Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[TeaChick]

Okay, I guess this is kind of an update, but I also need/want information and advice if anyone thinks it's necessary.

My BCF seemed to be getting irritated with me for collecting her eggs. I have since stopped. She has a bucket to lay in, pictured below:
In front of the nest boxes: easily accessible, but private: This is the view looking in the coop through the open door.

I was collecting her eggs (for a friend to hatch) and leaving one in the bucket (so she'd keep laying there), but she started laying in front of the bucket, beside the bucket, by the door of the coop...=(
So, I stopped collecting her eggs and I replaced one with an egg from one of my gold Comet hens. She put one of hers and the Comet egg on the bricks in front of her bucket and kept two eggs (the oldest and the newest ones) in the back of the bucket, so I collected the two she seemed to have rejected. {That was on the first of April, Tues.}
Yesterday, she moved the egg she laid on the first to the front of the bucket and left the egg she laid that day on the bricks. She's been laying two days in a row and then skipping a day. At this point, I'm just marking each egg the day she lays it with the date. The only thing I'm going to do other than that, is this: once she has three eggs, I'll take the one that she laid on the 19th of March.

If there's anything else or different that I should do, please let me know.
Obviously, I'm giving all my chickens food and water; also, I free range, so they're all running around together all day; and, none of the other hens lays in her bucket, just her, so if she goes broody, (which is what I'm hoping for) she, theoretically, shouldn't be bothered.
If anyone needs more information to be able to give me advice, please let me know. =)

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Okay, I guess this is kind of an update, but I also need/want information and advice if anyone thinks it's necessary.

My BCF seemed to be getting irritated with me for collecting her eggs. I have since stopped. She has a bucket to lay in, pictured below:
In front of the nest boxes: easily accessible, but private: This is the view looking in the coop through the open door.

I was collecting her eggs (for a friend to hatch) and leaving one in the bucket (so she'd keep laying there), but she started laying in front of the bucket, beside the bucket, by the door of the coop...=(
So, I stopped collecting her eggs and I replaced one with an egg from one of my gold Comet hens. She put one of hers and the Comet egg on the bricks in front of her bucket and kept two eggs (the oldest and the newest ones) in the back of the bucket, so I collected the two she seemed to have rejected. {That was on the first of April, Tues.}
Yesterday, she moved the egg she laid on the first to the front of the bucket and left the egg she laid that day on the bricks. She's been laying two days in a row and then skipping a day. At this point, I'm just marking each egg the day she lays it with the date. The only thing I'm going to do other than that, is this: once she has three eggs, I'll take the one that she laid on the 19th of March.

If there's anything else or different that I should do, please let me know.
Obviously, I'm giving all my chickens food and water; also, I free range, so they're all running around together all day; and, none of the other hens lays in her bucket, just her, so if she goes broody, (which is what I'm hoping for) she, theoretically, shouldn't be bothered.
If anyone needs more information to be able to give me advice, please let me know. =)

In theory, that looks pretty good as long as she likes laying there...although I might be a bit concerned as she keeps kicking eggs out...it may be due to the physical structure allowing them to roll out...so you might want to ponder that.

The other thing, if she does brood and hatch there, it looks like the little chicks will have easy access to getting out into the main coop, even squeezing outside, and in my experience stranded...the little darlings can always manage a way out but rarely manage their way back in.

My thoughts
Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thanks so much for your sage advice. I've done all of the above. I fixed up a milk purge, put corid in the water and gave them a second waterer with probiotic and electrolytes in it (I can't figure out if I can mix them so I thought I'd be safe). They've been on the milk purge for 3 days now and are peeping like crazy so I think they are now hungry and will put them back on their feed this afternoon. I think that the two I lost were just too far into it for the Corid to work. I lost the second one, but the third that had milder symptoms seems to be on the road to recovery. I don't understand where this came from. They were in a new brooder (so there wasn't any "previous" problems in it), I clean litter, water and feed almost too religiously. I have them now on the medicated feed, although this is the first time I've used it, usually I just buy the non-medicated (won't do that again). Fortunately, the four that I have left are eating and drinking good, so I think that the two I lost may be the only two I lose. I hope so.

If it is truly Coccidiosis, and only a lab test would verify that, it could have been transmitted in a number of ways.

It is the old story of Farmer Brown goes and visits Farmer Jones. Farmer Brown's hens are all healthy, but after walking around and handling Farmer Jones' chicks (in the same clothes he used to attend his own flock), the chicks become sick after a bit. The coccidia bacteria were carried on the clothing or boots...they can also attach to pets, insects, even dust. If you handled soiled eggs from your flock, which would appear well as their bodies are in balance, then handled your chicks without washing your hands, you might have had transmission.

