Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Annnd those chicks produce quite a bit of warmth too with all that growing they are doing.

My hens were done with their nest areas too. Once those chicks were out and busy. of course I didn't have as nice a setup. One was a dog house with chicken wire partition to keep other hens from laying in the box and the other decided to brood under a Rosemary bush in the middle of the yard in full sun, 105 degree summers. I only found her when she growled at me as I walked by. Looked down and saw beady shiny black eyes glaring at me from under the rosemary. After she hatched out about ten out of twenty they were off doing stuff all day. I have no idea where they slept at night.

deb

 

[myfinefeatheredfriends]

I always use hens whenever possible...

Saves money on the electric bill

 

[Miss Lydia]

I always use hens whenever possible...

Saves money on the electric bill

 

[CESpeed]

Caught up YEAH!!! Ok I cheated I skipped a few hundred pages. lol. I see that some people have a brooding box that is very different than egg laying boxes. Can these nesting boxes be in the same coop as the other or do they need a separate room? And since according to what I read they won't return to the same spot should I get those tubs in different colors or will I have to have a nusery big enough to move broodies around? (I only want 4- 6 broody hens. I'd prefer to have 12- 15 as straight egg layers)

Speaking of egg layers, would one rooster be sufficient for 12 hens or do I need a second rooster? Should he be housed away from the hens or should he be allowed free access?

If you hadn't guessed, I'm a newbie!

 

[elsfieldchickens]

x2!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Caught up YEAH!!! Ok I cheated I skipped a few hundred pages. lol. I see that some people have a brooding box that is very different than egg laying boxes. Can these nesting boxes be in the same coop as the other or do they need a separate room? And since according to what I read they won't return to the same spot should I get those tubs in different colors or will I have to have a nusery big enough to move broodies around? (I only want 4- 6 broody hens. I'd prefer to have 12- 15 as straight egg layers)

Speaking of egg layers, would one rooster be sufficient for 12 hens or do I need a second rooster? Should he be housed away from the hens or should he be allowed free access?

If you hadn't guessed, I'm a newbie!

I use these as nesting boxes for laying eggs and also for brooding, main reason i like them is I can pick them up and move them to the floor when hatching starts.



I think one of the main reasons mama don't take their chicks back to the same spot they hatched is probably because in the wild they would draw preds. and they just feel safer having them somewhere else. I've had them take their chicks right into the main coop after hatch and get into a corner with them, and also take them back to the hatching coop but stay in the shavings instead of getting back into the nest box. as far as different colors it won't matter at all. as far as roosters i always heard rule of thumb was 1 roo for every 10 hens not everyone goes by that rule, right now I have 14 hens and 2 roos. Keep the roos with the hens. My roos have both been hatched right here so even though they are 3 years apart in age they are both doing a fine job of keeping their distance from each other but watching and protecting the hens they both share.

 

[perchie.girl]

Caught up YEAH!!! Ok I cheated I skipped a few hundred pages. lol. I see that some people have a brooding box that is very different than egg laying boxes. Can these nesting boxes be in the same coop as the other or do they need a separate room? And since according to what I read they won't return to the same spot should I get those tubs in different colors or will I have to have a nusery big enough to move broodies around? (I only want 4- 6 broody hens. I'd prefer to have 12- 15 as straight egg layers)

Speaking of egg layers, would one rooster be sufficient for 12 hens or do I need a second rooster? Should he be housed away from the hens or should he be allowed free access?

If you hadn't guessed, I'm a newbie!

Love the enthusiasm......

WRT the amount of broody hens I think thats a crap shoot. But.... If you get hens that are a breed that have a tendency to go broody just for brooding you can increase your chances. Then get non setters for egg laying. But there are always exceptions to the rules. When hens go broody they stop laying. so if you want 12-15 egg layers and 4-6 broodys this means you will need 16 to 21 hens.

I had a flock of thirty which included four roosters Many of which were game crosses (bought my restart flock of six hens and fhree roos from a local guy who got overrun with chickens) My original flock was large fowl from the feed store lost them all to predators so I wanted faster flightier birds. By the end of summer my flock was up to thirty Still had three Grown Roos but had about five young cockrels. OMG the hours of laughter those Roos provided......

chasing cockrels and teaching them to mind their manners. No blood drawn. or very little.

