Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[BarnGoddess01]

I'm not very happy with my mamma hen at the moment. Her chick is 2 weeks old today and yesterday was the first time I allowed the two of them outside to mingle with the rest of the flock. (I have had them in a fenced off area of the coop so the little one can get used to the others and so the rest of the flock doesn't eat all his baby chick food.) It was so nice outside yesterday that I thought I would let them run around outside. I opened the fencing and went to check on them a bit later and found the chick cheeping like crazy in the coop and found mom outside with the rest of the flock. I put the baby with her and all was well for a couple of hours. Went back to check again and found the chick crying and getting pecked by the flock, mom was in a nest box in the coop. I finally gathered both up and put them back behind the fence together.
My last two moms never left their babies side and never let the rest of the flock close to them, when they cried, they were frantic to find them. I followed this same protocol with the last two. I don't know what is wrong with this mom. She is very attentive to him behind the fence when they are together but doesn't seem to take care of him outside their area. Anyone else have this problem?

My Barred Rock was similar although she wasn't interested in the chick regardless if anyone was around or not!

She gave up completely on it by 3 weeks. Seems to me she was laying eggs about a week after the chick hatched. Thankfully, my flock didn't mess with the chick so she did just fine without a mom. (My second broody was a Red Sex-link. She was a brillliant mom. Mothered her 3 right up to 12 weeks!)

 

[CALI CHICK]

Your hen is beautiful and you should definitely post pictures. You won't get banned.

Thank you, michaelinnc84.

Great thread.
We love our Buffy. She is as cuddly as a Golden Retriever puppy dog. I'm a little dissappointed that she isn't broody, but one of these days she may have the opportunity to hatch babies. At least I'm learning about the different stages of broodiness by observing her behavior. And, it will be nice to keep getting eggs from her.

The incubator is holding steady temperatures/humidity and not once have I had to worry if it was keeping those eggs warm-hehe!

 

[bobbieschicks]

Oh, OK, I didn't think anyone getting chicks the "natural" way from their broody girls would be interested in me using the artificial method-hehe!

I would be happy to keep everyone posted. I set them in the HovaBator last night just before midnight. I will keep them in there until day 18 and put them in an old Brower for lockdown. I hate using the Brower because there isn't a viewing window....Of course, I guess you really can't watch them hatch under a hen either. (But I wouldn't know about that

). The reason I'm moving these eggs out of the HovaBator and into the old round Brower is because I'm planning on setting at least a dozen eggs next weekend for the Easter Hatch A Long and they won't be ready for the higher humidity levels until a week later, of course. If I post a picture of the eggs in my incubator, will I be banned from this thread then? These 5 Easter Egger chicks should hatch by Saturday, March 31.

An update on Buffy.............she was practicing broody again this morning for a couple hours. Finally I just scooped her up and took her out to the tractor with the other 2 hens. I told her there is no reason to waste a beautiful Saturday in bed and miss out on all those scrumptious bugs!

You can always put fake eggs under your girl until she goes broody then move them under her to finish the job or leave them the fake eggs there until your babies hatch then move the new chicks under her after hatch. No one is going to ban you from here.

 

[Chicken Chat]

My Barred Rock was similar although she wasn't interested in the chick regardless if anyone was around or not!

She gave up completely on it by 3 weeks. Seems to me she was laying eggs about a week after the chick hatched. Thankfully, my flock didn't mess with the chick so she did just fine without a mom. (My second broody was a Red Sex-link. She was a brillliant mom. Mothered her 3 right up to 12 weeks!)

This one is a silkie so I am a bit suprised. My last two moms were silkies and they were great mothers, I think they stopped sitting on their babies at about 12 weeks as well. It was ridiculous!

 

[bobbieschicks]

21 days ago we bought fertilized eggs and placed them under my broody Orpington.. today is hatch day.. She has done a really great job sitting on them eggs. I candled them at day 10 while she was off the nest to eat and we had 5 eggs with chicks growing inside... I am really resisting the urge to check under her today to see if we have any that are starting to hatch.. I feel like a nervous mother... just pacing the house today.. We also have 4 eggs in an incubator inside, I wasn't sure how many eggs my Orpington could handle hatching.. so we decided to hatch some our selves. 1 is already hatched and i am just "Patiently" waiting to see if the other 3 will..

Congrats! Can't wait to see the baby pics!

 

[bobbieschicks]

I'm not very happy with my mamma hen at the moment. Her chick is 2 weeks old today and yesterday was the first time I allowed the two of them outside to mingle with the rest of the flock. (I have had them in a fenced off area of the coop so the little one can get used to the others and so the rest of the flock doesn't eat all his baby chick food.) It was so nice outside yesterday that I thought I would let them run around outside. I opened the fencing and went to check on them a bit later and found the chick cheeping like crazy in the coop and found mom outside with the rest of the flock. I put the baby with her and all was well for a couple of hours. Went back to check again and found the chick crying and getting pecked by the flock, mom was in a nest box in the coop. I finally gathered both up and put them back behind the fence together.
My last two moms never left their babies side and never let the rest of the flock close to them, when they cried, they were frantic to find them. I followed this same protocol with the last two. I don't know what is wrong with this mom. She is very attentive to him behind the fence when they are together but doesn't seem to take care of him outside their area. Anyone else have this problem?

Is this her first time? I know this is Smokeys first and she has left her babies outside when they didn't follow her in at night. She just stayed inside and clucked at them. I have helped them inside two nights now. She's good at keeping them with her during the day when she's out in the run.

 

[Tripp16]

I have a quick question. If my hen hatches chicks how long will she take care of the chicks/ sit on them to keep them warm? Will I have to wean them like you do a calf or a puppy? I dont mean like from sitting underneath momma? Or will she kick them eventually?

The reason Im asking is because the eggs she is sitting on now are EE and she is BB Red bantam so the chicks will eventually be moved to layer pen with the big girls. So I wanted to know when it was time to move them?

 

[stonykill]

I have a quick question. If my hen hatches chicks how long will she take care of the chicks/ sit on them to keep them warm? Will I have to wean them like you do a calf or a puppy? I dont mean like from sitting underneath momma? Or will she kick them eventually?

The reason Im asking is because the eggs she is sitting on now are EE and she is BB Red bantam so the chicks will eventually be moved to layer pen with the big girls. So I wanted to know when it was time to move them?

mama will keep them as long as she see's fit. I have had them stay with their chicks as short as 3.5 weeks, and as long as 12 weeks. She will take care of it. No need to ween.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Congrats! Can't wait to see the baby pics!

X2

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have been gone all day just got caught up on here, now I'm too tired to type, will be back later...