Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bumpercarr]

Bumpercarr, just to let you know, I let the chicks and momma out with the flock yesterday. They were already flying out of the brooder anyway and into the enclosure around the coop. I opened the brooder to prevent the chicks and momma to become injured trying to escape and decided to see what would happen. Well, they were immediately accepted by the flock. Summer didn't even have to protect them. I guess the issue with the others pecking the little ones was food indeed. Nobody was around the feeders at the moment, so the hens didn't feel they had to shoo the chicks away from their food. After hanging out for a while, the chicks headed to the feeder and the rest of the flock didn't bother them. I was very happy and relieved with the outcome. Thanks again for the advice!

I'm so glad it worked for you! I just put 7 three week olds out with my flock yesterday. Although they are terrified of the giants (I raise brahmas) they are managing on their own quite well. I've given them an upside down wooden box that only they can get into and hide if they want, but they haven't used it at all. I always put in extra feeders and waterers when I put chicks out, just to avoid the fighting and guarding that can happen around the food. They have figured out the ramp to the downstairs apartment (usually only go to the upstairs apartment at about 6 weeks) so they can get in out of the rain if needed.

Anyway, so happy it worked out for you!

 

[Angiebubs]

Hoping for some advice: I have a flock of 24 (23 hens 1 roo). I have/had 6+ broody hens. Originally there were 5 and I split up shipped eggs between them. One banty hen (never a mom before) was pushing the chicks away as they hatched so I removed the eggs and put under the remaining 4 broody hens. Fast forward-the chicks are now a week old and split into 2 brooder cages/areas inside the coop where the flock can see them. I have 2 broody hens that have co raised chicks in the past-we nicknamed them the "fosters". They all want out of their cages and I want to integrate them into the rest of the flock.

My problem: When I let a mom out with her chicks, the other broody hens want to fight with mom for the chicks. And the different moms want to fight to take over each others chicks. Any suggestions on the easiest way to incorporate the 4 families into the flock? This is madness LOL Having to let one set out at a time for some free time!!!

 

[Sydney Acres]

Hoping for some advice: I have a flock of 24 (23 hens 1 roo). I have/had 6+ broody hens. Originally there were 5 and I split up shipped eggs between them. One banty hen (never a mom before) was pushing the chicks away as they hatched so I removed the eggs and put under the remaining 4 broody hens. Fast forward-the chicks are now a week old and split into 2 brooder cages/areas inside the coop where the flock can see them. I have 2 broody hens that have co raised chicks in the past-we nicknamed them the "fosters". They all want out of their cages and I want to integrate them into the rest of the flock.

My problem: When I let a mom out with her chicks, the other broody hens want to fight with mom for the chicks. And the different moms want to fight to take over each others chicks. Any suggestions on the easiest way to incorporate the 4 families into the flock? This is madness LOL Having to let one set out at a time for some free time!!!

I'm going to have the same problem soon, but with staggered ages. I just assumed that I would need to integrate them separately, but it would be wonderful if someone here had another option. I free range, so I haven't let the hens with chicks out with the flock unless I'm there -- not so much worried about the other chickens, but with the barn cats. They're trying to be good -- they just watch the chicks without any predatory indicators while the chicks are mulling around the hen, but as soon as the chicks fly up and start hopping and playing it's just too stimulating for the cats. So until the chicks are a little older, no access to unsupervised cats. Mama might try to defend them, but I've seen these cats hunt, and mom's not even close to fast enough to prevent a tragedy. On the flip side though, my barn has been rat-free for over a week now, so the cats are worth their weigh in gold!

 

[Angiebubs]

I forgot, I also have a barn cat to worry about too! Although she seems to think she is part chicken and is pretty respectful of them. The other day when I had a mom and chicks out, at first she was really intrigued but then she laid down and went to sleep-outside the fenced run.

I just tried again to let two of the moms out with chicks...what a nightmare. I have broody hens that want to challenge the mom for the chicks, I have just crabby? hens wanting to fight with the moms, I have the two moms with chicks fighting with each other etc. Just put them away and now need to go let "the fosters" out for some outside time!!!

 

[Angel16]

Whenever I've separated my girls I've had the most success by doing it at dusk keeping as low of light as is possible. When I've tried the same during the daylight hours I was only successful one time, and I'm convinced it was a fluke.

