Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

when do eggs start chirping????

Often they begin chirping the day before they hatch, so I expect to hear it anytime after day 19 on my brood hatches.... I have never had them in the incubator more than a few days, so don't know if they do the same in an incubator.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

On a whom I candled my Silkie Broodirs eggs. Looks like she stole a few eggs. 8 eggs where developing nicely. 2 where chirping at me with internal pips. Way ahead of the others. I just emptied my incubator and already had the humidity up. I moved the two in there and left the hen with the others. I'm glad I found them I would hate for her to abandon 8 eggs.

Good catch! Clearly makes a case for candling eggs.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Sydney Acres]

Hope you all don't mind if I jump in with my own dilemma

.

One of my young chickens who started laying eggs last month is now broody! She started about 2 days before I put her in my "brooder buster" wire cage elevated off the ground with it's own food/water. I haven't really noticed any significant change in her behavior even while in the wire cage after several days. Anyone have other tricks? I have heard of dunking the broody in water or putting ice cubes under her - is that cruel and does it even work?

I am tempted to get some feed store chicks for her to raise but I already have 8 little easter eggers(my own mix breed) that her broody mother is raising right now and I would much rather just have eggs from her again. I no longer have a rooster so I don't have fertile eggs anymore.

Here my other broody:

Hi Manningjw,
You're just down the freeway from me -- I'm in Stanwood, WA. Welcome to the broody thread.

Your timing is perfect -- here's a cut and paste of a post I put on the Buckeye thread a about a week ago for someone who was having a problem breaking their broody:


"The wire bottom cage is the best known gold standard for breaking a brood, but my main breed (Red Dorking) is a very heavy hen that broods frequently, so I didn't want them on wire. I tried many of the other well known techniques and nothing worked. Eventually I found a very reliable technique that doesn't require a wire bottom cage, but works just as well.

Build a small wire run. Mine is about 30" wide, 30" high, and 5' long. It is made out of 1X2" welded wire, just four side panels held together by cable ties (it could be made out of other materials, but this is very stable because of the frequent welds, and has lasted for almost 10 years). The top is divided into two parts. Half is attached by cable ties on the sides and one end. The other half is about 4" longer than the remaining opening on top. One end is cable tied onto the first half (the only remaining unattached edge of the top's first half, spanning across the center of the run), so that it can open and close like a hatch. The other end has the extra length bent down over the end side panel so that the hatch doesn't fall down into the run. I prevent the hatch from opening with a simple latch, which isn't usually necessary, but one hen years ago figured out that she could get out of the run by repeatedly flying up into the hatch until it opened. There is no bottom on the run. It is very lightweight, very secure, and easy to move. It was easy and cheap to build, and can be disassembled and stored flat when not in use, if desired.

My birds free range. I put the run somewhere on the property where the broody cannot see her nest, or anything near her nest. I chose an area that is protected from the weather so she won't get too hot, too cold, or wet, and is very safe from predators and harassment. There should ideally be some dirt to dustbathe, and some grass to graze, but that's not essential. What is absolutely necessary is that there not be anything on the ground that can be used to build a nest -- no leaves, no straw, no shavings, no dry grass, no bedding of any kind. Just food, water, plain ground or lawn to sit on, enough room to pace a little as the brood starts to transition out, and no reminder or sight of her nest or eggs. At night I put her in a pet carrier with cardboard on the bottom, covered with a towel, and put her in the garage (or barn, or coop, or spare bedroom -- just somewhere that is no where near her nest, and is 100% predator proof). I've had 100% success at breaking broods with this method, with 90% of hens taking 3-4 days, and the remaining hens taking either 2 or 5-6 days. And no wire pressed into the plucked, bare brood spot on their chest."

After that post, I got several PM's and one post on the thread saying that it worked perfectly. But it does take typically 3-4 days, and once up to 6 days, so don't give up too early. I once had a bird that had always taken 3 days to break her brood, but that time seemed to be done after the second day. So on day three I let her back with the flock instead of putting her in the run. She foraged and flocked with the other birds for almost the entire day, but by the evening she was back on her nest again. I put her back in the coop for the evening, and back in the broody breaking run the next day, expecting that one more day would do it. But apparently the clock gets reset the moment they see their nest, and she took 4 additional days in the run. So now I'm not anxious to get them out of the run. If there's even a hint of broodiness, they stay in. But it's a nice place for them, and it's not forever, so it's definitely worth making sure they're finished.

 

[K Epp]

Good catch!  Clearly makes a case for candling eggs. 

