Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[artsyrobin]

i would, usually the hen knows what they are doing- do you have her sectioned off from the flock?

 

[artsyrobin]

thats funny! yes, my flo will hug that nest and i have to pick her up for poop patrol, she won't leave it for anything! other broodies i have had will, but not her....

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[stonykill]

I leave mine with the hen. Are you removing them because you are selling the chicks? Do you have them in a brooder that is 95 degrees once you remove them?

 

[BarnGoddess01]

I have a question: how long should I leave the chicks with the hen? I have a buff Orpington hen on 12 eggs. When I came home there was a chick under her (it was wet, no fluff). That was at 4, I moved the chick inside around 6. He moved around and would peep when I picked him up, but was otherwise silent. He fluffed out and opened his eyes, but by 7:30 he was dead. I'm wondering if I should let him fluff out under the hen?

Leave the chicks with the hen as long as she will have them!!! Let her do the drying - and the raising. Good luck with the rest of them.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

had a tragedy this morning, apparently our broody EE and a brahama were fighting over the nest, one of the eggs due to hatch wednesday broke, poor little guy had his white fuzz and all.... so i moved her and the rest of the eggs into the bathroom....seems the spare bathroom has been designated the 'broody room'- so she has 4 eggs, 2 look close to pipping.... so much for leaving them with the flock....

I cage mine inside the coop. That way broody mama and eggs are safe but the flock doesn't forget her.

Sorry for your loss

 

[artsyrobin]

i will do that- i need to work on a secure area- she is very good at finding holes....

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[Miss Lydia]

That is so precious Robin, I love it the way the lil chicks look out of mamas feathers, and sorry about losing the lil chick. and also i see you lost One named Noel, so sorry for your losses.

thats funny! yes, my flo will hug that nest and i have to pick her up for poop patrol, she won't leave it for anything! other broodies i have had will, but not her....

 

[artsyrobin]

well, weird problem- looks like my EE girl has one egg internally pipping, another i can see veins clearly- i suspect someone snuck an egg in there- so how far along might that one be?? gonna have to see if one of the other hens will take it? one of the seramas seems to be thinking on it....


yes, i lost my little wrytail girl yesterday, it was strange- she was in my lap outside enjoying our afternoon snuggle, she began breathing hard and within 15 minutes convulsed and was gone, she was only 2- i still can't figure out what happened??

 

[Haloclimb]

Sorry to hear you lost one artsyrobin, it's got to be hard to see one so close to hatching get smashed! I nearly cried when that happened to me ):
And having the chicks peek out of their mums feathers is probably the funniest thing I've seen
Our third chick hatched a few days ago, but after reading on here about some mothers attack and killing new chicks I decided to just leave it under the other broody mother. We have one more egg to go, but I'm not really expecting it to hatch-it doesn't look right when I candle it and it keeps getting kicked out of the nest and going cold, so I don't think its going to hatch.
Some pictures of the new baby-


We let the other mother and her two chicks out as well today to give them a bit of a taste of the world-I've been checking up on them all the time, but there's been no major problems with introducing them to the flock so far! Other than a few pecks a a little fight between the mother and another hen, they've all setteled in fine and the mom is busy scratching around showing the chicks how to forage!

Sorry about the poor picture, they are stuck right under the bushes out back and are busy scratching around under there!

 

[bloom chicks]

They are soo cute. Thank you for sharing!

Sorry to hear you lost one artsyrobin, it's got to be hard to see one so close to hatching get smashed! I nearly cried when that happened to me ):
And having the chicks peek out of their mums feathers is probably the funniest thing I've seen
Our third chick hatched a few days ago, but after reading on here about some mothers attack and killing new chicks I decided to just leave it under the other broody mother. We have one more egg to go, but I'm not really expecting it to hatch-it doesn't look right when I candle it and it keeps getting kicked out of the nest and going cold, so I don't think its going to hatch.
Some pictures of the new baby-


We let the other mother and her two chicks out as well today to give them a bit of a taste of the world-I've been checking up on them all the time, but there's been no major problems with introducing them to the flock so far! Other than a few pecks a a little fight between the mother and another hen, they've all setteled in fine and the mom is busy scratching around showing the chicks how to forage!

Sorry about the poor picture, they are stuck right under the bushes out back and are busy scratching around under there!