Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[ooltewah]

Thank you so much guys. Did great last night. Baby chick doing great. Gave food and water today. Left water but brought food in tonight so no predator sniffs it out. She has three more under her that I'm going to give her two more days to see if they hatch. Will move her then with babies

 

[chickengirl88]

I went on vacation just recently and my uncle who toke care of my chickens didn't collect eggs so now I have like three hens broody and one with three babies. One of the Broodies already has babies 8 weeks. I only have a broody space for one hen. Should I maybe put two hens silkies together

 

[fisherlady]

Hello,
I hope you don't mind me posting on this thread. I have a hen that went broody ( my first broody hen ever!) so I thought I would make her happy ( and myself ) and give her some fertile eggs to hatch. She has been sitting on them for about 2 weeks now ( or 2 and a half) and tonight I found her in another nesting box and the eggs she had been sitting on had little black dots all over them. I'm not sure what they are ( could they be mites? And how come they aren't on any of the other eggs?). I collected all the eggs from the other nesting boxes, but if she doesn't sit on her eggs tonight will they die?? I have no experience with hatching eggs and have had chickens only two years. If anyone could give me some advice as to what the things are and what i should do that would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!!

You can simply move her back to the original nest or if her alternative nest is safe you can move the eggs under her where she sits. Either will work. Make sure you pull any eggs out from under her which were laid today, only give her the ones she has already sat on for the 2 weeks.

 

[Angel16]

You can simply move her back to the original nest or if her alternative nest is safe you can move the eggs under her where she sits. Either will work. Make sure you pull any eggs out from under her which were laid today, only give her the ones she has already sat on for the 2 weeks.

Ok Great!! Thanks! I wasn't sure If I should do that or not Is there any way of knowing if the eggs are doing well?

 

[chippysmom327]

Hello,
I hope you don't mind me posting on this thread. I have a hen that went broody ( my first broody hen ever!) so I thought I would make her happy  ( and myself ) and give her some fertile eggs to hatch. She has been sitting on them for about 2 weeks now ( or 2 and a half) and tonight I found her in another nesting box and the eggs she had been sitting on had little black dots all over them. I'm not sure what they are ( could they be mites? And how come they aren't on any of the other eggs?). I collected all the eggs from the other nesting boxes, but if she doesn't sit on her eggs tonight will they die?? I have no experience with hatching eggs and have had chickens only two years. If anyone could give me some advice as to what the things are and what i should do that would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!!

Yes, they will die. Throw em in the incubator or give them back to her. Could you post a pic?

 

[bobbieschicks]

Help! I have two golden sex link hens that are about 1 and 1/2 yrs old. One of my girls has gone broody over the lat few days.We do not have a rooster so there is no chance of hatching chicks. In fact she is sitting in an empty nesting box. I really don't want to confine her to a wire cage to break her. My question is, if I just continue to remove her from the nesting box and close it off so she doesn't have access, and there aren't any other dark, warm places to brood, will this pass?

Sometimes a broody can be broken by just removing her from her nest. But in my experience confinement to an elevated wire cage for a couple of days with food & water but no bedding is the way to break her. Water baths didn't work for my broodies, only the elevated cage. Then sometimes you have a broody who will persist and you either give her a few chicks/eggs or repeat the process until she breaks.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I went on vacation just recently and my uncle who toke care of my chickens didn't collect eggs so now I have like three hens broody and one with three babies. One of the Broodies already has babies 8 weeks. I only have a broody space for one hen. Should I maybe put two hens silkies together

Sometimes silky girls will co brood. I've had that happen and it's adorable and helpful when there are other large fowl around. You could try it and see what happens. Broodies don't usually fight other broodies, but if they don't get along I'd quickly separate them again.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Hello,
I hope you don't mind me posting on this thread. I have a hen that went broody ( my first broody hen ever!) so I thought I would make her happy  ( and myself ) and give her some fertile eggs to hatch. She has been sitting on them for about 2 weeks now ( or 2 and a half) and tonight I found her in another nesting box and the eggs she had been sitting on had little black dots all over them. I'm not sure what they are ( could they be mites? And how come they aren't on any of the other eggs?). I collected all the eggs from the other nesting boxes, but if she doesn't sit on her eggs tonight will they die?? I have no experience with hatching eggs and have had chickens only two years. If anyone could give me some advice as to what the things are and what i should do that would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!!

If you have other girls laying in the boxes they probably ran her off so they could lay, or she returned to a different nest of eggs after having gotten up to eat/drink/poo. It's not uncommon and the reason many people put their broodies in cages or section them off from others. I used to section off, but now I just move my broody back to her rightful nest and she settles back down. Try putting her back on her eggs.

I'm not sure what the specks are, but if they move around its possible they are mites. More likely they could be specks of dirt from her having gotten out, dust bathed and brought back dirt on her body. My girls do that and it's annoying but necessary to keep them healthy/clean.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Ok Great!! Thanks! I wasn't sure If  I should do that or not  Is there any way of knowing if the eggs are doing well?

Depending on how light the shell color and how bright your flashlight - you could candle them at night. I did that last night and found 6 of my WL eggs did in fact have growth.

 

[ScottsdaleChick]

Thank you for the info. I will give it another day and if she still isn't broken, into the wire cage she will go.