Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

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I haven't much luck with broodies lately. It's day 22 for my cochin and her two eggs.. There were 6, I candled on day 15, and 3 were duds 3 were good. Then I find an egg around day 19 with a crack on the pointy end. I didn't think much of it. I did candle and everything looked okay so I figured it was alright. Today though, the crack was bigger and some smelly fluid was coming out. I cracked open the egg and there was dead chick in it... It looked almost done developing too. There were these weird, hard, crusty things in with the embryo. I couldn't figure out what they were. My guess is the cochin must have accidently bumped the egg causing it to crack and bacteria got in through the crack and killed the day 19 chick.
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I have two eggs left, an egg from my layer flock and an egg from my bantam cochin. I know the banty egg was added a day or two after the LF eggs so it may not pip till tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm still crossing my fingers for the other egg though. Should have pipped by now.
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I set the LF eggs with the broody on the 23rd of January but no pips yet... Hm.
 
Nope no electricity I fill it when I am there. 55 gallons would last at least a month. I use those Dog bowl waterers the kind that screw into the faucet. For eighteen chickens I would do two with a splitter so they would always have about four gallons available at all times.

55 gallon drum with a faucet plumbed into the base and a hose run from that. The weight of the water gives you pressure to fill the bowls.

55 gallon barrel the kind with a ring on top so you can reach in all the way to the bottom.... 20 bucks.
Fittings and faucet about 30 I used brass I am funny that way.
Dog bowl waterers about 12 bucks a piece.

Oh and I want to use a heavy float valve on the 55 gallon drum so that when I go up all I have to do is turn the water on for every one. My big 3000 gallon tank without the booster pump on puts out enough pressure to force the float valves open even when they need to shut. I have to put a pressure regulator on that.....

Wow this is wayy off topic sorry guys..... If you want to know more Feel free to PM me or even Email. I dont have good pictures of this setup but I can draw it up for you.

deb
QUAILHILLFARMS said:
We are really inerested in your poultry waterer. Is it run on electricity? We don't have electricity where the chickens are located on the free range. (We will for the winter house.) Is it gravity feed? How much water does about 18 chickens need for 4 days? All questions we can't seem to get answered in our searchings. Everything we look at is electric or the owner lives by the chickens. We are going to shade our waterers as last year we had over 100 degrees for 2 months. We are also building shade shelters for these poor birds. Normally we don't get that heat but we had heat and drought at the same time.

Thanks so much for all of your encouragement. We wll post some pictures when we get them. Day old BO's are coming March 20th. Cochins in June.
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Sorry that we got off subject. Won't happen again.

I have heard that some of you have BO's go broody. Can you keep couchin broody mom's with BO's or will the BO get upset away with her normal flock and with cochins?
 
"mama" my favorite blue Sumatra and broody maniac is on day 2 of sitting. All I know is she is hiding SOMEWHERE in my shed. No idea on how many eggs. She just flew (litterally flew) from the shed with a RAWR to announce herself and is currently out eating and pooping....

love that girl....
 
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My banty hen is serious about being broody...she has been sitting on one eggs for a week now. My problem is that when I candled last night..the egg was clear. I left it under her but I need to know what to do. I would like to have her hatch some eggs but I don't have them now. How long can/will a broody hen set? Is it over 21ish days after beginning or will she set until the new eggs hatch? What is the best way to get her to take the new eggs? She is a very nasty broody..LOL! She will take off any fingers that get near her!
 
Emptywagon2 said:
My banty hen is serious about being broody...she has been sitting on one eggs for a week now. My problem is that when I candled last night..the egg was clear. I left it under her but I need to know what to do. I would like to have her hatch some eggs but I don't have them now. How long can/will a broody hen set? Is it over 21ish days after beginning or will she set until the new eggs hatch? What is the best way to get her to take the new eggs? She is a very nasty broody..LOL! She will take off any fingers that get near her!
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as long as they have plenty of access to food and water, I've had them sit 60 days before hatching and she then went on to raise her brood. Check craigslist, local farms etc for fertile eggs.
 
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something has happened to my sub for this thread. But just wanted to say Congrats to everyone who has a broody and looking forward to seeing the lil chicks when hatched...
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This yr. I am letting Sassy go all out. I plan to get fertile eggs for her. Should I trust shipped eggs? Can "outside" eggs, from another farm bring illness to my brooder? Should I let her get broody in her own nest and then move her? Can I fool her and set up a nest in the little dog house with faux eggs to attract her? I have put a sm. insulated dog house in the fenced area which I can then put up another fence across to keep the other girls away. The other girls will be able to go into their coop at night but Sassy will be fenced in with her dog house nursery and faux eggs until I get the fertile eggs. Vaccinate new chics? Mercks,etc? My 3 hens are 3yrs old and so far nice and healthy. They free range when I am not at work. I use the deep litter method and move them to summer and then to winter locations. But this has been getting tough on me so I am going to start to leave them in one spot from this time on. Any information/direction would be appreciated. Yes, I have an incubator ready incase she stops brooding. Thank you for your attention. I'll look forward to hearing from you...new to site..new to hatching. Thank you ...ps excuse ignorance on where and how to use this forum...any help with this will be appreciated... I have watched byc video but,,,
 
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html You may find this interesting. Alot of people use shipped eggs for hatching under broodys and bators, just let them rest 24 hrs before putting them under your hen. If you have a hen thats wanting to brood then yes go ahead and put her with dummy eggs inside the dog house that way she will already be settled when the fertile eggs arrive. wait till dark then go an move out the dummy eggs and place the shipped ones under her. Make sure she has acsess to water and feed. and a place to dust bathe if you plan to keep her up the whoile 21 days. There maybe some kind of disease that can be transmitted via eggs but i don't think there is a big risk. it's up to you on vacination I don't give them and haven't talked to may on here that do, so that will be totally up to you. Wishing you all the best and happy hatching. please keep us updated on how it goes and if you have other questions bring them on, AND
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