Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Sydney Acres]

Will all you guys that free range chickens please go and subscribe to this thread
:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/897953/keeping-chickens-free-range
It will be really nice if you would and then we can discuss our free rangers and ask questions, post pictures, tell stories etc.

There is also this thread, which was quite active from early March through late May, then everyone just stopped contributing. But lots of good information on it too.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/861132/does-anyone-else-free-range/220

I only free range, but I'm not sure I have time for another active thread. I'll consider it. Maybe "see" you there.

 

[ChickyChickens]

There is also this thread, which was quite active from early March through late May, then everyone just stopped contributing. But lots of good information on it too.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/861132/does-anyone-else-free-range/220

I only free range, but I'm not sure I have time for another active thread. I'll consider it. Maybe "see" you there.

OK!!!!
That's cool!

 

[Moppet]

My 3 chicks are 5.5 weeks old now. Mama and babies all sleep huddled up together in the coop. Even my other adult hens rarely roost in their sleep, they huddle up in nest boxes....very frustrating. Anyway, mama and babies are sleeping where my other girls had been laying eggs for the last 2 months, so now they are laying in different places again....grrr..
my question is when is mama gonna stop being mama for the chicks? when do the chicks sleep and forage independently?

 

[bumpercarr]

My 3 chicks are 5.5 weeks old now. Mama and babies all sleep huddled up together in the coop. Even my other adult hens rarely roost in their sleep, they huddle up in nest boxes....very frustrating. Anyway, mama and babies are sleeping where my other girls had been laying eggs for the last 2 months, so now they are laying in different places again....grrr..
my question is when is mama gonna stop being mama for the chicks? when do the chicks sleep and forage independently?

It depends on a lot of different things. My first time broodies tend to leave the chicks at about 6 weeks. Usually 4 weeks after the first time. The weather has a lot to do with it as well. If it is sunny and warm, they leave them earlier. Cool and wet, they stay with them a little longer. Predators? If they have predation to worry about, they also tend to stay a little longer with the chicks. So, sorry, there really isn't an answer to that question, there are many variables that the hen seems to take into consideration....oh, my. I'm now assigning actual thought processes to my chickens instead of putting it up to instinct. I think I've finally lost my chicken mind!

 

[DelaneyFarm]

Hi I'm new here. Our hen just went broody a bit ago. I candled and found live chicks that are at least 10-11 days old. My questions are 1. can I move the hen and eggs to another location without her freaking out? and 2. will the eggs hatch on different days, since they were all layed (presumably) over a course of about 10-12 days? Because the eggs are all from one or two hens, possibly all three hens, the eggs are spaced at least 5 days apart, as she's on about 12 eggs. I'd like to put her back in the coop, and lock it up till the eggs hatch, but I'm a complete newbie. If I move her and the eggs, will she decide to forget about the eggs and just mill around, or will she re-settle down on the eggs, happy to be in a more secure location? We have coyotes, raccoons and foxes and more. So I'd like to not lose all the new chicks in one night, which I know racoons especially, can do. Currently, she's in the tall grass along the property. Not safe, but she is quietly sitting... she's easily overlooked. But I know a persistent raccoon could find her.

 

[bumpercarr]

Hi I'm new here. Our hen just went broody a bit ago. I candled and found live chicks that are at least 10-11 days old. My questions are 1. can I move the hen and eggs to another location without her freaking out? and 2. will the eggs hatch on different days, since they were all layed (presumably) over a course of about 10-12 days? Because the eggs are all from one or two hens, possibly all three hens, the eggs are spaced at least 5 days apart, as she's on about 12 eggs. I'd like to put her back in the coop, and lock it up till the eggs hatch, but I'm a complete newbie. If I move her and the eggs, will she decide to forget about the eggs and just mill around, or will she re-settle down on the eggs, happy to be in a more secure location? We have coyotes, raccoons and foxes and more. So I'd like to not lose all the new chicks in one night, which I know racoons especially, can do. Currently, she's in the tall grass along the property. Not safe, but she is quietly sitting... she's easily overlooked. But I know a persistent raccoon could find her.

