Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[BoereMeisie]

Do the hens raise the chicks all by them self?

I haven't had good luck with day old chicks

Yes, a good broody hen raises her chicks all by herself

and to me, it is the most beautiful thing to see a mother hen tending to her chicks. There are a few things you can do to make it easier for her, such as moving her nest to a place where other hens won't keep adding to it and separating her and the chicks from the main flock. But mostly they do all the work, just as nature intended.

 

[harvestmoonGal]

Tha

Yes, a good broody hen raises her chicks all by herself    and to me, it is the most beautiful thing to see a mother hen tending to her chicks.  There are a few things you can do to make it easier for her, such as moving her nest to a place where other hens won't keep adding to it and separating her and the chicks from the main flock.  But mostly they do all the work, just as nature intended.  

Thank you! I love seeing pictures of hens caring for their babies as well.

 

[Jude Turkman]

Hi. I'm hoping for some advice. We have a broody who has been sat on fertilised eggs for 24 days now. We heard peeping and tapping on day 22 so have left her til now but with no more noise have move her today. Found one dead chick half out of shell. The other 5 eggs are quiet. I believe they will all have either not developed or died by now

my question is what do I do now as she is still setting. Should I take the rest of the eggs and hope she snaps out of it, or get some more eggs? We have one other layer in with her so my concern is she will keep taking her eggs and stay broody. She was broody for a week before she got the eggs, so has been broody a month now, and although she is looking well, I worry another 3 weeks is too much, especially with the weather getting cooler (we're in England)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi there, well my advice is u try to shake softly the naturally incubated eggs, one by one, if u hear or feel something like a "golf-ball-soaked-in-water" in the egg, it means that the chick did not developed further to hatch, in other words, dead. Those that has no wobbling inside means that the chick inside is fully grown, dead or alive. Well, that's my grandpa's share of thought, and it worked out everytime.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

I have a silkie/ameruacana mix that is constantly going broody. In the spring I want to get some fertile eggs for her to hatch. Going with my "colorful basket" theme, I plan to hatch the following breeds:
-welsummers
-white leghorns
-salmon faverolles
-black copper marans
-ameraucanas
Ideally I would like one pullet of each. My game plan was to do it in two hatches with three eggs of each breed to account for dud eggs and cockerals. That gives her about 8 eggs per clutch. She is slightly smaller than a LF bird, but she's pretty darn close.

My two questions are: Do you think 3 eggs gives me good enough odds for getting a female? Do you think 8 per clutch is a good number of eggs? Thanks!

PS: I'll be worrying about this all winter. Lol

Thank you!

 

[pmcatnip]

Quote:
My Welsummer went broody. Actually we thought she went missing/got eaten because we free range and I hadn't seen her for weeks. Then I moved the tarp off the compost pile to shovel more into the garden, and there she was sitting on a dozen of her own eggs.

(Apparently the other hens didn't even know about that nest since there were no other eggs.) I really, really needed to shovel more compost for the garden to do my fall planting on the only halfway decent day we've had in weeks, so I moved the eggs. But unlike my GLW who didn't mind being moved, the Welsummer definitely minded and wouldn't sit anymore so the clutch died.

I don't know how much of that is typical of the breed since this is the only Welsummer I have.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Today when my broody went on her stroll I checked on my eggs... They were shaking and peeping at me! I peeped back at them for a bit but that means my first hatch may actually hatch! Hoorah!

 

[Flowerbh]

I have a question. I had a broody sitting on some eggs. They were due to hatch yesterday. Tonight I candled them and they were nothing but liquid so I threw them away. I replaced them with 6 new eggs. Will she sit another 3 weeks? I feel so sad for her. I don't know why I didn't candle them earlier! I guess because I always had chicks from my broodys!

 

[Johnn]

I have a question. I had a broody sitting on some eggs. They were due to hatch yesterday. Tonight I candled them and they were nothing but liquid so I threw them away. I replaced them with 6 new eggs. Will she sit another 3 weeks? I feel so sad for her. I don't know why I didn't candle them earlier! I guess because I always had chicks from my broodys!

It's 50/50 really. The hen can't count so she won't know that the eggs where supposed to hatch by now. I have had hens that have sat for the extra and 3 weeks and then I have had others that just give up a week or 2 after getting the new ones. Do you have any day olds you could buy?

 

[marsha23]

Polish chickens are very good broodies. Mine just hatched only 1 chick, but boy is she protective. We went in to check on her and she almost attacked us. She set for exactly 21 days. Was expecting any more chickens, lol.

 

[Tanichca]

So I candled a few days ago, and was meaning to ask a question here, but I had been sick that night with what turned out to be the flu, and I've been sleeping for five days straight. Anyway, I candled, but the I couldn't see anything! It's like the egg was totally solid, I couldn't even see the air sac. These were white eggs that were eight days into incubation. Any ideas??