Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

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Generally my rule is if they bite they dont get eggs. However this Turkey was insistent on sitting on all the eggs. I have observed that eggs collected from under a sitting chicken/turkey even if fresh laid that day have to be added to the incubator that day to have any chance to hatch. If I leave said eggs on the counter with my other hatching eggs for a couple days those "pre-incubated" eggs will not grow. Now because my DD was trying diligently to hatch out of that pen the easiest course was to give snake a few eggs and let her sit securely in a dog crate so I could continue to collect eggs for hatching. She may succeed at hatching babies where I have struggled this year so all was not lost... but I gotta watch my fingers for another week or so.
 
fisherlady said:
And it looks like the chick activity has convinced a couple of our SPR hens it is time to raise their own chicks.... they are only on their 2nd day of being parked, and I am gathering eggs for them, so if they decide to stick it out we will be repeating this weekends activities in another 3 or 4 weeks.
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So to update the picture of broody moods from 2 weeks ago... it got worse... we are up to 7 pencils now parked... they are nuts! Hubby sent me this quick video this afternoon. 5 in 1 coop, the other two in other areas.

 
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pennsylvania-unite.248345/post-22184143Today is grafting day for the hens. Chicks have been hatching in the incubator, moved to the dark Brinsea box with the feather pads until they are sturdy, then they are ready for the transfer to hens.
Hens each got 1 chick last night to encourage them to switch over to mama mode. We checked overnight and it seems to have worked. This morning they were happily clucking to their chicks so I moved them all to floor boxes in broody areas of the coop.
As they settle in I will move more chicks out to them from the Brinsea box.
Hoping for more cute family pics later, for now they are a firmly planted in their boxes....
 
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One hen moved for a few minutes to try out a different box, and her chick followed, but she did move back.
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Faraday40 said:
How awesome! Their penciled markings remind me of a heard of zebras. Are those all Penciled Rocks?
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Yep, all SPR this time... 7 of them all thought it looked like a good way to pass the poor weather.

Funny thing is that since I moved the broodies and chicks this morning the other 3 hens in the coop with the broodies are now all standing against the fence between the 2 pens and staring at the broodies and any chicks who pop out . The old rooster (Spaulding)is too, he is a good chicky daddy and has helped tend babies from past hatches, so he is not liking his family being separated.
 

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