I first create the new area earlier in the day, I put a little of the old bedding in there so it has her scent, move the eggs over after having gently retrieved them from her, then I cover her head with a little towel so it's dark for her, move her over covered and uncover her once she's on the new nest. She will generally settle right back down on the eggs.

But that said, I don't separate anymore. Even my tiniest silky girls have managed to raise their babies without trouble from the big girls. Usually the babies stay very close to momma and momma is good about teaching them whom to avoid.

Thank you for your advice! I did that today and it went really well!! She is now sitting on her eggs happily! Not being bothered by other pushier hens! lol!! Thanks everyone!! I'll let you'll know how they are next week and if they hatched ok

 

[loobyloo88]

Ive got a broody hen, shes sat on some fake eggs for a few days now and shes definitely staying put, ive got 9 eggs in an incubator due to hatch around the 16th, I was hoping to transfer them under her, can anyone offer any advice, does and don'ts? Thanks x

 

[chippysmom327]

Ive got a broody hen, shes sat on some fake eggs for a few days now and shes definitely staying put, ive got 9 eggs in an incubator due to hatch around the 16th, I was hoping to transfer them under her, can anyone offer any advice, does and don'ts? Thanks x

Put em under her and let her do her thing

 

[Sydney Acres]

Ive got a broody hen, shes sat on some fake eggs for a few days now and shes definitely staying put, ive got 9 eggs in an incubator due to hatch around the 16th, I was hoping to transfer them under her, can anyone offer any advice, does and don'ts? Thanks x

So the eggs should hatch in around 10 days, and she's been broody for a few days, so that's enough time. You could put the eggs under her now and let her hatch them out if you think she'll be a reliable broody. If she's a first time broody nine eggs might be 1-3 more than ideal, so you could put 3-6 under her and the rest in the incubator. You could replace her fake eggs with real eggs when she gets off the nest to eat, drink, and poop, if you ever see her do that. Or you can go into her pen at night and pull out all the fake eggs first, then put in the real eggs one by one. If you put them down in front of her breast she will likely pull the egg under her. I usually just put the eggs under her wing and she rearranges however she likes. If she's really tame and used to you handling her you could probably do this anytime day or night, but it very much depends on the temperament of the broody. Some birds will stop brooding if you mess with them.

If you do switch out eggs, it would be a good idea to have identifying marks on numerous areas of each egg. That is especially important if there might be other hens that could crowd in with your broody and lay additional eggs in the nest. If you draw a circle around the equator of the egg so you can see it when the egg is in any position, then you'll know if there's any new eggs being added. If there are new eggs, removed them asap. Too many eggs under a hen can decrease your hatch rate, sometimes significantly, and new eggs can create staggered hatches, which can end with either untended chicks, or more likely abandonment of near-term eggs prior to hatch. So if other hens can lay eggs in broody's nest, check the eggs daily or every other day and remove any unmarked eggs.

If you graft chicks from the incubator onto the broody, it is important to stick around for a little while afterwards to be sure that she accepts the chick(s), and that the chick stays in the nest and doesn't wander off. The younger the chick the better, but 3 day old chicks are probably the oldest that will graft successfully on a regular basis. There are exceptions, of course, but you can't count on those. It's not just a matter of will the hen accept the baby, but will the chick accept the hen. Chicks imprint on a caretaker during the first three days of life, whether it's a hen, a person, a stuffed animal, or a heat lamp. A 5-10 day old chick that knows to get under the heat lamp for warmth will look at the giant bird and think it's T. Rex, possibly run away, get chilled and die. And even if it stays under the warm feathers, it may not listen to the hen as it grows and the hen tries to teach it life skills. If it wanders off when the hen tells it to come back, it may get eaten by a cat or ??? So grafting a chick to a hen is a two way street which really should be started by day 3, if possible, although there have been successful grafts that have started later.

How to graft successfully does somewhat depend on the hen. Theoretically, it should be done at night after the chicks are dry. Use the minimal light possible where you can see, and don't shine the light at the hen's face. Also, don't drop the flashlight. A keychain flashlight that is attached to a lanyard around your neck works great, as does a headlamp (as long as you don't shine it directly at the broody, which I have difficulty avoiding with the headlamp). The dry chicks are placed under her fluff from behind, or under her wing if she tolerates handling, but not up front where she might peck an unfamiliar chick before it gets nuzzled it and she bonds with it. If there's enough light for her to see well, ideally cup your hand over the chick so she can't see it during the transfer.

