Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Wow, that is the smallest broody I've ever seen!!  I don't think she can cover that many eggs, but she's giving it a good try. 

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

My chick grafting was a success! Magellan tucked all 5 chicks right in. It's amazing how a hen can serenely sit on so many squirmy little chickens! It's supposed to be warmer today, so hopefully I can grab some pictures of the happy family. I still haven't seen all her hatchlings! It was cold yesterday!

 

[mebberry4]

Wow, that is the smallest broody I've ever seen!!  I don't think she can cover that many eggs, but she's giving it a good try. 

Lol awesome

 

[mebberry4]

Haha, too funny. I'm doing the exact same thing. Two BO's. One is on day four and was moved today to her own private broody coop. I think the UNbroody one was going around squawking and looking for her. I kept back some of the extra hatching eggs I was given in hopes that the other BO would follow suit. It hasn't happened and the eggs are getting old.

This cracks me up. I was secretly plotting how to get my hands on some Wyandotte eggs if my second buff went broody. It sounds like you and I are due to **hopefully** have our broody Buffs hatch around the same time! We are on day 5 over here. What kind of eggs do you have under your broody/waiting for the second Buff?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have two broody hens that hatched chicks 3 days ago. I broke another broody the same day. Yesterday I had 2 more go broody and they're in broody jail right now. I'm just out of broody apartments.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

This cracks me up. I was secretly plotting how to get my hands on some Wyandotte eggs if my second buff went broody. It sounds like you and I are due to **hopefully** have our broody Buffs hatch around the same time! We are on day 5 over here. What kind of eggs do you have under your broody/waiting for the second Buff?

My UNbroody BO is the proven one who hatched 5 BYM last year. I got hatching eggs locally this year and asked for a doz of BCmaran roo over black, blue, and splash maran hens. And a few OE and EE. She gave me 18 eggs! I knew this broody was new, but I put 13 eggs under her on the 13th, lol. Well, she must not have liked 13 because she got rid of one egg (green or blue) and I found remnants of it on one egg that I had to scrape off. So I kept back 5 eggs and they are now at least 10 days old, so I think time to give up on another broody since it isn't happening today so far.

I wish you lots of luck on your hatch! And everyone else here. I've been rooting you all on.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

They came out to say hello!

 

[fisherlady]

They came out to say hello!

They are adorable!

 

[fisherlady]

Well, we had 3 hens sitting on a total of 19 eggs, 17 are hatched and healthy so far. I am not holding out a lot of hope for the last 2. One has the air cell on the pointy end and hasn't pipped, the other looks normal but hasn't pipped yet either.

The eggs were originally split between 2 broodies and an incubator. After 5 or 6 days I gave the incubator eggs to another hen who had gone broody... 10 days into incubation I had 1 of the original hens quit so I put her 8 eggs back into the incubator. Well... I pulled 2 each of clears and quitters on day 12 from the remaining broody hens, and replaced them with 4 of the incubator eggs... I had another hen go broody about that same but wanted her to set on fake eggs at least a few days.... we placed her into a broody hut and she stuck tight to the nest so we gave her the eggs on day 18 and she hatched 4 for 4 overnight. So hers were behind the others.... Ilea had only been broody for about 11 days when hatch day came around but has done great so far....

Moral of the story.. broody hens can overcome a lot of obstacles and get the job done! I can't believe we didn't totally botch things up since we have never use an incubator before, let alone all of the shuffling done to the eggs! I do love our broodies!

 

[winteree]

Well, we had 3 hens sitting on a total of 19 eggs, 17 are hatched and healthy so far. I am not holding out a lot of hope for the last 2. One has the air cell on the pointy end and hasn't pipped, the other looks normal but hasn't pipped yet either.

The eggs were originally split between 2 broodies and an incubator. After 5 or 6 days I gave the incubator eggs to another hen who had gone broody... 10 days into incubation I had 1 of the original hens quit so I put her 8 eggs back into the incubator. Well... I pulled 2 each of clears and quitters on day 12 from the remaining broody hens, and replaced them with 4 of the incubator eggs... I had another hen go broody about that same but wanted her to set on fake eggs at least a few days.... we placed her into a broody hut and she stuck tight to the nest so we gave her the eggs on day 18 and she hatched 4 for 4 overnight. So hers were behind the others.... Ilea had only been broody for about 11 days when hatch day came around but has done great so far....

Moral of the story.. broody hens can overcome a lot of obstacles and get the job done! I can't believe we didn't totally botch things up since we have never use an incubator before, let alone all of the shuffling done to the eggs! I do love our broodies!

thats so cool i really wanted to get a good broody breed for hatching this year but everything got in the way so mabye next year