Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[daniellea2912]

I have no experience with this breed, so don't know how easily they will break their brood if disturbed.

Since she's two week in, do you have her on some fake or real eggs?  Many broodies will break their brood prematurely if they're not sitting on something.  If you use real eggs, rotate them out every 1-2 days if you want to eat them.  I have a friend that rotates them out once a week, then cooks the eggs and feeds them to the chickens.  I use ceramic eggs, and other people use golf balls.  But she should be on something if you need her to hold her brood for a full 4 weeks.  I use a minimum of 2 eggs, but you could probably use 6 without her getting overwhelmed.

If you move her whole nestbox, do it at night, do it quickly and without any disturbance to her at all, if possible.  Anything you can do to minimize the disturbance to her will make it more likely that she will remain broody.  Moving her whole nestbox is an excellent idea, and one that is rarely available to most people.

Try to give her lots of different foods to entice her to eat while she's brooding.  Fisherlady has recently posted a wonderful, nutritious and delicious broody menu on this thread.  It will be much easier for you to feed her if she's moved to a private area, as the other hens would likely eat any special and tasty food that you leave out for her.

Good luck with her.  Having a broody hen is wonderful.

She is on 4 eggs- 2 ceramic and 2 wooden. And it occasionally find an extra green egg under her- I think the hen I bought her with aometimes lays in her box with her(they are very bonded and before she went broody I'd catch them in nestboxes together) but I usually take that out since I don't have a roo. Every morning I also find her little ceramic bowl of food underneath her too- silly girl.

Thank you so much for all your info! Everyone's always so helpful on here, and as a newer chicken owner (only had my flock for a year) the knowledge you all share means a lot.
I'm really hoping she stays broody and will take the chicks, as I'd like the brooding to be as natural as possible.... Fingers crossed!

 

[Scrambles55]

Quote: Hi there... I am new to this thread and I have a broody with 7 eggs that I gave her. Anyway... about the high nests... There is an Osprey nest in Sandpoint Idaho that a pair of geese took over last year. Everyone was worried sick over the babies and how the would survive the 100+ feet drop to the ground.

Well... when the time came... momma and daddy goose jumped and the babies followed. They are so light n weight that they were not injured at all. In fact it is normal for geese to nest high off the ground. I know that these are chicks.. but they are also light. I watched a hatchery video and was horrified at what chicks go through and survive.

 

[bumpercarr]

Hi there... I am new to this thread and I have a broody with 7 eggs that I gave her. Anyway... about the high nests... There is an Osprey nest in Sandpoint Idaho that a pair of geese took over last year. Everyone was worried sick over the babies and how the would survive the 100+ feet drop to the ground.

Well... when the time came... momma and daddy goose jumped and the babies followed. They are so light n weight that they were not injured at all. In fact it is normal for geese to nest high off the ground. I know that these are chicks.. but they are also light. I watched a hatchery video and was horrified at what chicks go through and survive.

I was fishing last year and watched goslings jump off of a cliff. The person I was fishing with was horrified, OMG, those goslings are all going to die! Nothing that I said would reassure him. About 5 minutes after the last one committed suicide, the whole family came swimming out into the river. The look on my friends face was priceless.

 

[Scrambles55]

@bumpercarr Yep. Light as a feather.

 

[winteree]

Yeah to be completely honest the only reason i am even considering useing an incubator is because i couldn't get my hands on a broody hen in time for Easter the site i was going to order the pullet from is completely back-ordered on the breed i wanted till flipping next year. But i have to say using an incubator scares the h word out of me. Knowing that one small misstep can kill the entire flock before they even got out of the shell is down right nerve wracking

 

[Searsmom]

Mine finally went broody! Left her there for 5 days to make sure she knew what she was in for and managed to put 17 eggs under her yesterday. Adding some more today for a total of 20. I'm hoping to get 12 good ones promised for a friend. Don't worry, she's a huge buff and can handle it and this will be her 3rd time brooding. The next box is something like 20x20 and she fills it up. The only thing I don't like, is I'd like to get some more broody hens out of her but by the time I was sure of her, I only had one of her own eggs to stick under her. She'll probably go again in late spring/early summer, so I can keep trying....

