Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[elsfieldchickens]

Thanks for the advice they have started hatching now

 

[Alibabe]

Hi all, I have been following this thread since I have a broody. Congrats to all that have babies already, I love all the pictures of mom and babies and have been sitting waiting impatiently for my girl to produce some chicks.

I have a question that I am hoping you more experienced people may be able to help me with.

My broody has been sitting beautifully. She only gets up every 2nd or 3rd day and I have taken off the nest a few times as she appeared weak from lack of water. She only stayed off her nest for a maximum of 20 minutes at a time. She is a new broody having only hatched in July last year. She is an opington.

Yesterday was day 20 or day 19 if you count the day she was given eggs as day 0. When she got off the nest, I peaked in and 1 egg had pipped and 1 had a hole about a cm in circumference and the beak was poking out and both eggs were cheeping. I must admit I was very anxious when I saw the pips and her off the nest but I thought it was best to let her do her thing as she instinctively knows way more than me.

Today about half hour ago, I went to listen next to the nest box and finally heard cheeping -

Sure enough she had (as far as I could see or she let me see) 1 chick but I saw that the egg with the big hole from yesterday had not hatched yet. It is now over 24 hours since I saw the pipped egg and I wondered if there was any hope for the little unhatched one? Could anybody advise me what they think please.

She had 6 eggs; 1 definitely hatched, 1 with the big hole and 3 I saw under her but could not see if they were pipped or not as she only let me peep quickly and another egg which I did not see at all.

I am going to leave her be and rely on nature to sort things out but wondered if the poor little pipped one had any hope at all?

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Best thing to do is wait. Let the broody do the work. Chicks can take 24 hours or more to hatch. She will decide when its time to give up on her eggs. If she does abandon the nest you can check any eggs left unhatched and try assist or incubate to finish but both are not as good as letting her do the work.

 

[Alibabe]

Best thing to do is wait. Let the broody do the work. Chicks can take 24 hours or more to hatch. She will decide when its time to give up on her eggs. If she does abandon the nest you can check any eggs left unhatched and try assist or incubate to finish but both are not as good as letting her do the work.

Thank you, I just hope the little one hatches. It is hard to keep away and leave her to it but I am dutifully sitting on my hands.

I won't do an assisted hatch as I don't want to have chicks that the mother rejected as she probably knows something that we don't. It is just sad if they don't hatch.

Thanks for your help

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Thank you, I just hope the little one hatches. It is hard to keep away and leave her to it but I am dutifully sitting on my hands.

I won't do an assisted hatch as I don't want to have chicks that the mother rejected as she probably knows something that we don't. It is just sad if they don't hatch.

Thanks for your help

Yes they can sense a lot more than us. Assisting may result in abandonment. I had that happen with guineas, although chickens are better mothers after hatching. Happens in the wild a lot, and they are a lot more natural than humans.

 

[winteree]

Thank you, I just hope the little one hatches. It is hard to keep away and leave her to it but I am dutifully sitting on my hands.

I won't do an assisted hatch as I don't want to have chicks that the mother rejected as she probably knows something that we don't. It is just sad if they don't hatch.

Thanks for your help

yeah my grams was funny she said "why should i trust a chickens instinct's? they have a brain the size of pea"

she never had much faith in chickens

 

[Alibabe]

Yes they can sense a lot more than us. Assisting may result in abandonment. I had that happen with guineas, although chickens are better mothers after hatching. Happens in the wild a lot, and they are a lot more natural than humans.

I could not forgive myself if I helped a chick hatch and the mother abandoned it, I will just trust her instincts and I must agree with you that chickens are a lot more natural than humans.

yeah my grams was funny she said "why should i trust a chickens instinct's? they have a brain the size of pea"

she never had much faith in chickens

can't blame her for thinking that! I actually think that they are more clever than we give them credit for but they are too clever to let us know it.

 

[winteree]

I could not forgive myself if I helped a chick hatch and the mother abandoned it, I will just trust her instincts and I must agree with you that chickens are a lot more natural than humans.

can't blame her for thinking that! I actually think that they are more clever than we give them credit for but they are too clever to let us know it.

lol

 

[elsfieldchickens]

Sweetpea teaching one of her chicks to dust bathe

 

[Bow Farmer]

When one of my hens hatched a clutch of chicks four years ago and showed me how much she loved and cared for her chicks, and how much her chicks loved having a mother, I've used broody hens to renew and build my flock. My motto has ben "every chick deserves a mother".

That said, hens aren't always perfect incubators or mothers. But for all the failures along the way, having hens hatch and raise chicks is great. The chicks get to sleep in the dark under the warm feathers of a mother. You don't need to worry about heat lamps, keeping the chicks away from the other chickens, or bother with chick-starter.



One problem if the broody hens refuse to be moved to a nest away from the other hens, is that during the day, other hens may lay eggs to the clutch. So I can know which are the new eggs, when I start a broody hen with a clutch of eggs, I date the eggs with the expected hatching date. Then when the broody hen is off the nest for her daily business, I can quickly see if there are any additional eggs and remove them.

In the last four years I've had at least 25 clutches hatched this way. Last year I had hens hatching chicks all the way into December. This year they started in March and I'm on the 7th broody hen and her chicks should hatch May 18.