I only had three hens raise chicks. Mostly the ittiest little hens they'd setup shop in the rosemary or in a dog house and all the other hens would make deposits. This was before I realized the max amount of eggs my littlest hens could handle is about six. Out of twelve eggs one hen kept rotating the outside ones in I think she hatched four out of that. Thats when started making brooding enclosures around where they were nesting. Once they had the right amount of eggs.

I never moved or separated any hen or hens nest. Much like Stony. I did exclude other hens access after a time.

Now I have About Twenty Wellsummers and four Wellsummer roos. They are non setters I am hoping this spring to bring in some Sumatras. My Roos get along with only a scuffle or two now and then. My Silkey roos are the same way My Auracana roo Not so much. He gets along with the silkeys but even though he is two thirds the size of the Wellsummers he did a pretty good job of beating one up till I got him separated. I learned quickly once you separate flocks its pretty difficult to re combine them. Mr Hot Stuff is going to get his own set of girls once I find some Arucana hens. Or even some Ameraucana hens.

The breeds I had go broody were Game crosses or Easter eggers. So the breeds I expect to have go broody for me will be Ameraucana and Sumatra. I hope to get a couple of silky hens or Silky Crosses for my Silkey boys.

But those are my breeds that I want for my enviorment. HOT HOT and dry in the summer and Cold and windy in the winter.

There is an excellent tool for research on Breeds and personality. Egg production .... even the ability to get along or evade predators..... Henderson chicken chart. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html Its a fun read if anything.

Whew I wrote a book.

deb

 

[Miss Lydia]

Love the enthusiasm......

WRT the amount of broody hens I think thats a crap shoot. But.... If you get hens that are a breed that have a tendency to go broody just for brooding you can increase your chances. Then get non setters for egg laying. But there are always exceptions to the rules. When hens go broody they stop laying. so if you want 12-15 egg layers and 4-6 broodys this means you will need 16 to 21 hens.

I had a flock of thirty which included four roosters Many of which were game crosses (bought my restart flock of six hens and fhree roos from a local guy who got overrun with chickens) My original flock was large fowl from the feed store lost them all to predators so I wanted faster flightier birds. By the end of summer my flock was up to thirty Still had three Grown Roos but had about five young cockrels. OMG the hours of laughter those Roos provided......

chasing cockrels and teaching them to mind their manners. No blood drawn. or very little.

I only had three hens raise chicks. Mostly the ittiest little hens they'd setup shop in the rosemary or in a dog house and all the other hens would make deposits. This was before I realized the max amount of eggs my littlest hens could handle is about six. Out of twelve eggs one hen kept rotating the outside ones in I think she hatched four out of that. Thats when started making brooding enclosures around where they were nesting. Once they had the right amount of eggs.

I never moved or separated any hen or hens nest. Much like Stony. I did exclude other hens access after a time.

Now I have About Twenty Wellsummers and four Wellsummer roos. They are non setters I am hoping this spring to bring in some Sumatras. My Roos get along with only a scuffle or two now and then. My Silkey roos are the same way My Auracana roo Not so much. He gets along with the silkeys but even though he is two thirds the size of the Wellsummers he did a pretty good job of beating one up till I got him separated. I learned quickly once you separate flocks its pretty difficult to re combine them. Mr Hot Stuff is going to get his own set of girls once I find some Arucana hens. Or even some Ameraucana hens.

The breeds I had go broody were Game crosses or Easter eggers. So the breeds I expect to have go broody for me will be Ameraucana and Sumatra. I hope to get a couple of silky hens or Silky Crosses for my Silkey boys.

But those are my breeds that I want for my enviorment. HOT HOT and dry in the summer and Cold and windy in the winter.

There is an excellent tool for research on Breeds and personality. Egg production .... even the ability to get along or evade predators..... Henderson chicken chart. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html Its a fun read if anything.

Whew I wrote a book.

deb

a very good one too

 

[perchie.girl]

thanks Miss Lydia..... I am in writing mode these days. transcribing starts on my sixth notebook sometime next week. Hoping to get my book written before the end of 2013.... Not chicken related.... LOL.

deb

 

[Tmaxson01]

Here is a picture of my broody with her clutch of 7 growing up so fast.