Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[4chickens3dogs]

1st time broody mama hen & owner here. We gave our broody australorp 2 fertilized eggs as she was so determined. 1st hatched today! What an amazing process & so happy all that hard sitting paid off for our hen. 2nd egg is right behind. Thanks for sharing all the knowledge.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

OK. so, i wanted to add some chicks to marshies chicks once they hatch. Now im thinking only two of her eggs will hatch, so i wanted to add some other chicks feom my breeder.

Heres the thing. My chicks are due to hatch on the 29th of april. My breeder has The BAs i want hatching on the 7th of may, and they wont go on sale until the 9th.

This means any chicks of mine that hatch will be approx. 7 days older than the BAs i want. Is this too old to add day old chicks with week old chicks? Ive done it before but i havent added chicks this far apart for a broody.

I agree it is risky. I've personally successfully grafted chicks a few days apart but had failure at 7 days apart when the new babies were heat lamp brooded. The hatchlings are up and running like little terrors enjoying the playground and being chickens. Mom isn't sitting so much with them either. The new babies are confused and cold and often fearful of the big scary hen even if mom is very accepting. There is a transition period that provides risk as the new fosters try to graft...some will run to the feathers, others will hang back in fear...if the weather is cold and you don't have a heat lamp, they can die quickly from the cold stress and from the stress of being jostled by their boisterous step-sisters and brothers. I've also had baby chicks kicked to death as they tried to huddle with mom but mom was up and teaching the older ones to scratch, something the younger ones didn't understand yet and therefore got in the way and kicked.

Hopefully you will be one of those lucky ones that plunk chicks of all ages down and all graft well and life is harmonious and happy. But I recommend having a plan B and watching very closely the first couple of days. It often takes a couple of days for the stress elements to overcome the graftees....been there done that...and it is no fun taking their sad little bodies out. Warmer weather makes the transition easier for the fosters, so if the weather is on your side, or it is safe to have a heat lamp in the coop where they can run to and stay warm, things do go better.

My experiences.
Lady of McCamley

 

[Johnn]

and

Surely, it will be okay. =)

Its just because when she has a large nesting area she doesn't notice when eggs slip out. Hopefully she will be more aware now they are actually hatching. She obviously knows they are because she got off her eggs and ran around fast as she could doing everything and when she saw me in the nest box she came flying back!

 

[Johnn]

She has one chick and the other 2 eggs have pips! I'm not going to lie, I'm not that happy about all 3 hatching. Means I will have to rehome one but will try send them together to make it less stressful for them.

 

[Peach Mom]

OK, I am worried again. One of the eggs under my broody was zipping on the bottom of the egg. When I lifted it up the opening was around 1 inch long but there was no movement or peeping. I put it back under mama opening side up and prayed. Am I worrying over nothing and it is just resting or this poor little one did not make it? I have really tried not to mess with mama and her eggs by peeking at her 2 chicks too much but worry that I may have disturbed eggs at the worst possible time.

 

[Peach Mom]

Meanwhile, in my other nest, (not due till Wednesday), I realized my broodie really had not left the nest for anything....even to make a terrible broody poo! After getting her off the nest and going about cleaning and replacing her hay, she deliberately broke one of her eggs. It was a dud, but now had it's nasty contents on the 3 remaining eggs. I gently wiped them on my sweat pants and got it set up with clean hay. Sadly mama's bottom is less than lovely now after sitting in her mess! Washing her seems out of the question this close to hatch...with my luck that method to knock them out of being broody would work 4 days before hatch!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Meanwhile, in my other nest, (not due till Wednesday), I realized my broodie really had not left the nest for anything....even to make a terrible broody poo! After getting her off the nest and going about cleaning and replacing her hay, she deliberately broke one of her eggs. It was a dud, but now had it's nasty contents on the 3 remaining eggs. I gently wiped them on my sweat pants and got it set up with clean hay. Sadly mama's bottom is less than lovely now after sitting in her mess! Washing her seems out of the question this close to hatch...with my luck that method to knock them out of being broody would work 4 days before hatch!

If your broody is tame and will tolerate handling, you can "powder" her bottom with corn starch. It will be somewhat like them dustbathing, and can bind up some of the sticky disgusting mess that is sticking to her feathers. And it is totally non-toxic, so no concerns when a little bit of it falls into the bedding. Oftentimes it will act as a dry lubricant so you can remove some of the debris with your hands. Just don't use so much that she ends up breathing too much dust, but that would have to be a lot.

 

[Scott H]

We have a very stubborn broody named Tina. Last year she sat on an empty nest for 6 weeks even with me dragging her out and putting her with her flock mates every chance I got. This year I locked her out of the coop and she just made a nest in the dirt.
So we gave up and ordered some fertile eggs for her! I'm going to pull her out of the nest and put 8 eggs in there for her inspection tonite. She's been sitting on 2 fake eggs since we decided to get her some real ones. Wish us luck!

Tina, the broody Partridge Wyandotte...

 

[Scrambles55]

We have a very stubborn broody named Tina. Last year she sat on an empty nest for 6 weeks even with me dragging her out and putting her with her flock mates every chance I got. This year I locked her out of the coop and she just made a nest in the dirt.
So we gave up and ordered some fertile eggs for her! I'm going to pull her out of the nest and put 8 eggs in there for her inspection tonite. She's been sitting on 2 fake eggs since we decided to get her some real ones. Wish us luck!

Tina, the broody Partridge Wyandotte...

 

[Scott H]

Well, I yanked her out of her nest, fed her some frozen corn (thawed) and a couple of peanuts and while she was getting a drink I put the 8 eggs in her box. She came back, jumped in the coop and inspected her new found bounty. She liked it.