Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[CoopDeDoo]

Our silkie hatched 4 of her 5 remaining eggs yesterday. 3 ccl and one bantam frizzle mix. Hoping the last one hatched over night. Earlier in the week my DS called me at work and said that there was an egg laying in her run. Turned out it was rotten and some how she carried/moved it out of her crate and into the run. He said it was pretty gross when he checked it and threw it away

 

[vpatt]

I checked my little hen and she looked dead on her nest. I watched long enough and she moved. Still havent seen a chick, but im trying not to disturb her.

 

[Catandherchicks]

Our latest broody, Laverne, hatched a few days ago, she has 6 barnyard mixes and 3 silver pencil rock chicks.

Fisherlady-
You are a great photographer! Those shots are just adorable. (Better start selecting what to submit for the 2017 calendar photo contest.)

 

[fisherlady]

Fisherlady-
You are a great photographer! Those shots are just adorable. (Better start selecting what to submit for the 2017 calendar photo contest.) 

Thanks, I take a ton, then have trouble picking which are my favorites or show everyone in one shot....thank goodness for digital, I would be broke if I tried to use film again!

 

[PD-Riverman]

I checked my little hen and she looked dead on her nest. I watched long enough and she moved. Still havent seen a chick, but im trying not to disturb her.

Do you know her hatch date?

 

[nchls school]

I checked my little hen and she looked dead on her nest. I watched long enough and she moved. Still havent seen a chick, but im trying not to disturb her.

Your hen will be fine-stop worrying. Hopefully, her eggs will hatch soon.

 

[h2oratt]

I just had my first hen go broody. I am wanting her to hatch eggs. She is in the main nest box. I want to move her to a more secluded spot. How likely are they to stay were you move the best. Any hints?

 

[ameliadanielle]

I just had my first hen go broody. I am wanting her to hatch eggs. She is in the main nest box. I want to move her to a more secluded spot. How likely are they to stay were you move the best. Any hints?

I move mine and they always stay broody. Make her a nest box in a place the other hens can't get to her, she won't mind the seclusion and you'll avoid the other hens laying fresh eggs on top of her and pushing the eggs she is sitting on out of the nest. That happened to me with my first one. At night while she's sleeping is the best time to transfer her and the eggs to the new nest box. I've found one of the $5 rubber maid containers with a hole cut in the side for a door is a favorite for my hens. I reach under her and take the eggs and put them in the new box then I move her to the box, the rubbermaids are big enough I can put her next to the eggs and let her settle on the eggs by herself. Once she is settled on the eggs in the new nest you can just pick the box up and move it. If you have a pen to put her in or somewhere else to separate her you can move her there. I move mine into the garage and put out a feeder and waterer near the nest box. She won't need layer pellets because she is not laying. I feed all flock or chick food to my broody mamas. I also leave the garage door cracked just enough she can't escape the garage, but it keeps the air circulating in there. Because broody poop is horrendous... you won't want her enclosed somewhere with that smell and no air circulation until you clean her daily poop up. I've never been able to keep my other hens from annoying a broody on the nest while with the flock.

 

[ameliadanielle]

My buff orpington wants to be a mama again. She started sitting on the nest yesterday around noon. I waited until after dark and she was still sitting so we moved her into the garage. She only had 6 eggs as we had already collected eggs in the morning so all she had were the stragglers eggs. So I put a few more fresh eggs under her. She has 9 eggs from the laying hens and 4 silkie eggs. I broke her from being broody a couple of months ago and now she is demanding to sit on eggs. She was a great broody back in November and this time she won't have a staggered hatch. I know exactly when she started sitting because we were outside building a new coop in the backyard all day yesterday. I don't usually move them that soon, I try to give them a few days, but I didn't want the other hens adding to her nest and harassing her before I moved her. One of my muscovy females lays in the nest she was sitting on... and that would have gotten ugly if I didn't move her before this morning.

 

[vpatt]

Do you know her hatch date?

I let her her do it her way and everytime i thought she was setting she would come off the nest and there would be another egg in it. So i first thought April 7. And then the eighth......well i am not sure. I think now i should have taken some of the eggs away as she had a total of 13 and this morning she has pushed another one away leaving six. I think it was just too many for her to cover. She has had two hatches in the past and done a good job with both. But both of those times she began setting first on a couple of her own eggs and i swapped eggs around giving her 4-6 eggs which included a couple that were not her own.

She came off the nest this morning to eat and i saw the six eggs. I just cannot believe that not a single egg will hatch.....but could i have been so far off on the date? Well, of course I could. I know the little roo helps sit on the eggs at night but not during the day.