Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

Update - Day 24. This afternoon discovered a small piece of eggshell outside the nestbox and a small glob of egg yolk. Looks like the broody moved this egg out just in time. Can't find the chick though (if there was one) or the rest of the shell. Might she have eaten it??

Out of eight eggs, only 4 left now..... She is sitting really tight, not even coming out to eat/drink now. Pecked my hand when I gently lifted her to check how many eggs left. Thoughts? Is there ANY hope that we might still get some live chicks? Does the broody know if there's any live ones yet to hatch or will she just sit until there simply is nothing left in the nest?

Broody no. 2 is on day 23. Nothing happening with those eggs. No peeps, pips or zipping. She also is sitting very very tight on her eggs. Is coming out still to stretch her legs but is back within a couple of minutes.

She may have, day 24? I would give it a couple more and see what happens, could you have missed a couple of days? they can hear the chicks inside the eggs and vise versa so there is hope.

if for some reason these don't make it, please don't give up on broodies, just try again. things go wrong in bators too. but you'd miss out on seeing mama raise her brood which the the rewarding part of all this. Hang in there..

 

[Miss Lydia]

My girl say on her last egg that was fully developed but didnt hatch until day 24 then she gave up and went along with the other 3 chicks she hatched. A wise person on here that has alot of experience with broodys his name is Stormy, he told me to leave the eggs under her until she gives up or until day 25. So you still have 1 more day.

If it was me tomorrow if nothing hatches I would get a few day olds and stick them under her at night. That way she knows she didnt sit in that nest for 3 weeks for nothing! Thats just me though.

Good luck. Hopefully someone with a little more experience than me will join in.

X2!

 

[Peach2u]

Yes they will eat some of the mess the chicks leave behind. Mine sat on her's for 32 days. Nine days into her first brood My 4 year old collected and broke eggs. By the time I found them the unbroken ones where cold. Buffy was in a panic. She was softly clucking and kept shifting around the nest. So I got 3 golf balls and stuffed them under her. She was happy then. I then collected eggs for her for 3 days from the hens I wanted. I took the balls back out and gave her 14 eggs. I would put one by her foot and she would tuck them where she wanted them. It took a few mins to do this. I figured she would stop accepting if it was too many. She took all 14. Maybe she could have taken a few more. I never saw an egg sticking out anywhere. She was rotating them.

Anyway on day 22 they started hatching. Day 23. 9 of 14 hatched. I kept the eggs under her for 2 more days. She was sitting tight. So I took 5 of the smallest incubator babies and dug out the 5 eggs, then replaced them with 5 chicks. She was all upset started running around the tractor/brooder.I though I may as well clean out the mess since she was off the nest. Not too much left she ate most of the shells. But boy what was left was stinky. She got a fresh clean nest! Then she sat back down called the babies and all was right. About an hour later she had them all outside. So I opened the tractor and she was happy to forge with 14 chicks in tow. Then the rest of the flock came over to inspect the tractor and the new chicks.

So she had some drama. This was her first brood. She turned out to be a super mama. I was prepared to collect chicks and add them to the kiddie pool. But she is great. My BO Buffy! I almost sold her last month with the other hens. I was slimming down the flock to make room for babies. The RIR,golden comets, and Califorina whites went. The day someone came to buy them she went broody. So I kept her but not to breed. The Ameraucana's, EE's and BCM don't want to be broody. So she got a free pass.

 

[Glasshen]

Peach,
Loved hearing about Buffy and seeing her ix with her babies. she is wonderful.

 

[Johnn]

Is these signs of a hen going broody? when i went she was in the nest box and the eggs were warm then she heard me put the food out and ran out for some, she ate for 5 mins but then went back in the shed to a different nest and then the wint blew something on the nest box and she got scared and ran away and i looked in the nest and she plucked about 12 feathers out of her self

 

[countrygirl911]

from what i saw in their eggs they are developing but the thing is i took some from my bantam hen since she had so many and placed them under new broody that is almost a week behind the first one and the second hen had eggs at different stages of development will she stay till all hatch even though some will hatch about 4 days before the others or should i move the more advanced eggs back under the bantam. also should i isolate them from the rest of the chickens also do i need to move their nest boxes down closer to the ground because i do not know if the babies can get out without getting hurt after they hatch the boxes are about a foot off ground and there is no ramp do i need to just make a ramp sorry for all the questions this is the first time i have had a broody to sit so long

 

[bobbieschicks]

Is these signs of a hen going broody? when i went she was in the nest box and the eggs were warm then she heard me put the food out and ran out for some, she ate for 5 mins but then went back in the shed to a different nest and then the wint blew something on the nest box and she got scared and ran away and i looked in the nest and she plucked about 12 feathers out of her self

Yes. Now if she stays on the nest, then you can have some chicks.

 

[bobbieschicks]

from what i saw in their eggs they are developing but the thing is i took some from my bantam hen since she had so many and placed them under new broody that is almost a week behind the first one and the second hen had eggs at different stages of development will she stay till all hatch even though some will hatch about 4 days before the others or should i move the more advanced eggs back under the bantam. also should i isolate them from the rest of the chickens also do i need to move their nest boxes down closer to the ground because i do not know if the babies can get out without getting hurt after they hatch the boxes are about a foot off ground and there is no ramp do i need to just make a ramp sorry for all the questions this is the first time i have had a broody to sit so long

Four days difference may not matter in the long run, so I wouldn't move them right now. In the end you may have to do a shuffle, but you have 21 days before deciding that. The less you mess with the eggs and broody, the higher the chance things will progress well. I removed Smokey from the rest of the flock. And I moved her twice. First time was from the nest box to a broody coop. Then I realized it wasn't predator or weather proof and moved her again to a secure part of the coop. It worked out good because I put her food in there, but she had to get down to get some water and that gave her a chance to poop the horrid smelly broody poops. I had a ramp on that side and the chicks figured it out pretty fast. I'd add a ramp or make a temporary jumping block/stepping stone for them to get in the coop.

 

[audrey02026]

Yesterday was either day 21 or 22....I found a fluffy baby at about 10 am this morning. Must have hatched last night some time. She still has three eggs hoping for one more but I guess time will tell.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Yesterday was either day 21 or 22....I found a fluffy baby at about 10 am this morning. Must have hatched last night some time. She still has three eggs hoping for one more but I guess time will tell.

Yeah! Pictures please