I would probably build a temporary fence or some sort of enclosure around her where she is, putting food and water inside the enclosure. I've seen some very interesting solutions, one I saw took the top of a large dog kennel and put it over her broody, I assume staking it into the ground and put a door that they could lock on the front. Another put one of those igloo dog houses over their broody. Anyway, I'm not sure I'd try to move her but if you do, at night is best. A lot of folks on here have great success in moving their broodies. As far as the staggered hatch goes, I'd get or borrow an incubator so that you can finish off any eggs that she abandons after the first ones hatch. If you can't get an incubator, you might be able to hatch some with either a heat lamp or a heating pad. Search this site for information about doing that.

 

[DelaneyFarm]

Thank you! I just read that even though eggs may be laid over a course of a week or 10 days or so, that they all start incubating when the hen goes broody on them, so that they hatch all together. I think, based on our predators, that I will move her and hope for the best. She is familiar with the coop, but I had it in the garden overwinter, and never moved it back out, but I locked them out of the garden, and their coop, because they were digging up my new plants. I should have moved the coop earlier and perhaps she would have gone broody in there instead. I'll update and ask more questions for sure! Thanks for the help!

 

[bumpercarr]

Thank you! I just read that even though eggs may be laid over a course of a week or 10 days or so, that they all start incubating when the hen goes broody on them, so that they hatch all together. I think, based on our predators, that I will move her and hope for the best. She is familiar with the coop, but I had it in the garden overwinter, and never moved it back out, but I locked them out of the garden, and their coop, because they were digging up my new plants. I should have moved the coop earlier and perhaps she would have gone broody in there instead. I'll update and ask more questions for sure! Thanks for the help!

It is true that the eggs will not begin growing until the broody actually sits on them. Good luck!

 

[elsfieldchickens]

my latest hatch 2 guineas 2 pekins and 3 sussex cochin mixes

 

[Sydney Acres]

Hi I'm new here. Our hen just went broody a bit ago. I candled and found live chicks that are at least 10-11 days old. My questions are 1. can I move the hen and eggs to another location without her freaking out? and 2. will the eggs hatch on different days, since they were all layed (presumably) over a course of about 10-12 days? Because the eggs are all from one or two hens, possibly all three hens, the eggs are spaced at least 5 days apart, as she's on about 12 eggs. I'd like to put her back in the coop, and lock it up till the eggs hatch, but I'm a complete newbie. If I move her and the eggs, will she decide to forget about the eggs and just mill around, or will she re-settle down on the eggs, happy to be in a more secure location? We have coyotes, raccoons and foxes and more. So I'd like to not lose all the new chicks in one night, which I know racoons especially, can do. Currently, she's in the tall grass along the property. Not safe, but she is quietly sitting... she's easily overlooked. But I know a persistent raccoon could find her.

If all the eggs were in the nest when she started setting, regardless of how long ago they'd been laid before she started setting, then they will all hatch reasonably close together, within 1-2 days. You get an excessively staggered hatch (3 or more days) when the broody is on the nest and another hen comes and sits beside her to lay an egg, or uses the nest to lay an egg when the broody is off eating for a few minutes. Since broodies can't count, she'll just pull all the local eggs under her and start brooding them, regardless of how long her original eggs have been developing. Chicks are starting to leave the nest on their third day, so mom has to decide if she should get up and take care of a chick that is already hatched, or stay on a nest to hatch any late eggs. Typically she will abandon the unhatched eggs at that point, and the embryo will die, even if it just needed a few more hours of warmth. I had a chick hatch early on day 18 last week. The broody was still setting on an egg on day 21 when the day 18 chick jumped out of the nestbox. Because the hen was still in her broody trance, she didn't do anything to help it, and it was too small to jump back into the box at the time. It got quite chilled, but luckily was found in time. Hens really can't both incubate eggs and take care of active chicks at the same time.