Lady of McCamley

I'm not brave enough to attempt to candle the Australourps eggs. I would draw back a nub. I have the plans of keeping the incubator going while the rest of my broodie mania hatch off this coming week. 7. Yes seven broodies. The turner on my incubator stopped working so I I let them go broody and gave them the eggs I wanted to hatch. I had one broody last year and this year there has been 5 others besides these girls. A turkey who unfortunately died on the nest and I wasn't able to save her eggs. My goose and duck co hatched 6 ducks and 4 turkeys. I pulled the turkeys into a brooder as soon as they were dry. Those two are still coparenting the ducks. 2 Silkie who fought over eggs but are coparenting the chicks. I have two D'anver hens on one nest, but by the time the second of those went broody I didn't need anymore chicks so I'm letting them share. If anyone is wanting a Brodie I would suggest a non bearded Silkie. They can see better than the fluffy faced and I just feel that makes better for free ranging. I don't recommend using hay as anything but nesting matterial. I found two Silkie chicks dead in mine when I cleaned out the kennel I had mine in. The mamas evedintly covered them up with their scratching and they couldn't get out. I may have not known a lot at the beginning of this spring about Brodie's, but these girls are teaching me a lot.

On a side note one of the Silkie eggs was covered in poop. I left it and best I could tell it is growing. I learned that from y'all several pages back.

 

[saltandpepper2]

So... it's day 21, and still no eggs! I don't know whats wrong??? She's been faithfully broody, and all the eggs were developing fine until day 14 ( last time a candled them) What could be going wrong?? Could they just hatch late? Should I remove the eggs? She's still sitting on them tight. She's so determined to have chicks....

 

[Scott H]

Here's some pics of Tina and her chicks...these were taken thru a chicken wire pen in the coop.



Here's where you find food.....











Pan was filled with "natural" grit....





Day 6 she got most of them out of the coop...I had to "help" two of them who couldn't figure out the ramp I cobbled together for them. LOL




















Then my wife got home and took some decent pictures....













The two yellow ones are Blue Partridge Brahmas and the three little chipmunks are Wyandottes....Sorry about all the pics but we are kinda tickled with the little buggers.

 

[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.

Well, just when you think you've seen it all, chickens spring a new surprise. As quoted, I had an Ameraucana and a Penedesenca hatch chicks in two different broody units on opposite ends of a small building. The units are actually intended for pairs of breeders but also serve as broody apartments. The only problem is that the openings are about 30" above the ground.
I put ramps on both sills to let the hens lead their chicks out for foraging. Only the Ameraucana led her chicks out 2 days ago and the chicks figured out the ramp at night.
Yesterday, the Ameraucana brought her chicks out again. The Penedesenca came out but left her chicks behind and spent the day with another flock. I just put food and water in for the chicks.
Last night, rather than lead her chicks into the unit they've been living in, the Ameraucana went into the other unit and brooded the abandoned chicks, leaving her chicks outside. The other unit had nothing in it. I found the Penedesenca under the building. She had come back and was brooding the Ameraucana's chicks. Normally petrified of humans or being touched by anything other than another chicken, the Penedesenca let me pick up her and the chicks and tuck them into the nest box and didn't even make a peep.
I don't know if that made sense but basically the hens just switched housing and chicks.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote: Sometimes mamas all surging with hormones do the strangest things. That's also probably why the Penedesenca hen let you pick her up -- totally high on nurturing hormones!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Hi Scott H,
GREAT PICTURES!!! Thanks for sharing a little bit of broody happiness with us.

 

[Sydney Acres]

So... it's day 21, and still no eggs! I don't know whats wrong??? She's been faithfully broody, and all the eggs were developing fine until day 14 ( last time a candled them) What could be going wrong?? Could they just hatch late? Should I remove the eggs? She's still sitting on them tight. She's so determined to have chicks....

I think you meant "and still no chicks!"

Not all chicks hatch on day 21. Some hatch on day 18, and some hatch on day 25, but most are somewhere in between. Day 21 is just the most common day. Shipped eggs or stored eggs often take longer than fresh eggs.

DO NOT REMOVE THE EGGS!!! You don't want to accidentally kill a chick that is healthy but just a little late.

Here's a link to where this question came up on this thread about 6-7 weeks ago: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...n-hatch-a-long-and-informational-thread/20240. It starts on the third post down. (I know, this thread has great information, but is too long for anyone to read through -- someday a group of us will have to get together and catalog some of the subjects for easy reference.)

Here's a link to a great hatching article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101. It's long, and it's oriented towards incubator hatching, but it has EVERYTHING. If you don't see what you're looking for, keep scrolling down! There is a section on assisted hatching that may be helpful.

Don't give up too soon. There's lots of late chicks out there that kept their owners worried for days. I hope yours hatch out soon. Please keep us updated.