tilt her/or remove a egg the last 3 days from her nest. Out of 49 broodies in the last year alone I have very little problems, rarely loosing a chick, rarely having a fertile egg not hatch. I am sure you will get many more answers------Let me say one more thing-----just because I stated HOW I do it does Not Make it the Right way, does not mean you did it the wrong way---Its Just The Way """I"""" do it----its the way that works Great for Me. Good Luck!!

 

[ChickenPresence]

Hello! This is my 4th time using a broody hen and have encountered a new challenge. Hope someone can shed light
Daisy is sitting on 12 Serama and Olandsk Dwarf eggs. This is day 21. Yesterday I heard piping sounds all day and when I checked on her later I saw the one chick had broken off the shell but died as the inner membrane did not tear.
Will I disturb the humidity level or somehow harm the emerging chicks by checking them and then providing gentle careful assistance with shell and membrane removal?

Thank you!!

Malinda

 

[Savcluckers]

Hey guys,
I am on day 22 with 2 first time broodies. We have one live hatch so far, and 2 that died, but were out of the shell completely. Now the momma with the live hatch has moved her baby and one egg outta of the nesting box and into a corner. She left 3 eggs in there along with a dead chick. I am assuming that those eggs are bad since she left them. Any advice? Also, how long should I let the mommas sit on these eggs? We will definitely have a staggered hatch cuz one momma kept egg-napping everyone's eggs the first 3 days!!! Thanks in advance for your help!!!

 

[mamalaoshi]

I have searched this thread, but even the results are quite a bit of material to go through, and i'm a bit stressed right now. If anyone can answer some questions, I would greatly appreciate it. One of my first year BOs went broody, and i gave her a dozen fertile eggs to sit. On about day 6 an egg broke over all the others. I removed the shells and wiped the goo off the eggs with a dry cloth. I quick changed the straw in the nest too, as it's on ground and ants can be a problem. She's in a chicken tractor, and I nudged her off the nest daily to eat and drink. She was always back on the next within about 10 minutes. I did not candle the eggs. Yesterday was day 21 and we heard several of the chicks peeping through the shell. There were some tiny bugs all over one egg, so i quick changed the straw again, thinking they were lice and not good for the coming chicks, replacing the eggs pretty much like they were. Went out to check her today, and 8 of the 11 eggs had hatched, but the chicks were dead. One was missing most of it's head, so i KNOW she killed that one. One still had some yolk showing, so I am assuming it died on it's own. One was still curled up in the fetal position almost like some one had removed the shell before it was ready. All their shells were still there. I examined the bodies, no marks on them, no ants, just squished, damp, limp little bodies. And i was looking so forward to chicks! So my questions are:

• It was 100 degrees yesterday, do you think the heat was too much?
• do you think Mom killed/smothered the chicks?
• should i keep her in my breeding program?
• if i let her brood again, should i remove the chicks when they start peeping so she doesn't kill/smother them?

Thanx,

I have had a couple chicks look squished and damp- they were always in a big group of hatched chicks and I figured they got smothered. But it's always been just one or two out of around a dozen and I've never had a mom eat part of one. We use to live in NC and had humid 100F+ weather so I don't think it would be the weather. Incubators are set at about 100F. I think what I would do with her is the next time she goes broody, slip a day old chick under her and then watch her closely to see if she's a good mother with it. That way you're only risking one chick and not wasting three weeks waiting to see what she'll do. In my opinion, the best part of broody hens is having them raise the chicks so I wouldn't let her set just to take the chicks away when they hatch.
Sorry about your babies! Hopefully you have some other mommies go broody for you.

 

[mamalaoshi]

Hey guys,
I am on day 22 with 2 first time broodies. We have one live hatch so far, and 2 that died, but were out of the shell completely. Now the momma with the live hatch has moved her baby and one egg outta of the nesting box and into a corner. She left 3 eggs in there along with a dead chick. I am assuming that those eggs are bad since she left them. Any advice? Also, how long should I let the mommas sit on these eggs? We will definitely have a staggered hatch cuz one momma kept egg-napping everyone's eggs the first 3 days!!! Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Have you candled the eggs that were left?