If you do decide to move her, realize that most broodies prefer a private area that is quiet and has dim lighting (although there are exceptions). That will give you your best chance of her sticking with the brood for the full time needed. If you need to move a broody, do it quickly, efficiently, quietly, and at night. This has to be a no-drama event. Have the new nest area all ready to go, with the appropriate bedding, box, whatever you plan to use. It should be in an area where she cannot go back to her original nest, if possible. Get some of her original nesting material, feathers that she's plucked, and the eggs moved with her. Depending on your circumstances, it may be best to do this all in one trip, or in two trips, but have everything planned out before you do it. I personally prefer to have the broody pen all ready to go, and have a nest in a box, as opposed to a nest that can't be easily picked up and moved. I collect some of the original nest bedding and brood feathers earlier in the evening, and put a little bit of the new nest bedding in her original nest at that time so she becomes familiar with the smell before the move. I put several heat packs in the new nest box and cover it to slightly warm the bedding. Then after it's fully dark and she hasn't been disturbed for at least 3-4 hours, I wash my hands (because I'll be touching the eggs and don't want to get any new bacteria from me on them), remove the heat packs from the new nest box and take it to her with the dimmest light where I can see what I'm doing. (Important note: If you're using a flashlight in your pocket, be sure that the light cannot fall out of your pocket when you bend over. Luckily, it missed the eggs by an inch!!!) I pick her up and put her in the new nest box, then quickly put the eggs under her as she wiggles in to settle them in the right place. I keep the light out of her face, and have it as dim as possible, or off, so she's not disturbed by the light and can't see her original nest. Once she's settled in the nestbox, I pick it up and slowly walk it to the new location. (Note: my broodies are very tame and get handled daily. This may not be as easy with a bird that never gets touched.) Typically this can be done without the broody breaking her "trance," which keeps her on the nest. When she can see where she is in the morning she will have been on the new nest for 6-10 hours already, and hopefully will accept the new location. If not, make the location darker (build a large wire cage over the nestbox and put a sheet over it) and hopefully she will settle down.

If you decide to move her and her eggs in separate trips, I would move the eggs first. Warm up a ceramic or other non-hatching egg to body temp (you can leave it in an oven set at 100 degrees for several hours, or any number of other options). Put the "egg" in a small basket with heat packs of the same temp (not too hot, very important). Go to her nest, take out the real eggs and put them in the warm basket, then put the warm fake egg under her to keep her from getting too upset. Then take the real eggs to the new nest, and leave them there with something warm, like a towel covering them. It's ok if they get a little cool for a short time, but not freezing cold for a long time. Again, you don't want to use anything too hot, as that could kill the embryo. After 10-20 minutes, to give broody time to settle down after the nest has been handled, go get broody and put her in the new nest. In these circumstances, where you're putting a broody into a nest of viable eggs, I have found it best to have the room dark, and a flashlight shined directly on the eggs from about 1-2 feet away. As she approaches the eggs, be sure to move the light as needed to keep it from shining directly into her eyes. Once she hovers over the eggs you can redirect the light onto a nearby wall until she is fully settled into a secure, predator proof enclosure.

If laying hens have access to broody nests, it is very important to mark each egg that the broody started with. Use a pencil or non-toxic marker to draw a circle around the entire middle of the egg so that it can be seen no matter what position the egg is in. That way you can keep track of which eggs are the originals, and remove any new eggs from other hens. The new eggs, if laid more than two days after the start of the brood, won't hatch in time to be part of the clutch, so there's little benefit in brooding them unless you want to finish them in an incubator. But if she gets too many eggs (6-8 for a first time broody, 10-16 for an experienced broody, depending on her size) she may not be able to rotate or cover the eggs properly, and some embryos may die. The eggs get rotated from the center to the periphery regularly, so all may take their turn getting cold. Too many eggs can end up with a smaller hatch than you'd have gotten if you'd stuck with just a few eggs, or sometimes a complete loss.