Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[NotAFarm]

Boxermom is right. Nothing to lose at this point!
Australorps are a known broody breed so I think you'd have a good shot at her sitting on a clutch under the right conditions. Move her at dusk to a nest that is by itself in a small area (I use a extra large airline dog crate-half the space is used for the nest, the other half has shavings in it). The nest should have warm eggs that you place in it just before you add the hen. If it's darker and she has no roost, she may decide the nest of eggs is where she'll sleep. Then, by morning, she may have just decided to brood them. If she's pacing to get out, she's not ready. If she is ready, leave the "test" eggs until the others come. Make sure the new ones are warmed up a bit, you don't want to break her broodiness with cold eggs. Place them under her after dark so she will be less likely to move. Good Luck!

 

[GoChick]

Quote:
Thanks! She's back in the nest right now, so I'll follow your advice and partition her off, and leave her some eggs to sit on. If she stays there all day, do you think I should try to move her tonight? I've prepared a dog kennel with a smaller card box inside it, and was planning to cover it, keeping it dark for some days.

 

[GoChick]

Quote:
Thanks!!! Between you and Boxermom, you've answered all my questions! I'll follow your advice! Wish me luck!

Thanks a bunch!

 

[countrygirl911]

question my hen set on egg for i know 6 hours today but when she got up we cleaned her box but she never went back. she growled squaked and tryed to peck us even her poop was as big as a tennis ball. do i need to throw the eggs away? is she going broody? if so how long will it take for her to sit on eggs all day instead of a few hours? if she goes back will the eggs still hatch with her being off of them for so long? with her only being on them no more that 6hrs before leaving the nest did the eggs start to develop? should i wait till she sits in nest for a full night before putting new eggs under her

 

[ravenseye57]

I haven't had time to read this whole post and maybe my answer is here already, but here's my question. One of my Black Australorp hens went broody and I put 12 eggs under her in the elevated nest she was on. After she'd been sitting for a while I realised that I should have separated her from the flock so I tried moving her to a dogcrate that I set up in a shed, but in the morning she was off the nest and upset. I put her nest back where it had been and she got back on it. I candled the eggs a while later and they seemed to be developing so I've left her there. Now hatch is almost due and I'm not sure what to do if they hatch. Should I move the nest to the crate after hatch? Should I just move it to the floor and fence it off from the others with wire? Do they have to be separated from the flock or will the hen protect them? I've read conficting things about separating them or not and for how long. It's still pretty cold here, should I move them to the crate and supply a brooder lamp above it so that it's warm enough for them to get out and eat,drink and exercise? (it's a wire crate and I've lined the sides with cardboard to contain chicks and for draft protection, there's a hook for a lamp above). Will she abandon or trample them if I move her?
I also have two chicks indoors from a hen that sat earlier when it was even colder. I brought them in as soon as they'd dried off after hatch. They are a month old. Can they be introduced to the flock once they're fully feathered as long as they have a "creep shelter" for food and water and to hide from the big chickens?
Thanks for any help anyone can give me!

 

[stonykill]

wow I just found this thread. I had a Sumatra go broody yesterday. She was nesting on 2 golfballs. So now she has 4 of yesterdays Sumatra eggs and 1 EE under her. I suspect another is going broody. I found her well hidden on my front porch this morning with a clutch of easily 13 eggs. She is off the nest right now...so I'm waiting to see if she goes back. BUT I have at least 1 broody right now!

 

[Fuffy]

Quote:
Thanks! She's back in the nest right now, so I'll follow your advice and partition her off, and leave her some eggs to sit on. If she stays there all day, do you think I should try to move her tonight? I've prepared a dog kennel with a smaller card box inside it, and was planning to cover it, keeping it dark for some days.

Hate to confuse the issue, but if she has already been a bit erratic, I would try not to move her until she is sure about the whole thing.

Good luck!!!

 

[Fuffy]

Quote:
BlackBart this sounds like a really good setup! Any chance you could post some pictures, please?

 

[Fuffy]

Quote:
Good luck

 

[Mrs. Mucket]

First timer here! Today is Day 23 for the eggs under my broody and no sign of babies. She was sitting on infertile eggs for a little over two weeks. On Sunday I gave her six Day 18 eggs from the incubator. Whenever I check she is quietly sitting on the nest (in private closed dog crate with food and water) but I have not heard any peeping or seen anything peeking out around her. The eggs I gave her looked viable on that day and three of the six incubator eggs have hatched (one a day for three days).

How long should I wait before doing anything? I have three incubator chicks from one to three days old I could slip her, or I could give her some new fertile eggs to start over with.