Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[3 NH reds]

Silky had her 3 OE girls up on the roost to practice last night before bed time. They will be 3 weeks old on Monday.



The Maran had her 4 EE girls in the coop too. She has been teaching them to go up on the roost since they were under two weeks old.

I forgot to encourage you about this post.

A broody I had an Arucana named Smokey was so tiny and quiet and let everyone near her and her new chicks the day they hatched. I worried about her ability to protect them. Then the WL roo walked over to one welsummer chick, picked it up, and flung it a bit. It turned out to be a rooster so maybe he knew that early he'd have competition. At any rate Smokey jumped up and attacked that rooster and made such a fuss he stayed clear away from her. And nobody went near her or her chicks without retribution. I didn't worry about her anymore.

I had a broody named Topsy who was the tiniest silky and last in the pecking order. I worried about her until I noticed her teaching her chicks how to avoid the larger higher ranking girls. She did defend her babies a couple of times, but overall her strategy was avoidance and it worked well. So I quit worrying about her.

Those two broodies are now in chicken Heaven, but they taught me that I can trust the protective instincts of the broody momma.

Cute pic gotta love watching them learn. X2 on the broodie mind set. MY current broodie buff is the wimp of the flock and has been for life. But she got up yesterday for fermented mash and water and the red who is the roost boss was sitting on her eggs. She jumped up and gave her a peck so the red left the box!

 

[calichicken]

You could put her back in the nest first and then carefully cup the eggs and slip them under her. She will settle back down and move them around.

Or you could just leave the eggs alone without candling and let her eliminate them as needed. My RIR got rid of her duds and non hatching eggs herself. I went from 18 shipped eggs spread between three broodies to just letting her have the rest of the remaining 7 eggs. Just before hatch she was down to 5 eggs. She managed to hatch out 3 chicks. Of the other two eggs, one she crushed that wasn't developing and the other had a chick that either wasn't going to hatch and she crushed it open or it hatched but died shortly after.

Congrats on the broody!

I candled mine under my broody when she got up to take her break. Of course you have to be around at that time, but my girl has been like clockwork getting up 2ish in the afternoon. Maybe because it is a warmer part of the day? Then she is getting in and out on her own

Just a thought

 

[ochochicas]

I candled my eggs in the morning. I took the hen off the nest at the same time I feed, so she could get some fresh feed and do her business while I checked the eggs. If it was cold, the hens were back on the nest within 15 minutes. On warmer days they came back within 30 - 40 minutes. I didn't have to worry about them getting back to the nest since it was light out already. Ten of my 12 eggs hatched just fine doing this (two were duds.).

 

[Sylviaanne]

My Salmon Favorolle has gone broody. It has been so busy around here that I didn't write down what day I knew for sure that she was broody. I reached for her and she huffed just a bit but I thought she was just laying an egg. I kept going out to get the eggs out of the nest she's sitting on but she was still there. The next day I reached as though to get the eggs out from under her and she huffed just a bit again so I realized she has gone broody but they are not all her eggs. She wasn't on the nest one time and I took a duck egg out but I don't know how many of the eggs she is sitting on are hers and how many the other hens are laying with her. I haven't been finding any eggs for about 3 days now so I think she has been sitting for about 4 days.

 

[lablover]

About candling during the day, I like the thought of this, but how well can you see inside the egg? I have green, blue, and brown eggs, so wouldn't it be harder to see the green and blue ones during the day? Also, I've only seen her off the nest once, so she must be doing it in the afternoon. Would it hurt to just take her off during the day to do it?

 

[dldolan]

My bantam calico cochin is 5.5 months and laid six eggs then promptly went broody. I think I'll pass on this round, but for future reference, how many regular eggs can a little gal take? 4? I assume more like 8 of her own mini-sized eggs...? This is my first round with bantams. Usually my LF gals do the hatching, but my LF cochins made great mamas, so I'll assume little Ethel would also!

 

[ochochicas]

About candling during the day, I like the thought of this, but how well can you see inside the egg? I have green, blue, and brown eggs, so wouldn't it be harder to see the green and blue ones during the day? Also, I've only seen her off the nest once, so she must be doing it in the afternoon. Would it hurt to just take her off during the day to do it?

It is dark in my coop in the early morning unless I have the lights on. I didn't have any problems candling the eggs during the day. It was easier to take them into a dark closet though. The welsummer eggs were hard to candle because they are so dark. In the end, I left all 12 eggs in the nest for the duration of incubation. One egg cracked on day 16 so I tried to repair it with nail polish and then put it back in the nest. It hatched the cutest little EE baby on Day 21. Two eggs were undeveloped so in the end 10 hatched. I guess I'm not that good at candling. LOL No problems with stinky eggs or explosions. I mostly just wanted the hen to get out and do something other than sit.

 

[rebrascora]

When I candled my first eggs after about a week, just using a torch, we couldn't see anything and gave up half way through. Then, as we were leaving the hen house, feeling somewhat disappointed, we picked up an ordinary egg that had been laid that day and candled it and suddenly realised that the nothing we had seen was definitely not nothing!!!
She hatched all 14 eggs into healthy chicks!
I now have faith that my broody and cockerel know more about what they are doing than me and hopefully I will be more relaxed this time..... my little silky cross, Frances, has just started sitting tight, so I'm beginning to get excited all over again!

 

[bobbieschicks]

When I candled my first eggs after about a week, just using a torch, we couldn't see anything and gave up half way through. Then, as we were leaving the hen house, feeling somewhat disappointed, we picked up an ordinary egg that had been laid that day and candled it and suddenly realised that the nothing we had seen was definitely not nothing!!!
She hatched all 14 eggs into healthy chicks!
I now have faith that my broody and cockerel know more about what they are doing than me and hopefully I will be more relaxed this time..... my little silky cross, Frances, has just started sitting tight, so I'm beginning to get excited all over again!    

I agree with this! Candling dark brown or green eggs is definitely harder to judge development then with white eggs, but if I just let the broody handle things she will do a fine job all by herself. Candling dark eggs for me requires a super bright flashlight and it's still just guessing at the end.

 

[bobbieschicks]

My bantam calico cochin is 5.5 months and laid six eggs then promptly went broody. I think I'll pass on this round, but for future reference, how many regular eggs can a little gal take? 4? I assume more like 8 of her own mini-sized eggs...? This is my first round with bantams. Usually my LF gals do the hatching, but my LF cochins made great mamas, so I'll assume little Ethel would also!

Sounds like she thought six was a good idea.