Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Mtn Margie]

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[Mtn Margie]

Maybe you can do a test run. Take another set of eggs from your hens and roosters and put them in an incubator. See if they hatch. If they do..., then either your hens need more practice being broody or maybe there is a bacteria or other microbial/ environmental factor getting the eggs as they are being brooded. If they don't hatch..., then dig deeper into the genetics, possibly bacteria in / on the eggs, ???? Just guessing and trying to think outside the box here.

For some unexplained reason, my post got stuck into Melissa's post. Sheesh. need more coffee!

 

[bburn]

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She is setting. We are keeping her fed and fresh water several times a day. She was so wild when we took the eggs out and kept throwing herself against the tin trying to get to the eggs that we felt we had to give something back to her. THIS time....no matter what I will candle the eggs at 10 day very carefully. If they are developing I might candle again at 18 days .....her lockdown and make sure. We are not sure we did the right thing but she certainly was not done and gathered up her new eggs very carefully and fluffed and flattened herself and is still on the eggs.

Will let you know when I candle.

My one question is about the time of the year.....just seems so hot.

 

[farmerChef]

Butterbean is broody for the 5 time this year.

She's a 10 egg broody

 

[Miss Lydia]

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She is setting. We are keeping her fed and fresh water several times a day. She was so wild when we took the eggs out and kept throwing herself against the tin trying to get to the eggs that we felt we had to give something back to her. THIS time....no matter what I will candle the eggs at 10 day very carefully. If they are developing I might candle again at 18 days .....her lockdown and make sure. We are not sure we did the right thing but she certainly was not done and gathered up her new eggs very carefully and fluffed and flattened herself and is still on the eggs.

Will let you know when I candle.

My one question is about the time of the year.....just seems so hot.

Best to just keep an eye on her and try to keep her as comforable as possible. if it gets to be too much then step in. Might even try misting her with water in the hottest part of the day.

 

[bburn]

Quote:
She is setting. We are keeping her fed and fresh water several times a day. She was so wild when we took the eggs out and kept throwing herself against the tin trying to get to the eggs that we felt we had to give something back to her. THIS time....no matter what I will candle the eggs at 10 day very carefully. If they are developing I might candle again at 18 days .....her lockdown and make sure. We are not sure we did the right thing but she certainly was not done and gathered up her new eggs very carefully and fluffed and flattened herself and is still on the eggs.

Will let you know when I candle.

My one question is about the time of the year.....just seems so hot.

Best to just keep an eye on her and try to keep her as comforable as possible. if it gets to be too much then step in. Might even try misting her with water in the hottest part of the day.

You know, she eats real well the extra we take out to her. Watermelon (cold), frozen peas (partially frozen mixed in yogurt), BOSS, cheesy eggs and whatever veggies we have leftover from the garden.

 

[Glenmar]

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I've never had one stay broody that long but some of them will be broody off an on, one of mine just got up after about 3 weeks of sitting on nothing and another one gave it up last week. I guess some are just obsessed with it. What breed? one of mine is bantam the other is Brahma, both laid and hatched by broodies right here.

She is a white Langshan.

 

[chicken farmer 1997]

does any one have any broody hens or breeds that will become broody for sale around eastern ky ?

 

[yorkchick]

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Got to respect that fierce desire to hatch the eggs!

If these eggs don't develop, would you have a source of newly hatched chicks you could slip under her at night? Then she could move on to the next phase...

 

[jeepchick]

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Thanks for the info! Ok, I was thinking of penning her and the babies up separate from the rest of the flock after they started to hatch...do you think that would encourage her to stay by the nest longer?

That would be fine to move them to their own quaters, but I'd keep them where the rest of the flock can see them or they might have a problem intergrating back into the coop when old enough. I can't say for sure how long she'll stay on the nest after the chicks start to hatch, mine stayed for 3 days then she was ready to take them outside into the world. she had 3 eggs left and she finally pushed them out from under her, so I took them and cracked them open before disposing, they would have probably hatched but were too far behind the others and she was ready to give it up for the ones that had hatched. I will try my best to keep the eggs closer to laying time so as not to have them too spread out from now on. I hope this helps, someone else may have had a different experience and can add to it.

My broodys hatch we are working on is a bit staggered for some reason so what we are doing is after the 2nd day I took the eggs and candled. There were 3 left that had not pipped yet and they were still alive. So we stuck the 3 slacker eggs in the incubator to finish hatching. Momma is out in the box with the babies showing them all those chicken things and the eggs I took...1 hatched a couple hours ago and as soon as it was dryish i put it n the box with momma and she tucked it right under her. One hatched and hour ago and its screaming its little fool head off in the bator and the 3rd egg is pipped. I think I am fortunate to have a momma chicken that is accepting of late chicks

She has more chicks in with her then she hatched herself and is taking very good care of them all. Its warm enough in the Mommy and Me brooder box that im not worried about them not being warm. So far the chicks she has range from 3 days old to 2 hours old. We'll see how it turns out lol.