Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[winteree]

Our first chicks have hatched! 5 so far we think. We could hear them peeping last night and this morning, but they didn't peek out until this afternoon. As soon as my son saw them he got us all and we spent the next couple of hours watching. It is so adorable seeing them pop in and out of mama's feathers!

Here's our first pictures

omg sooo cute

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Our first chicks have hatched! 5 so far we think. We could hear them peeping last night and this morning, but they didn't peek out until this afternoon. As soon as my son saw them he got us all and we spent the next couple of hours watching. It is so adorable seeing them pop in and out of mama's feathers!

Here's our first pictures

Congratulations! Enjoy the fun of watching them. It is fascinating.
Lady of McCamley

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Our broody hatched some of her chicks last night! I can hear them peeping, but I can't see them yet. I also hatched 5 chicks in my bator last night! Tonight I'd like to graft the incubator chicks onto my broody and remove any unhatched eggs. I'm still waiting on 3 eggs to possibly hatch in my incubator. How many chicks can one hen handle? She had 7 eggs in her nest, but I don't know how many have hatched, or will hatch today.

 

[K Epp]

13 Silkie chicks hatched by two Silkie hens. I got a quick pic while the mamas were out of the box.

 

[mebberry4]

Mebbery.

 My buff eggs now are just BYM maybe a couple BA and BSL (BA x BPR)  but they from my flock. The Leghorn eggs are a local guy, I think he does this every year and has a large breeding flock. Like 6 types of Leghorns. Brown Buff Black and white. Rose and straight comb. The poultry show at county fair is a big thing here. He also ships eggs as he posted what shipping would be. But egg safety and time would make it better for me to pick up. Its only 20 miles from home.
 My issue is he does not have the exact leghorn I am looking for. Just plain single comb white leghorn. He has everything but these I think. LOL my luck. His whites are rose comb and his single combs are all colored. Oh well  have some in bator now from my new flock additions this month and they ARE developing. If they don't hatch I can either find a rooster (Fair great time to buy a great looking rooster, after judging that is.) or have an Austra-White rooster I can breed and get 3/4 LH and keep culling breeding back for birds.

 My broody doesn't seem to move off nest just turns around every so often. She even pulls her water and feed dishes closer to nest. EVery time a hen gets close to her nest to lay an egg she hisses and gets aggravated.  I may swap out her eggs for fresher ones. I used eggs I didn't care about to make sure she wasn't gonna give up. If not a few more BYM won't hurt anything on my farm.

That stinks about your local breeder not having the Leghorn you were looking for! It sounds like you have quite a few good options despite that. What kinds do you have in the incubator? That BSL sounds like it would be a nice hybrid.

I finally saw a broody poo in her pen yesterday (last one was during her excursion on Mother's Day right before I switched her to the broody pen) so I don't think I need to worry about forcing her to take breaks, which is nice. Prior to that, she did appear to just be turning herself and was facing a different direction every time I went in to check on her. Barnyard mix can definitely be a great addition to a laying flock, don't get me wrong. I just wish I had some control over what kind of mixes they were, like you do. The lady I bought these eggs from said they could be NH roo over BO, NH, BA, RIR, BR, WLH or Ameracauna. She said she would leave out any colored eggs since I didn't want Ameracaunas, but I got two off whitish eggs with a slight pink undertone that don't look like any of the others. Not sure what those are, but I hope at least one hatches so I can (maybe) find out!

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

So, an update on my broody. She moved off her nest to care for her chicks, leaving 3 eggs. One was crushed after pipping, and perished. I candled the others and can't tell if they're still viable. They're too dark (BCM eggs), so I put them in the incubator. The eggs are ice cold. From the remaining shells, she appears to have 3 chicks. I have no idea what happened to the 7th egg? It vanished!

So anyway, do you think it's safe to give her 5-6 more chicks tonight? Should I leave them in the incubator all day, or can I move them to the brooder in the house. Will that affect their ability to recognize Magellan as 'mom'?

 

[fisherlady]

Our broody hatched some of her chicks last night! I can hear them peeping, but I can't see them yet. I also hatched 5 chicks in my bator last night! Tonight I'd like to graft the incubator chicks onto my broody and remove any unhatched eggs. I'm still waiting on 3 eggs to possibly hatch in my incubator. How many chicks can one hen handle? She had 7 eggs in her nest, but I don't know how many have hatched, or will hatch today.

You have to assess the hen's size and fluffiness, the average nightly temps in your area and your coop set up to determine chick numbers. If the weather is warm at night then broodies can safely keep more chicks, but if cold then they may be ok during the day but will need supplemental heat available in their nest area for chicks who may not fit under the broody.

For a banty hen I would keep it 6 or fewer of large fowl chicks unless you have a well controlled environment where you can provide extra heat when the chicks get to be 2 or 3 weeks and can't be covered all at once by mama anymore.
For an average or larger hen then you are probably fine to raise a dozen or so, especially if your weather is warming up to summer levels. Just keep in mind that what a hen can cover now as day old chicks will not be the same as what she can handle when they are 2 weeks old and they are starting to pop out all over because they have doubled in size!
If your nightly temps will be over 60* by the time your chicks are 2 or 3 weeks old then the hen is probably good to go with however many she can cover easily as day olds.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Thanks! She is a big fluffy BCM, so I think it won't be a problem, even though our night time temps are still in the 30s and 40s. At the most it looks like she'll have 8 or 9 chicks total to care for. I'm nervous about grafting the chicks!

 

[fisherlady]

So, an update on my broody. She moved off her nest to care for her chicks, leaving 3 eggs. One was crushed after pipping, and perished. I candled the others and can't tell if they're still viable. They're too dark (BCM eggs), so I put them in the incubator. The eggs are ice cold. From the remaining shells, she appears to have 3 chicks. I have no idea what happened to the 7th egg? It vanished!

So anyway, do you think it's safe to give her 5-6 more chicks tonight? Should I leave them in the incubator all day, or can I move them to the brooder in the house. Will that affect their ability to recognize Magellan as 'mom'?

If you know you are going to be grafting them tonight then I (personally) would avoid the bright light thing if I could. If they are safe and happy in the incubator and aren't endangering other eggs then leave them there (unless the incubator has a bright bulb in it, then it doesn't matter as much) The last time I grafted day olds to a broody I just did it during the day. The broody was setting on her own and I slipped 3 more under her and then supervised them for a few hours to help teach the new ones that they needed to run back under the hen for warmth.

 

[fisherlady]

The sooner you do it the better, so the babies will be used to the broody rather than a brooder light.... Make sure her nest area is quiet (block out any nosey flock members who may be bothering you while you do the exchange)
Take out the 'fake eggs' if she is setting on any and cup the chick in your hand and gently slide them under her, don't even show them to the hen. Then you will have to commit to staying close by for a good deal of time. Brooder babies don't understand that mama is a source of heat rather than a bright light... so when they pop out from under her shortly, they won't understand that they need to go back under her to get warm, so you may need to intervene a few times till they get the idea. And you will need to monitor mama to make sure she doesn't freak and attack the chicks, some hens just don't get it, others will adopt anything with feathers....
Lady of McCamley has grafted more chicks than I have, so she may be able to answer any other questions you may have.