There are just so many ways as we are dealing with bacteria in the environment.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...Management/42/transmission-in-the-environment

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Sorry for the loss and illness. I know how frustrating that is.

Lady of McCamley

 

[TeaChick]

In theory, that looks pretty good as long as she likes laying there...although I might be a bit concerned as she keeps kicking eggs out...it may be due to the physical structure allowing them to roll out...so you might want to ponder that.

The other thing, if she does brood and hatch there, it looks like the little chicks will have easy access to getting out into the main coop, even squeezing outside, and in my experience stranded...the little darlings can always manage a way out but rarely manage their way back in.

My thoughts
Lady of McCamley

Thank you. I'll look at the set up with those things in mind. =)

 

[fisherlady]

Quote: I like that idea of the plaster into an egg shell... will have to ponder that one and check to find supplies at local stores. I could probably use the plastic Easter eggs with holes drilled in them as a mold also! Thanks for the ideas!!!

 

[TeaChick]

I like that idea of the plaster into an egg shell... will have to ponder that one and check to find supplies at local stores. I could probably use the plastic Easter eggs with holes drilled in them as a mold also! Thanks for the ideas!!!

Yeah, that makes more sense.
You're welcome! =)
Hope it helps!!!

 

[Sydney Acres]

The age a hen will go broody varies by individual... and some never do. I don't leave eggs in the nests to promote broodiness... I use golf balls for this instead (although I am still on the hunt for a decent ceramic egg for it).... you can leave a few golf balls in any nest you think would be good for a broody to use. But basically, it is a hormonal thing and there is very little real impact we can have on it. Broodies like warm areas (draft free) with dim lighting and not a lot of activity around. They will go broody in a favored nest box though... so again, there is not a definite guide for the perfect location.

Hens will lay about an egg every 24 to 25 hours for very 'eggy' breeds, and maybe one every other day or every third day for less production breeds. Some heritage breed hens are more prone to brooding after their 2nd year, some banty breeds will begin wanting to be broody at 8 months... the thing with birds is as soon as you think you have them figured out they will do something different. The only thing you can depend on is that they will do whatever suits them and not what we are hoping! LOL

I have found some wonderful ceramic eggs from this store: http://valleyfarmcenter.com/. I don't know what brand they are, or if you can get them online. They just have them sitting out on the counter with no identifying marks. I think they were either $1.39 or $1.69 each. I bought 6 last year and 12 this year, and put 1-2 in every nest I want my free range chickens to use -- it really cuts down on the egg search when you free range (before I started doing this I would go days with only a few eggs, then find a communal nest with 30-40 eggs in it in the woods -- ahhh Dorkings, almost OCD about their eggs). I put 2 under the broody I plan to have raise the chicks out of my incubator's pedigree cages, and she's very happy. The ceramic eggs seem to warm up properly, so she gets the appropriate feedback of warmth, and they cool down at a similar rate to real eggs. They come in either white or light brown (tinted). I don't know if they ship, but if you e-mailed them they might be willing to tell you how to get them online, or ship them to you for a small handling fee plus postage. If you want them and the store can't get them to you, PM me.
--April

 

[fisherlady]

Quote:
Thanks! I will check on them!

 

[bumpercarr]

I have found some wonderful ceramic eggs from this store: http://valleyfarmcenter.com/. I don't know what brand they are, or if you can get them online. They just have them sitting out on the counter with no identifying marks. I think they were either $1.39 or $1.69 each. I bought 6 last year and 12 this year, and put 1-2 in every nest I want my free range chickens to use -- it really cuts down on the egg search when you free range (before I started doing this I would go days with only a few eggs, then find a communal nest with 30-40 eggs in it in the woods -- ahhh Dorkings, almost OCD about their eggs). I put 2 under the broody I plan to have raise the chicks out of my incubator's pedigree cages, and she's very happy. The ceramic eggs seem to warm up properly, so she gets the appropriate feedback of warmth, and they cool down at a similar rate to real eggs. They come in either white or light brown (tinted). I don't know if they ship, but if you e-mailed them they might be willing to tell you how to get them online, or ship them to you for a small handling fee plus postage. If you want them and the store can't get them to you, PM me.
--April

They also have them on Amazon if you live somewhere that you can't find them. Just search for Happy Hen eggs. They are more expensive though.

 

[little]

will my silkie lay her eggs all at once or one each day?will she lay them b4 she goes broody or after she starts to stay in her nest box?