Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[heninthehouse]

Ok I have incubated a lot but now one of my Buff orps went broody  over a month ago so I let her set.I know nothing about broody and natural chick hatching....
There are so many post to go thru thought id just asked this ......
she has been broody for weeks now as  my grand daughter keeps getting eggs out  from under her so I doubt any are close to hatch in any way.

I rarely see her go for food and water.
If she continues to be broody  for over the 3 weeks due to the eggs being taken and her starting over will she be harmed?
No sunlight eating once or twice a day .
I cant make it a nice spot for her with food and water easily  because of how its built  Too Narrow triangular tractor turned  nest box .

The nest box was never meant for baby chicks  only eggs A makeshift  Its built where I can reach in and  down a narrow area   for eggs  in the nest but now she has them on the screen floor (has straw ) Cant reach there at all from the top
I have a low side door floor level  but inconvienent  to get into as its almost up against  another coop these are tractors   
    
Anyway all this for my  biggest question
 . Do I need to break her from being broody after some length of time to keep her healthy?

Same thing happened to my broody BO last spring. She sat for 3 weeks on unfertile eggs and then didn't accept a "night swap of eggs for chicks" and was sitting the next mornin hen I checked on them (chicks on opposite side of coop). So I bought hatching eggs and she sat and hatched them out. She lost more weight then she would have but she was ok. I put a small dish of food next to her and also moved the water as close to her as I could. I never saw her drink but she must have. Good luck

 

[UnionMan]

Sounds good... the only thing I would suggest is to make sure the waterer either is one for chicks or that it has marbles or small stones in it so the chicks can't fall in.  Once the chicks are out of the nest and moving around well you can decide when you think it is right to remove the fence.  Have fun with them! 

Yes it's a chick style quart waterer. I put some electrolyte powder in it too. The broody took some sips right as input the waterer down and also grabbed some crumble to eat too. She had been getting off the eggs to do her business and eat and drink a couple times a day but can't say I have seen her in the last day or so take a break. Guess she is doing her own lockdown.

 

[fisherlady]

Yes it's a chick style quart waterer. I put some electrolyte powder in it too. The broody took some sips right as input the waterer down and also grabbed some crumble to eat too. She had been getting off the eggs to do her business and eat and drink a couple times a day but can't say I have seen her in the last day or so take a break. Guess she is doing her own lockdown.

yep... they do their own sort of lockdown. I think they can feel the chicks in the eggs moving around, and I know they can hear them.

Sounds like you've got your set up down pat! Now it's just a matter of waiting, which is the hardest part!

 

[mg15]

i heard they will peep inside the eggs before they are hatched sometimes and the mom will cluck back... not sure if it's true but i heard that.

I know that Dottie would "talk" to them. With a soft chatter. So sweet. I read that the chicks will peck on the inside of the eggs to signal to the others that it is hatch time. The chick that was peeping in the egg has been born, just now. But i don't hear any more of the peeping from the other five eggs.
I hope they will be okay.

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

After 6 years of trying... I FINALLY get a broody hen.... Same day I have 39 chicken eggs cooking and a whopper stash of 57 guinea eggs I had to throw in there too. Not to mention the 35+ eggs I have coming shipped USPS says Sat or Mon. About a week from shipping start its getting unreal with PO.
Anyway I do have bator space but since this is my 1st hen that would set for more than 2 days I can't bring myself to break her. I have a dozen BYM eggs under her and no new eggs depositted and she just growls at me and puffs up. I can handle gently the eggs w/o her leaving em or freaking out. I need to move her to a brood/breeder pen I made but its slightly buried in the garage need some help from one of the kids to move it into coop.
So far the other birds just ignore her. And I have guineas, chickens and ducks in that coop, all happy as can be. But the nest box is WAY to far upfor chicks so thats why I plan on moving her.

 

[fisherlady]

After 6 years of trying... I FINALLY get a broody hen.... Same day I have 39 chicken eggs cooking and a whopper stash of 57 guinea eggs I had to throw in there too. Not to mention the 35+ eggs I have coming shipped USPS says Sat or Mon. About a week from shipping start its getting unreal with PO.
Anyway I do have bator space but since this is my 1st hen that would set for more than 2 days I can't bring myself to break her. I have a dozen BYM eggs under her and no new eggs depositted and she just growls at me and puffs up. I can handle gently the eggs w/o her leaving em or freaking out. I need to move her to a brood/breeder pen I made but its slightly buried in the garage need some help from one of the kids to move it into coop.
So far the other birds just ignore her. And I have guineas, chickens and ducks in that coop, all happy as can be. But the nest box is WAY to far upfor chicks so thats why I plan on moving her.

Congrats on the broody! I hope her hatch goes well for you!

 

[Fowl Menagerie]

Depending on the individual bird, it sometimes does not work to move them . I have had bantams that set on eggs and hatch them and then taken the chicks just to have them keep setting on a whole new batch. To do this you have keep a good eye the condition of the mother to make sure she is up to the task. I have had as many as 4 setting bantams that I set on the same day, so the chicks all hatch on the same day. When they hatch I give them all to the same mother. You need to do this when you are taking them off the nest so they don't know that they didn't hatch all the chicks and haven't seen them so they think they all theirs. This just allows you to have one brooding pen instead four and eliminates the need for heat lamps as the mother furnishes all the heat needed. Chicks seem to do a lot better for me when they are with mothers instead of under artificial heat and light. I also use an open bottom cage for them so you can move them and keep them on fresh grass. Of course you only use this method in the summer months.

 

[coyotesmommy]

Do any of ya'll know how to feather sex chicks? I have heard of it several times but just not sure what to look for. Supposedly female chicks develop end wing feathers quicker than boys. Or one said the end wing feathers are staggered in the female where the male wing feathers are straight& even.

 

[Bikerschick]

Do any of ya'll know how to feather sex chicks? I have heard of it several times but just not sure what to look for. Supposedly female chicks develop end wing feathers quicker than boys. Or one said the end wing feathers are staggered in the female where the male wing feathers are straight& even.

Im sooo glad you asked this! I've been reading through thread after thread looking for this information.
Not to be a confusion, but my husband and I were thinking it was the other way around. With the boys having a bit longer feathers at the tip of their wing.
But we weren't sure.
I know that at some hatcheries, this is how they sex them.
We watched a film with people just spreading them with one hand, a quick glance and the chick was tossed in the girl tube, or the boy tube.

I'd love to get this answer too!

 

[Bikerschick]

Quote: OK! Posting that made me think maybe I could find that show again... I DID!

There's the Youtube video of "How It's Made". Skip ahead to 3:30 on the time... that's where they show the wing-feather-sexing-thing.