Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[azhenhouse]

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Oh, that's too bad. At least he has a buddy.

 

[azhenhouse]

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Love the pictures, all so cute and beautiful.

 

[AlbionWood]

Just checked under Track Star (the Sussex hen, so-called because whenever she got up off the nest she would race about the yard at full speed for a while - you could practically hear her yelling "WHEEEEEE") and there were two more empty eggs... including a blue one... so apparently we have a Delawegger chick! This is so exciting! I'll try to get a pic later, need to have DW hold the girl up, when we come in she makes all the chicks hide under her... so funny to watch them disappear!

 

[NottinghamChicks]

I have a question for all the seasoned "natural hatchers". When does a hen introduce her brood to the rest of the coop? I have her and her five chicks in a broody cage within the coop (hatched on the 21st & 22nd) and when I am out there I leave the door open for her to come out if she wants but she remains inside. Also becasue I am raising them in the flock what do I feed them all? I have them nibbling on game bird starter crumbles which is 20% protein because it was the only option for no medicated. So far so good but my grain source does not have non medicated chick starter or flock raiser which I read is best for mixed flocks.I just don't want the adult birds to get into medicated if I am eating their eggs. Does this make sense? Hopefully someone has some good answers an or alternatives that I can try.

Thanks in advance

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh well OM, how much noise can 2 small chicks make?

we had 2 more chicks hatch last night and the one I was worried about made it out fine. so since the 6th of April we have 8 new chicks to 5 hens not too bad, oh and I did the float test today on the remaining eggs and only one sunk. so still more chicks to come around the 28th. [I have to be very careful when someone asks me how many chickens we have, my dh doesn't do chickens math]

forgot to say NC, when my first 2 hens hatched theirs they just brought them out were all could see. My one frizzle was in a small coop because she was in a nest that was to high for the chicks to get down out of, but the day she brought them out for the first time she brought them into the main coop that night, my other hen just hatched hers right in the main coop and has kept her nest box.

 

[OrpingtonManor]

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Oh, that's too bad. At least he has a buddy.

that 's what I figured, too. I didn't want that little one to be lonely. I picked my favorite chick to be it's buddy. They aren't having as much fun as the others, though.

I moved the mamas, and the 4 babies out into the chicken tractor, and moved all the nest box bedding into a dogloo inside the tractor. I reinforced the security apron, and put better locks on the door. They all immediately loved it! Mamas and babies are out playing on the grass. Everyone seems right at home. Too bad the other two are still in the brooder. It's boring in there.

 

[stonykill]

ohh boy. Ferrel little blue, my tiny blue sumatra hen is really going broody. She has her nest under a tree, in a VERY unsafe spot. I found her right before dark, on 3 golf balls. I set up a nice nest for her in a dog crate, then at nearly dusk went to get her. I got 1 foot away from her, and she ran off clucking, and is in her roost tree with all the boys, and non broody girls. I'll check after dark to be sure she is still there.

I hope to find her in the same nest tomorrow, but..... anytime SHE knows I know where her nest is, she moves it to a further away hiding place. So I really hope, her broodiness, makes her go back to her golf balls, and I can get her tomorrow right after dark. She is one I saved last year, and is totally ferrel. As a lot of Sumatra's are. This is going to be fun!

 

[AlbionWood]

Anybody up for moar pix?

Track Star with her brood of seven (so far - one egg still under her): four from the feed store, and three hatchlings:

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Guess I'm back in on this thread again...

My blue andalusian decided to go broody yesterday. "Rarely goes broody" my foot. My best layer too.

Ah well. She's now sitting on 6 red quill game hatching eggs.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well welcome back BDG, congrats on the new additions! and Albion Woods, that is a very sweet picture, sure beats staring at a bator[ well in my mind anyway]
looks like you have your work cut out for ya stony, I have some game chickens and they are pretty ferrell too, at the beignning of the season they were going out in the woods and laying eggs, we found 3 nests and one broody, we lost one broody never found her, but since I have not been going into the coop till late afternoon to do clean up they have all been laying inside, which I am so thankful for, we lost 2 last year from laying in the woods.

so hope you can catch your girl and get her into a safe place.