 

[CAjerseychick]

Mine finally went broody! Left her there for 5 days to make sure she knew what she was in for and managed to put 17 eggs under her yesterday. Adding some more today for a total of 20. I'm hoping to get 12 good ones promised for a friend. Don't worry, she's a huge buff and can handle it and this will be her 3rd time brooding. The next box is something like 20x20 and she fills it up. The only thing I don't like, is I'd like to get some more broody hens out of her but by the time I was sure of her, I only had one of her own eggs to stick under her. She'll probably go again in late spring/early summer, so I can keep trying....

Wow 17, I am impressed I only have 7 under my Jersey Giant (she is in a weird spot in a corner of the coop though)... and another one has only One! (which I forgot to mark, so not sure what to do since I am now out of town for 4 days)....
Keep us updated- whats your hatch date? ours is 4/23...

 

[bumpercarr]

Mine finally went broody! Left her there for 5 days to make sure she knew what she was in for and managed to put 17 eggs under her yesterday. Adding some more today for a total of 20. I'm hoping to get 12 good ones promised for a friend. Don't worry, she's a huge buff and can handle it and this will be her 3rd time brooding. The next box is something like 20x20 and she fills it up. The only thing I don't like, is I'd like to get some more broody hens out of her but by the time I was sure of her, I only had one of her own eggs to stick under her. She'll probably go again in late spring/early summer, so I can keep trying....

I usually keep a running 7 day supply of eggs from the hens that I want to hatch from. I took an egg carton, marked it 1-12 (it's never full, don't I wish they'd lay 12 eggs in a week!). I put the first egg in slot 1, 2nd in slot 2, etc. Every Sunday, I start over at 1 again. and remove the egg that is in slot 1. Works really well for me and I always have a ready supply of about 5-6 eggs in case I need them to hatch in the incubator or under my broody. I started doing this because I was losing chickens to a predator and was really worried that I'd lose the broody and not have a replacement for her. Anyway, it is a thought. Oh, and I put the eggs that I remove into the kitchen eggs as they are still good after a week for eating.

But, of course mine hasn't gone broody yet this year, nor has she started laying again. She's only 2 years old, can't figure out why she's not laying. She did have a false broody a couple of weeks ago, so maybe she's almost ready.

 

[Searsmom]

Wow 17, I am impressed I only have 7 under my Jersey Giant (she is in a weird spot in a corner of the coop though)... and another one has only One! (which I forgot to mark, so not sure what to do since I am now out of town for 4 days)....
Keep us updated- whats your hatch date? ours is 4/23...

Hatch date is 4/27.

I usually keep a running 7 day supply of eggs from the hens that I want to hatch from. I took an egg carton, marked it 1-12 (it's never full, don't I wish they'd lay 12 eggs in a week!). I put the first egg in slot 1, 2nd in slot 2, etc. Every Sunday, I start over at 1 again. and remove the egg that is in slot 1. Works really well for me and I always have a ready supply of about 5-6 eggs in case I need them to hatch in the incubator or under my broody. I started doing this because I was losing chickens to a predator and was really worried that I'd lose the broody and not have a replacement for her. Anyway, it is a thought. Oh, and I put the eggs that I remove into the kitchen eggs as they are still good after a week for eating.

But, of course mine hasn't gone broody yet this year, nor has she started laying again. She's only 2 years old, can't figure out why she's not laying. She did have a false broody a couple of weeks ago, so maybe she's almost ready.

I kept my supply running like you do - this batch has to be Orpington and I've other females in with them - the Orpingtons only lay every other day or 3, and someone ate the last two eggs she laid, so - one egg. Bummer. No more eating the eggs saved for hatching!!!! I've got the date in pencil on the eggs so I can keep track. The friend I'm doing this for wants 12 chicks and I'm assuming he wants them all at the same time.

So, to prevent a shortfall I'm going overkill. I was hoping to get one of mine out of it - put a dot on her head so I know which she is - but there will be a next time, so I'm not too brokenhearted.

 

[chickenmapa]

I put 10 eggs under my broody silkie cross last year. That was my first time hatching anything. /img/smilies/love.gif


It was such fun that I have just ordered 10 Buff Sussex eggs for her. They should be here by Wednesday. Can't WAIT!!!! /img/smilies/jumpy.gif


Has anyone tried leaving their broody hen with the flock? I would be worried that the other birds might kill the little chicks. I'd love to hear! /img/smilies/thumbsup.gif

I would say defiantly keep mama and chicks away from flock for as long as possible! I had a horrid experience last fall when my silkie had two chicks.... I waited a couple weeks to put them in with the whole flock only to find two trampled baby's in the morning I cried all day! I wouldn't want anyone to have the same experience!