Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

Faraday40 · Apr 29, 2018

Your dog is terrific!
:love

All of the pics are awesome!

Is that a Penciled Rock? I didn't know they went broody.

fisherlady · Apr 29, 2018

AnneInTheBurbs said:
They are so cute! Looks like 2 mottled blacks and 3 Bourbon red mixes. Dad is a royal palm.

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But of course!

Faraday40 said:
Your dog is terrific!

All of the pics are awesome!

Is that a Penciled Rock? I didn't know they went broody.

Thank you! Mindy is awesome, and loves her 'babies'!
The hen is a Silver Pencil Rock. I got the line from a breeder in SW Pennsylvania and these girls give a whole new meaning to the phrase 'broody prone'. A lot of our hens brood 3x a year, Lacey and Fran often go 4x/year. And they are almost 6 years old. They seem to prefer co-brooding and I have had groups of 3 hens raising chicks together numerous times. For us they are as close to a 'perfect' bird as I have found for a self sustaining flock. Calm personalities, decent foragers, decent eggs, good broodies and good pot birds by 20 wks or so for extra cockerels or older birds.
But these girls do think it is their goal to repopulate the chicken world!

Faraday40 · Apr 29, 2018

fisherlady said:
The hen is a Silver Pencil Rock.
But these girls do think it is their goal to repopulate the chicken world!

I hatched them last summer and kept a female. My PR is pretty and finally started laying in late winter. No signs of broodiness yet.

Mine is not as friendly as my orps but has decent production so far. I needed to add a few birds for eggs since I'm already overrun with loving, cuddly orpingtons. Orps like to eat a lot so the feed to egg ratio isn't very good over here. I don't care for barred or white rocks, but I heard that rocks are decent layers. The PRs are so pretty, so I gave the breed a try.

DD fell in love with silkies, we have 2 LF orps that sometimes go broody, a strong willed Sebright who doesn't realize that she's not a broody breed, and of course, there's Cookie, our bantam orp broody queen. I'm guessing we'll have all of our broody needs met. Hoping my PR doesn't take up the hobby.

PouleChick · Apr 29, 2018

They are the most amazing photos :love

and what a gorgeous set up you have for them!

PouleChick · May 2, 2018

Day 20 here and was expecting to see some aracuana chicks as the breeder I got them from said they usually hatch day 20. I wasn't able to see anything through the shells when I candled them so really I'm doing nothing but holding my fingers crossed that the 5 blue eggs are OK. The other 4 (mixed breeds) i was able to see veins and what I thought was tiny chicks when I candled on day 10. I'm hoping I'll see some chicks tomorrow - really nervous now I hope I get at least some babies :oops:

PouleChick · May 2, 2018

She has shuffled all the shavings out from under her / the eggs so they are sat directly on the plastic nest box bottom - that isn't a problem is it? I tried a few times to replace it but it just kept getting wiggled out.

PouleChick · May 3, 2018

No sign of any chicks this morning either

Any ideas anyone? Do you think the coolness of the floor (I'm guessing it is cooler than shavings are) could have effected the eggs? Seems odd that the lady said hers always hatch day 20 and there is no sign.

Feel free to tell me to stop being a worry wart and let nature take its course (which is what I'm trying to do but as it's my first time I'm soooooo nervous

)

Will I hear them if they have been born and are under her? Would it be bad to lift her wing a little to have a peek or will that hurt the humidity / warmth?

Where are my chicks :jumpy