That's what I've been told for the average broody, where there's the potential that she may not want chicks that aren't hers, so you have to sneak them under her to be sure that they will be safe. I started out that way with my hen. She had 5 hatching/hatched under her, and I had 12 eggs in the incubator timed to coordinate with her hatch. The incubator chicks were soooo active that I had to take them out of the incubator ASAP, as they were flopping around, rolling the other eggs around, and seemed distressed to not have anything to snuggle against as they dried out. So the moment they were half way dry I pulled them out, weighed them, leg banded them for pedigree, wrapped them in a warm T-shirt out of the dryer and took them out to the barn to put under the hen. I started out trying to sneak the chick in, but as the day progressed into night both she and I got tired and the pretense totally fell apart. By the end of the night I just walked into her pen, showed her the chick all wrapped up warm, picked up her wing and tucked the chick somewhere under there with all the others. By the end of the night her little "wingpits" were bloated with squirming peeping chicks, a total of 13. Way too many for a first time broody, but she's set up in a way where there are no dangers to the chicks, and it's summer, and she's amazing. All 13 are growing like weeds, and are 10 days old today. But that's a broody that is extremely tame, totally trusts me, and didn't look at these chicks as interlopers from another nest. Not all broodies will have that type of temperament, so sneaking a chick in during low light is definitely the safest way to go until you know how your hen will react to new chicks.

 

[Sydney Acres]

I forgot, I also have a barn cat to worry about too! Although she seems to think she is part chicken and is pretty respectful of them. The other day when I had a mom and chicks out, at first she was really intrigued but then she laid down and went to sleep-outside the fenced run.

I just tried again to let two of the moms out with chicks...what a nightmare. I have broody hens that want to challenge the mom for the chicks, I have just crabby? hens wanting to fight with the moms, I have the two moms with chicks fighting with each other etc. Just put them away and now need to go let "the fosters" out for some outside time!!!

How I've handled the multiple broodies and multiple aged chicks so far is to build separate little broody runs within the free range flock's area. Each run is made out of 1X1 welded cage wire, and is 3'H X 3'W X 12'L. There is a pet carrier that I've made into a temporary nest box in each run, and the 2 week olds also have a large padded perch (they're roosting underneath mom -- so cute) that's ~1 foot off the ground. Each run has a top on it because of the barn cat (and the crows, hawks, eagles, etc), but no bottom, and it can easily be moved around by two people when the grass gets trampled. Kind of like a quickie built chicken tractor, made to be temporary. Each length of the 36" tall wire is cut separately, not bent into shape, and the multiple pieces are fastened together to make the run with cable ties (zip ties -- they have a million uses). When I'm done with this use, the wire panels can be easily disassembled and used for something else, or lay flat for storage.

You could probably use anything that the chicks can't get through -- I used 1"X1" welded wire because I have plenty of it around. You can also use T-posts (or bamboo poles or lumber or lots of other things for a support frame or stakes) and wrap bird netting around them, or deer netting. I have a permanent run that is made up of the plastic deer netting and is attached to one of my fences. When I'm not using it I just pull up the stakes and roll up the deer netting such that it is attached to the length of the fence. I've had it for years and it's always there when I need it, just have to reinsert the stakes, which takes about 5 minutes if you use the stakes made for electronetting. (The electronetting is very useful but too expensive for many people, but you can buy the stakes separately and they're soooo handy to have around for other uses.)

I don't know if you have the space or the materials to do that kind of set up, but it makes management a lot easier. I've already seen the mama of the 2 week olds body slam into the fence trying to get to another broody, so I'm not letting 2 broodies together until their chicks are weaned. The other flock members are respectful of the broodies, and the broodies aren't concerned about them at all, so far. My main issue with the chicks at this age are the barn cats, so this setup protects the chicks from them, and keeps the broodies from fighting each other.

 

[Angiebubs]

Wow Sydney thanks for the great info and advice! My coop is 10 x20 aprox. So trying to figure out how I could set something like that up. Currently, my 2 co parenting moms with 4 chicks are in a 4 x 4 x 4 inside the coop, one mom with 4 chicks in a 3 x 3 x 2 and a mom with 5 chicks in a 2 x 2 x 2. Plenty of room for mom with new chicks but now the moms are getting antsy. So you wait until the chicks are older to incorporate them into the main flock?