Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[chick lovers]

I am new to broodys and I was wondering how long before they hatch do chicks start peeping?

 

[chickydee64]

I am new to broodys and I was wondering how long before they hatch do chicks start peeping?

Sometimes as much as a day...................

 

[chick lovers]

Thanks.

 

[PuffyChick]

HUGE thread!
I have been reading for several hours and here is my set up so far.

We have a lovely Barred Plymouth Rock that is super sweet that has gone broody.

I have 3/4 of an acre fenced in yard that my 3 girls free range in and they go back to the coop/nest each night.

"Pepper" only comes off the nest to run out and gobble up food and water and she literally had a 5 second spaz dust bath (at 6 am!!!) that looked like a human taking a cold shower ...at 6am!! LOL

Anyway we lost one of our girls (just out of the blue in spring, went out to the nest like normal to get eggs and she was just there dead) and we have been reading about the best way to try to add to our small little flock (3 girls total) since this happened, plus a chickens life is not exactly long.

So along comes "Pepper" with her broodiness to solve all our problems. We are wanting to GRAFT 3 just hatched chicks to her. We have an excellent hatchery here local and we can go buy the new "girls" on hatch day literally getting them when they are only hours old.
So best laid plans and all that except today it dawns on me ..Holy smokes its HOT and poor pepper is sitting on that nest ...So I am checking on her and she is just hot, panting. looking really stressed.

So I jumped into action and made her a "nest" from a cardboard box and put a bunch of straw in that, and then put that in our dog crate (its big for a Lab) I threw a hand towel over her head to kinda fake her out and cover her from seeing and tossed her in this new nest and closed her up and put a blanket over to black it all out along with 2 eggs to keep her focused (I am buying wooden eggs tonight!! LOL). **fingers crossed she keeps on being broody**

Here's this kicker tho. THE HEAT.

I can't put her back on that nest as its only going to get hotter. I plan to let her be broody for 3 weeks befor I buy the chicks to give that a go. I think she will make an excellent mother she is "head hen" anyway. BUT what do I do now?

I mean, I cant put her and babies out in this heat ..yet if I keep her away from the "flock" don't we stand to have fighting and injuries when I attempt to return her?

Do I attempt to make her and the chicks a "run" but just put them in it for the morning and bring them inside to the dog crate for the heat of day?

Argh trying to sneak chicks into a cardboard nest box in the back of a dog crate is going to be impossible as well.

Just when I thought I had it and was all excited ...HELP.

I really just wanted to let nature do it.

 

[CarolinaHen]

My girl takes her chicks to the shade when she thinks they need it. She apparently knows the best place for her babies to be and that's where she has them. I would let her do her thing and watch and enjoy the chicks.

 

[Johnn]

Looks like one broody is done now. Her last remaining egg has gone, she has knocked the fake one out and her nest wasnt warm but she was hovering over it, so I don't know what she is doing now. She has been so crap this year! Great mother but is just useless on the eggs!!

 

[elliechooks]

I have a light Sussex who went broody and I gave her 8 eggs and set another 10 in the incubator at the same time. I moved her away from the other hens because they were trying to lay in the same nest. We had 10 hatch altogether (more from the broody mom than the incubator) so I put them all under the hen within 24 hours of hatch and she happily accepted them all. I tried to keep the little family in a small run within my chicken area but the chicks kept escaping (wire of the run was too big) so I figured it was best to let mom out with them. She has protected them from the rest of the hens, in fact she turns really nasty if another hen even gets close! She was probably number 2 in the pecking order before she went broody.
I now have another broody, and some eggs resting waiting to go under tomorrow. I am going to keep the incubator handy in case of emergencies but try to keep it natural this time. This hen is however either bottom or one from bottom in the pecking order so it will be interesting to see if she has the same authority when trying to keep her chicks safe.

 

[bumpercarr]

The barred rock broodie hatched out one of her eggs (she has two, and of course, I'm on vacation). When my babysitter found the chick, it was dry, but it was alone. Momma had gone out of the house to do errands I guess. So, I told her to leave the chick alone, hopefully momma will come back and take care of the chick as well as hatch out the other egg that she has. I also have a silkie mix that this is her second broody, and I know that she won't leave a chick for anything after the hatch.

Anyway, next morning, chick was alone at the bottom of the ramp so I told her to go ahead and take the chick away and put it in the brood box to grow a little bit. My question is, when the eggs under the silkie hatch (Sunday hopefully), this chick will be 6 days old. Do you think the silkie would accept her as one of her own?

 

[CarolinaHen]

The barred rock broodie hatched out one of her eggs (she has two, and of course, I'm on vacation).  When my babysitter found the chick, it was dry, but it was alone.  Momma had gone out of the house to do errands I guess.  So, I told her to leave the chick alone, hopefully momma will come back and take care of the chick as well as hatch out the other egg that she has.  I also have a silkie mix that this is her second broody, and I know that she won't leave a chick for anything after the hatch.

Anyway, next morning, chick was alone at the bottom of the ramp so I told her to go ahead and take the chick away and put it in the brood box to grow a little bit.  My question is, when the eggs under the silkie hatch (Sunday hopefully), this chick will be 6 days old.  Do you think the silkie would accept her as one of her own?

It can't hurt to try. Silkie mixes are fantastic and will usually accept new chicks. Good luck!

 

[bumpercarr]

It can't hurt to try. Silkie mixes are fantastic and will usually accept new chicks. Good luck!

Yeah, my silkie mix (Winnie) would NEVER leave a chick. She's lost one to a cat, but she is one diligent mother.