Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

10 days left for my broody. She is hunkered down well. I put another hen in her box to help with the cold. It was -10 tonight when I locked up. BRRR

Good idea on another body for warmth,

 

[fisherlady]

Good idea on another body for warmth,

I wish we had that, but Gracie doesn't seem too keen on it at all, earlier on when she was sitting on dummy eggs the other hens bothered her frequently, and squabbled with her numerous times. She is low girl on the pecking order and I think them trying to share with her freaked her out.

 

[tommysgirl]

I am trying to organize this broody business in my head. None of mine have gone broody yet but amongst the chicks I am getting this year will be a couple of breeds that I specifically chose hoping that they would go broody.

Please correct or clarify the following This is what I think I know...

*When hen goes broody she stays on the nest and refuses to leave other than to eat and drink a little and poop

*You officially call her broody when she has done this for what, a couple of days???

*At this point you can either let her keep her won eggs under her or you can buy/order hatching eggs to put under her

*In the interim other hens may lay on top of hers which can be a good or bad thing depending upon if those eggs are fertile and/or you want them hatched too.

*Some people remove her at night with her eggs to a smaller secluding nesting area so that her eggs and subsequent chicks are out of possible danger from the others. Others don't.

*At this point you just let the mama handle things until/unless there appears to be a problem

*About 21 days after she starts setting in earnest, you will have a hatch.


Do I have this right? Now here come my questions:

If there is a rooster in the coop can we assume all eggs are fertile?

Does the egg laid on the Monday she goes broody hatch (if it's going to) on the same day as the egg she laid 5 or 8 days later?

If all the eggs don't hatch, how long would you leave her with an unhatched egg before you call it a day and then what???

Just resubmitting this. It ended up at the bottom of a page a few pages back. If you have any feedback I would really appreciate it. thanks!

 

[delisha]

Quote:

 

[prizma]

I'm so happy to have found this thread! I have a silkie that has been acting broody for several days now and I have just decided today that I will let her try and hatch out some babies. This is so exciting as I've never done this before, I just always bought my peeps online, so this is a new experience for me! I had been taking her eggs from her up until today. So this morning, I put another one of my silkies eggs under her and I think I'm going to add a couple more. I'm assuming today would be the set day then? Very exciting!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I wish we had that, but Gracie doesn't seem too keen on it at all, earlier on when she was sitting on dummy eggs the other hens bothered her frequently, and squabbled with her numerous times. She is low girl on the pecking order and I think them trying to share with her freaked her out.

Not every hen will allow this, most don't want to share their space or eggs, I've only had it happen a few times.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm so happy to have found this thread! I have a silkie that has been acting broody for several days now and I have just decided today that I will let her try and hatch out some babies. This is so exciting as I've never done this before, I just always bought my peeps online, so this is a new experience for me! I had been taking her eggs from her up until today. So this morning, I put another one of my silkies eggs under her and I think I'm going to add a couple more. I'm assuming today would be the set day then? Very exciting!

Tomorrow will be day 1 if you set the eggs today.

 

[delisha]

Quote: additional notes about your questions and clarification.

Usually if a chicken goes broody it is when they lay about 7-10 eggs in the same nest. They do not set the nest until the eggs all have been layed, some hens may lay during the first few days, but, usually not. All her egg laying energy goes into nesting. We, as egg collectors take eggs out of the nest daily to discourage a hen from going broody. Some go broody reguardless if we take the eggs or not.

 

[delisha]

Quote: You are correct. Most will not, but, it is very nice when they co-nest. Specially in this cold.

 

[fisherlady]

I'm so happy to have found this thread! I have a silkie that has been acting broody for several days now and I have just decided today that I will let her try and hatch out some babies. This is so exciting as I've never done this before, I just always bought my peeps online, so this is a new experience for me! I had been taking her eggs from her up until today. So this morning, I put another one of my silkies eggs under her and I think I'm going to add a couple more. I'm assuming today would be the set day then? Very exciting!

If you are going to give her eggs decide how many you want, gather them over a day or two and keep them somewhere cool with pointed end down... when you have the right number collected then you can give them all to her at once to start the process. If you add a couple eggs each day for two or three days to her you will cause a problem when it is time for them to hatch.... it will cause a 'staggered hatch', and the hen would have to decide to either stay on the eggs that still need to hatch and possibly neglect already hatched chicks, or take care of the hatched chicks and neglect the eggs still in the nest.
Not a good situation. Spreading the hatch out is hard on someone... any way you look at it.
I kept my silkie on 'dummy eggs' for a while before I got the eggs that I wanted her to hatch out... then I swapped them for the dummy eggs... and now we wait!!
Also, mark the eggs that you give her to sit on... the other hens will try to lay more eggs in with her if they can and you may have to remove extras each day!