Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[stonykill]

Black Broody...or as I started calling her today "mama b" and her 4 little ones.

she tried to take them for a walk today. They weren't having any of it. The nearly all black one did leave the nest with her. Then she tucked her under her wing, and brought her back to the nest....

 

[quiltnchik]

Well, the last Silkie hatched sometime this morning, so we now have 4 Silkie chicks (from 4 eggs) and 1 barnyard-mix (from 3 eggs). I checked the 2 remaining eggs and they were duds, so I disposed of them. Poof is being a great momma and the little ones are eating and drinking. I have a feeling she may bring them out tomorrow when it's supposed to be near 80 here (it's only in the 50s today).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Congratulations to you both stonykill and quiltchik, stony I love that blue/green sheen on your sumatra, my muscovies have it. really pretty in the sun. those babies are precious.

 

[Nystra]

So If you have a Hen thats been sitting on eggs for about 2weeks now is it too late to move her???? I'd like to get my chicks out of the coop with the other chickens cause the nest she is in currently is raised.. I don't want any babies falling out or getting hurt by the others.. So we are going to make quick work of a tractor for her and whatever babies she hatches.. Can I move them now? Wait till babies hatch? or what.. this is my first time hatching eggs and I just got lucky had a Light Brahma go broody and left her there. I prolly have other eggs under her from more recently laid by my buff orphington I didnt mark them or anything Like that cause I was naive and didn't think it threw when i let her start.. the only other option I have is removing the chicks when they hatch and putting them in my brooder

 

[MissJenny]

When mine was broody I made sure she had water all the time -- but it was our first time. I'm not sure it's necessary... but it can't hurt. They do get off the nest a bit to stretch and eat. While they are nesting it can be hard to keep their weight up. I kept offering mine high fat foods, like bacon with her crumbles, veggies and seeds.

Jenny

 

[stonykill]

I offered my broody water, she never drank it until the hatch. She was always offered food and water, and for 19 days, she left the nest to eat and drink with the other chickens

 

[Chicklette 1]

Miss Lydia, even though I am new at this, I just thought I would let you know that I offered water to my silkie when she was close to hatching and she drank so much water that I couldn't believe it. I would definitely offer water. My silkie had to be so thirsty to drink that much! She had it available to her but would have to get off her nest to get it so I just held the little waterer up to her in the nest and that is when she drank,drank, and drank some more.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Nystra, one of my broodys was in a nest up too high for chicks to get out of without a parachute, so I moved her to her own space [our small coop she can't get out so haven't had to worry about her not staying on the nest. I just picked her up and put her eggs into a basket took her to the small coop and put her eggs in front of her she moved them right back under her and there she sits, that was 2 weeks ago and tomorrow is day 21. I think I'll see if any of my girls want some water, I have feed and water in the coop with them so maybe they have just been going there instead of outside, But I haven't seen them outside in a couple of days, usually you know when their out, they are screaming and running around with their feathers all fluffed out and their wings spread out. pooping ,eating and dust bathing. lol

 

[BlackBart]

Quote:
I put 1 week old RIR chicks under my Broody super Dorking hen and she accepted tham as her own.

 

[elbowbayoufarm]

I'm new here, but I have been enjoying and learning from this thread. I have only had chickens for about a year, so when I had four hens go broody in the last month, I really didn't know what to do/expect. I've never even hatched chicks in an incubator. This thread has really been helpful. I see there have been some recent questions/discussions about grafting chicks, so I thought I would share my recent experience with this. I'll try to provide some history to explain my situation. Hope the post isn't too long!

Three of my hens decided to go broody in nest boxes in their coop, and one has a hidden nest under our shed. Two of them in the coop hatched two chicks each on Wednesday of this week. The third hen in the coop wasn't so successful. She was setting in one of the favorite nest boxes, and I finally figured out that the non broody hens have been running her out regularly to lay their eggs. (Next time I will know to separate them once they go broody). I moved her on Wednesday night to a dog kennel inside the coop. She seemed satisfied so the next morning I left the door open on the dog kennel so that she could get access to food and water and could go to the bathroom. I came home a few hours later to check on her and there was one dead chick in the dog kennel (didn't look like her fault, maybe unsuccessful hatch due to the eggs getting cooled off and on?) and she had left the rest of the eggs (they were cold) and moved back to her original setting spot (with one new egg under her). I had to go to Tractor Supply to get feed anyway so I decided I would buy her some chicks if they had any. Lucky for me (or not!) they had a new shipment of chicks in, so I bought six of them. Got home with them and put them in the brooder to wait for the night to graft them to her. Went to pick up the kids from school, and when I got back to the house, my poor unsuccessful broody hen was out with the rest of the flock. Watched her all afternoon, and she had definitely broken her broody! So I decided to try to graft the chicks to my two broodys with chicks. I waited until night, and my daughter and I slipped three chicks under each of the two broody hens. This morning, when I went to check on them, I found one hen (an 8 month old Black Cooper Marans) happily taking care of her newly grafted chicks with her two hatched chicks, but the other broody (a cochin) had left her three new chicks in their box and was out with her two original chicks. I thought maybe the grafted chicks were just confused so I took one out and put it next to the Cochin. She immediately started pecking it, so I got them out of there in a hurry. I thought I would wait until night and try to graft them to the BCM, but after watching her all morning with her chicks, I decided to try to give her one about noon today. She started clucking to the chick as soon as she heard it cheeping. She took it in with no problems. I put the other two in and watched her with them off and on all afternoon. She did great! I checked on them right before dark, and she had all eight of her chicks underneath her. So I've had one successful (hope I'm not speaking too soon) and one unsuccessful attempt at grafting. I think it must really depend on the hen. It surprised me that the Cochin wouldn't accept the other chicks, as she seemed to be the most attentive mother at first.

My fourth broody is still under the shed. I can't reach her nest, so she will have to stay there until she either hatches chicks or decides to give up and come out. I've caught her a couple of times making her daily trek to the coop for feed and water. I hate to leave her out of the coop at night, but she really isn't leaving me much choice. When she first disappeared, I was sure she was dead. I didn't see her for about a week later, when she suddenly appeared in the coop.

I know I've probably done most all of this the wrong way, but wanted to share my experiences in case it helps someone else. I was really scared to try grafting, but thank goodness it seems to have worked out okay. Thanks to all of you who have shared your experiences on this thread!