Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[kochigo]

I left my momma hen and her chicks in the run, seperated for a couple days with 1 inch chicken wire. but new baby chicks can fit thru 1 inch chicken wire. I kept her on the other side for about a week then removed it. there is a ramp to the nest box, baby chicks went up and down the ramp no problem although I did have one that needed to be shown the way a time or two.

Other hens, most mommas will thrash any who get to close but sometimes they are looking the other way. I had a pullet who was intent on pecking the chicks even while they were under their mom. I removed her to chicken jail for a week. When I tossed her back in she was low on the pole and they all picked on her. ended the chick pecking problem.

 

[kochigo]

This was really helpful for me. I am hatching (hopefully) next week a couple of chicks under my broody bantam. First time for both of us! I have her in a small separate coop and run within the big run. She still goes in and out to eat etc at the min once a day but will shut her in the run once they hatch. I was concerned about the chicks falling down the ramp though, it is a very small coop designed for just a couple of bantams so very small ramp too so sounds like they should be okay.

 

[Johnn]

My broody has moved her nest back to the middle of the floor, sure she just tries to annoy me when she is sitting.

 

[coyotesmommy]

Hey has anyone tried this??? I have lost half of my clutch of eggs because of the heat, I was wondering about putting frozen water bottles in the small broody coop either near the nest or under it to keep it cooler in there. Just replacing with new each day.

 

[Pyxis]

Penny has three chicks this afternoon I guess her stint on the wrong nest did them no harm and didn't push back the hatch date. I was reaching under her to grab the extra eggs my other hens keep so graciously giving her, and pulled out an empty shell instead. At least one of them is from an EE egg, which makes me happy, because those are the ones I want to keep. The hens will be olive eggers thanks to their daddy.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Agnes is less than a year old. She laid her first egg on Mother's Day of this year, and has already hatched two chicks. She's on overdrive! She and the chicks were in the brooding box all day today. The chicks are only 8 days old!

Momma will sometimes take the babies back into the nest. It's just a temporary thing. She will have them roosting before giving up on them and laying eggs again.

 

[CAjerseychick]

I am sooo excited, my original broody (she sat tight for 2 weeks in June and another hen came and stole her spot and hatched out the eggs! The chicks are 12 days old now!!)- anyways she back on a nest and sitting tight -- we have been gone 3 days and shes been in the same nest the whole time (per Hubby) ..... I marked 5 eggs under her (the 6th was cool so I took it out), unfortuantly there is yolk and straw stuck on the eggs which I brushed off, she is one of my biggest hens and broke some eggs last time around too....

Anyways I sure hope she gets to hatch out some babies this time around.... we wont try moving her (she did not like that last time) and the other chicks hatched out fine in another nest box...
I guess our hatch dates are July 19th- 21st....
Yay!!!!!
Love the broody mamas (our other hen just runs loose with her 3 remaining chicks, 4th one died - no visible trauma, just dead in the nest day 6, they started free ranging out with the other hens in the back pasture yesterday and come back to their dog crate next to the coop at night)...

 

[fisherlady]

I am sooo excited, my original broody (she sat tight for 2 weeks in June and another hen came and stole her spot and hatched out the eggs! The chicks are 12 days old now!!)- anyways she back on a nest and sitting tight -- we have been gone 3 days and shes been in the same nest the whole time (per Hubby) ..... I marked 5 eggs under her (the 6th was cool so I took it out), unfortuantly there is yolk and straw stuck on the eggs which I brushed off, she is one of my biggest hens and broke some eggs last time around too....

Anyways I sure hope she gets to hatch out some babies this time around.... we wont try moving her (she did not like that last time) and the other chicks hatched out fine in another nest box...
I guess our hatch dates are July 19th- 21st....
Yay!!!!!
Love the broody mamas (our other hen just runs loose with her 3 remaining chicks, 4th one died - no visible trauma, just dead in the nest day 6, they started free ranging out with the other hens in the back pasture yesterday and come back to their dog crate next to the coop at night)...

Hope she has a good hatch, sounds like she sure deserves it! Be sure to post a pic after the hatch!

 

[lawatt]

a quick question: my SPPR has been hanging out with her 6-week-old chicks in a pen of their own, and while she's a little bit less attentive than she was when they were littler, she still calls to them and hangs out with them most of the time. it would be handy, however, to have that pen free, and i want to make sure her chicks integrate into my larger Herd of Chicks (they're a week younger than most of the others, but the same size) while they're still all young & relatively accepting of newcomers.

so, would it be okay to move her back to the layer flock & the chicks into integration mode? will either she or they freak out if separated? and if it's okay to separate them, is it something best done at night when they might not "notice" as much?

thanks for your thoughts!

 

[groverlvchx]

My last two broodies were both on dud-clutches. My rooster has fertility issues--or he's a snob--or he's just so big that most of the hens run away from him. Anyway, I plan to keep a couple roos from this year's hatches. I have three chicks from him and 13 from a friend that two of my other broody hens adopted. These last two are going to get their adopted chicks next week. Meanwhile, tonight my hubby (a.k.a. chicken wrangler) held each hen while I cleaned out their nests

and replaced the bedding and added golf balls. That was RANK! I must be a real farmer now, because last time I had to do that I couldn't eat for hours and this time I came right in and had supper! I'm gettin' the hang of this.