Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Desiree Brown]

If you want to keep your breeds pure then when they get to breeding age you'll have to separate, you have some wonderful breeds, I know nothing about belgan d'anvers,polish i know nothing about, old english game bantams are wonderful brooders and mothers, silkies are wonderful brooders and mothers, Golden Comets are good layers don't know how they are other wise. EE's are good egg layers and don't know anything else about them, Brahmas are good egg layers, some go broody , they are great with children and are very laid back. Hopefully someone who has these other breeds can help you with them .you diff want to keep your hen to roo ratio at about 10 hens to 1 roo.

I am not to into haveing pure breed chicks because I purchased them at a local feed store so who knows if they are pure breed already. I know my son may want to show polish in 4H eventualy but i was planning on keeping them all together. I do have 2 yards off of the coop that i can rotate the chickens so i can seperate them into two yards. as long as our chickens can be pets/eggs and we can eat the other ones and provide for our family of 6 then we did what we set out to do. we want to become more self sufficiant and have a hobby at the same time. But... when it comes time to hatching eggs I dont know where to even start...I do know that I want more of the bigger chickens to reproduce but maybe a polish egg or two if we got lucky with a hen and a roo with our polish. we got the silkies because of there broodyness but i think one may be a roo. any and all advice is helpful ... Thank you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

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I am not to into haveing pure breed chicks because I purchased them at a local feed store so who knows if they are pure breed already. I know my son may want to show polish in 4H eventualy but i was planning on keeping them all together. I do have 2 yards off of the coop that i can rotate the chickens so i can seperate them into two yards. as long as our chickens can be pets/eggs and we can eat the other ones and provide for our family of 6 then we did what we set out to do. we want to become more self sufficiant and have a hobby at the same time. But... when it comes time to hatching eggs I dont know where to even start...I do know that I want more of the bigger chickens to reproduce but maybe a polish egg or two if we got lucky with a hen and a roo with our polish. we got the silkies because of there broodyness but i think one may be a roo. any and all advice is helpful ... Thank you!

Just make sure you give your hens a quite place to lay their eggs and when one goes broody all you'll have to do is let her do her thing, I just had 1 broody hatch out 3 chicks, I don't do a thing but make sure they have plenty to eat and everyone is in the house before I lock the door, she is in the main coop with everyone else. I have another hen sitting and I do pick her up and put her outside once a day for broody poop and dust bathing, then she is ready to get back on her eggs. she is experienced broody my first one was first timer. What is so nice about having your chickens brood for you is really you have nothing to do but sit back and enjoy, we also process out extra roos.
I'm not into having pure breed either, I just enjoy seeing all the different colors that come from my diff breeds. I do have some pure breeds but neither one of my roos are pure.

 

[Atomic Ranch]

Hello Miss Lydia! Happy Spring to you and all peeps!

*********************

Need advice! I still feel I'm fairly new to all of this... my first flock is turning one year old. No predator attacks, no illnesses, and I ended up keeping the one buff Cochin roo. He is separated, but gets to visit. So far all neighbors accept his gigantic, late morning crow.

My Partridge Rock has gone broody!! Funny, because she was the last to mature. One or two trial sits had passed, but THIS time, she's pulled her feathers out, and refuses to move (this is day four). She's sitting on: three Leghorn and one Delaware egg (and a few golf balls).

(Trying to upload a coupe of photos!)

I'm wondering if she will take care of them herself, or if I need to intervene. If so, how? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Atomic Ranch]

Ah ha! There we are. Still getting used to the new format. She's fairly large, and envelopes the whole nest box. It's not terribly high up over the coop floor. If they hatch, do I let her keep them up there and put food/water with them? Maybe section off some of the boxes for them? Will she keep them in the coop? Gah... not sure what to do. Should I let her hatch them? One is Small Chick's... lol.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ah ha! There we are. Still getting used to the new format. She's fairly large, and envelopes the whole nest box. It's not terribly high up over the coop floor. If they hatch, do I let her keep them up there and put food/water with them? Maybe section off some of the boxes for them? Will she keep them in the coop? Gah... not sure what to do. Should I let her hatch them? One is Small Chick's... lol.

She sure looks serious lol. Even though your nest boxes aren't that high a tiny newly hatched chick could not get back into the nest if it fell out or followed mama, and she can't help them, so I'd make a nesting area off to the side where she would feel comfortable and you could section it off for her and her eggs because more than likely she'll want to go back to the original nest box. Or wait till they hatch and get them into their own space then with food and water. after a couple days she will probably have them right in the coop with everyone.

I really don't see why you would have to do anything other than let her take care of everything they have been doing it alot longer than us anyways. You will enjoy this experience so much you'll be waiting for the next one to go broody.. and it won't matter if they are LF or bantam she will treat them all the same. All the best and please let us know how it all goes, and we really enjoy pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[stonykill]

I have broody #2 of the year. Not the one I thought either. So maybe #3 is right around the corner

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have broody #2 of the year. Not the one I thought either. So maybe #3 is right around the corner

It is contagious, congrats!! you never did say what your going to do with your runner duck eggs. are the going in the bator or on the table? LOL and do you mail?

 

[stonykill]

I do mail eggs!

It is contagious, congrats!! you never did say what your going to do with your runner duck eggs. are the going in the bator or on the table? LOL and do you mail?

the bator is full and only on day 8. So for now they either go to a duck egg customer, or us. well the 1st few we will eat just to see if they differ from Pekin eggs. Right now the bator is loaded with my mutts. Looks like I got another Sumatra order. I have a guy coming tomorrow to see my birds, then possibly place an order. Plus I want to incubate Runners. So I see a 2nd bator in my future

 

[Atomic Ranch]

She sure looks serious lol. Even though your nest boxes aren't that high a tiny newly hatched chick could not get back into the nest if it fell out or followed mama, and she can't help them, so I'd make a nesting area off to the side where she would feel comfortable and you could section it off for her and her eggs because more than likely she'll want to go back to the original nest box. Or wait till they hatch and get them into their own space then with food and water. after a couple days she will probably have them right in the coop with everyone.

I really don't see why you would have to do anything other than let her take care of everything they have been doing it alot longer than us anyways. You will enjoy this experience so much you'll be waiting for the next one to go broody.. and it won't matter if they are LF or bantam she will treat them all the same. All the best and please let us know how it all goes, and we really enjoy pics. Thanks for sharing.

I know, good heavens! Hehe... Thanks for the reply!

"They have been doing it a lot longer than us" was exactly my thought. But any fuzzybums falling out would be my concern as well.

Is the success rate of broody hatching lower than incubation? Since this is her first try, and there are only four eggs, I'm not getting my hopes up... But I figure I'll let her go her natural way since she is so adamantly insisting.

So, can I (should I) take the eggs from under her during the night, just for a few seconds, to candle them and see if there's anyone home?

If so, I think the plan will be to section off 3/4 of the egg box area for them for a few days, put some mash and water in there, then see if they'll move to the main coop.

I'll keep ya posted, even if it's uneventful. My mother is glued as well.

 

[Atomic Ranch]

Candled and can see a heart and veins in one, a ring forming in another.

I hope they're not too far apart. 48 hours max between them... is that too much? Will she sit through all four if I fence off her area?