Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobbieschicks]

Question about broody hens... I have a young hen that just started sitting and I want to give her the eggs I have in my incubator that are due to hatch in less than a week. Do you think there will be a problem with her if her eggs start hatching when she's only been sitting for a few days? I've never tried switching out the eggs so late.

I would give her fake eggs for now and then give her the chicks after they hatch and dry off in your bator. But she might not have a problem hatching the eggs for you but that seems the riskier path.

I've given eggs that were due to hatch within a few days to proven broody that had been sitting only 12 days. I've also slipped chicks under a broody who had only been sitting a week. Both times were with silky broodies.

But if you do decide to give her the eggs, there shouldn't be a problem if they hatch. The problem will come in whether she can get them to a temperature and humidity level that will make them ready to hatch. I've had broodies hatch the chicks from eggs from my bator that were due to hatch shortly and it worked out fine, but those broodies were sitting almost two weeks.

 

[lablover]

Don't worry about it, she will take care of everything. Check tomorrow morning and you will find your new fuzzy butts. Congrats!

Yep, just let momma do her thing. Hens have been raising chicks for thousands of years. Trust her and you'll have at least one chick waiting or you in the morning

It's just so nerve-racking! I have half of the coop (which is a 10x10 dog kennel coop) separated for her. However, the fence has large enough openings that a chick could get through, or the other hens could reach through. I do plan to let the hen introduce them in about a week, but I think they should stay separated for a week so I need to get in there in the morning to set up a better fence. Will that bother the hen? Lately she's been upset when I go in her side of the coop which is understandable of course. Also, the coop floor is dirt, so should I put hay down for the chicks?

 

[ochochicas]

I would put hay down. All my chickens prefer hay to anything else.

As for the coop separation, there really isn't an ideal answer. You'll have to do what works best for you. The chicks are not going to escape right away since they will want to stay with the broody. I moved my hens into their own stalls when the chicks hatched. I kind of regret it now since the two broodies have become so aggressive towards the other chickens (and each other) that I really can't trust leaving them together unsupervised. Just a couple more weeks and the broodies will probably abandon their chicks and I can put them back in the coop during the day with the rest of the flock. Keeping everyone separated is a lot more work!

 

[Sylviaanne]

Hi Sylviaanne

I would be inclined to do something because otherwise the eggs are at risk of being crushed.

Either move the nest somewhere where he can't get to her, in a dog cage perhaps or cage him, but it makes more sense to cage the hen and nest since she is not needing to move around much at the moment anyway and you can always let her out for a quick exercise and a dust bath whilst you are there to protect her. It will also prevent other hens trying to lay in her nest.

It sounds like perhaps you have too many cockerels and this one, in desperation of raging hormones, is taking advantage of a sitting duck or hen in this case. What sort of ratio of males to females do you have?

Good luck with sorting the problem.

Barbara

I have 2 adult roosters with 7 hens. I didn't know until recently that I needed about 10 hens to one roo but he isn't after the others. He goes into the coop and climbs on her and when I shoo him away, he just goes to the other side of the coop. I have to chase him out but I can't stay and guard her so now she has a mess on her back. I do have a cage out there. I can move her nest into it and the nest that is in there I can move out. Thanks!

 

[Sylviaanne]

I agree with this. Usually the roo will not mate a nonlaying hen. So something odd about him trying now. If you leave him alone won't he just continue to try and mate her.

He has been the alpha male but I think the tables are turning and the Welsummer is not letting him get to the females. I think he is taking advantage of a "sitting duck." LOL He is a Crested Polish and is smaller than the Welsummer so I couldn't figure out why he was the alpha. I thought maybe the Welsummer was just had a milder temperament and didn't mind the CP being in control but yesterday I saw the Welsummer go after him when they were outside the coop. A bit later he was in there after my broody again. He must have heard me coming cause he skedaddled out of there. LOL

I forgot to add that we have quite a few pullets coming of age in just a few weeks. Problem is that there are several cockerels coming up too but I hope to be taking a caponing class soon so that won't remain a problem for long.

 

[bobbieschicks]

He has been the alpha male but I think the tables are turning and the Welsummer is not letting him get to the females. I think he is taking advantage of a "sitting duck." LOL He is a Crested Polish and is smaller than the Welsummer so I couldn't figure out why he was the alpha. I thought maybe the Welsummer was just had a milder temperament and didn't mind the CP being in control but yesterday I saw the Welsummer go after him when they were outside the coop. A bit later he was in there after my broody again. He must have heard me coming cause he skedaddled out of there. LOL 

I forgot to add that we have quite a few pullets coming of age in just a few weeks. Problem is that there are several cockerels coming up too but I hope to be taking a caponing class soon so that won't remain a problem for long.

I've had some pretty tiny alpha Roos. I've also had a silky roo who was head of the flock along side a wellie until one day the wellie decided he'd had enough of second place.

With that many cockerels he's just going to get more aggressive. It sounds like maybe you'll need to either sell/give away a bunch of cockerels or take a butchering class. I wouldn't caponize a rooster unless you're thinking to eventually fatten them up for the table.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Don't worry about it, she will take care of everything. Check tomorrow morning and you will find your new fuzzy butts. Congrats!

Yep, just let momma do her thing. Hens have been raising chicks for thousands of years. Trust her and you'll have at least one chick waiting or you in the morning

It's just so nerve-racking! I have half of the coop (which is a 10x10 dog kennel coop) separated for her. However, the fence has large enough openings that a chick could get through, or the other hens could reach through. I do plan to let the hen introduce them in about a week, but I think they should stay separated for a week so I need to get in there in the morning to set up a better fence. Will that bother the hen? Lately she's been upset when I go in her side of the coop which is understandable of course. Also, the coop floor is dirt, so should I put hay down for the chicks?

My nest boxes are roll out with rubber nest pads and my coop floor is covered with Sweet PDZ stall refresher, so I put Timothy Hay in the nest boxes for my broodies. The hay stopped the eggs from rolling backwards so much and gave them a nice soft surface to hatch upon. They kicked out some of the hay and when the RIR moved down to the floor with her three 2 day olds, she sat on the hay. It made a mess of my Sweet PDZ but after everyone hatched and started moving around I just raked it back out. Putting down hay really didn't seem to matter much to the broodies as the ones who got chicks sat on the Sweet PDZ without hay in their corners. I'm not sure they needed the hay as I also kept finding the broodies outside in the run sitting in the dirt on their babies at night. You could find a small bag of it and just use that in a small area rather then cover the whole surface.

 

[suyoder]

Eeeeek! Broody has at least one of the two eggs hatched because I just saw the chick! I had no idea because I saw no pips last night when she was off the nest and heard no noises. I am so curious about the other egg BUT I am resisting the urge to lift her up to look. I am so excited!!

P.s. this is my first time lol

Yay!! I'm rejoicing with you cause my first broody is half way to the hatch date! I can barely wait!!

 

[suyoder]

My nest boxes are roll out with rubber nest pads and my coop floor is covered with Sweet PDZ stall refresher, so I put Timothy Hay in the nest boxes for my broodies. The hay stopped the eggs from rolling backwards so much and gave them a nice soft surface to hatch upon. They kicked out some of the hay and when the RIR moved down to the floor with her three 2 day olds, she sat on the hay. It made a mess of my Sweet PDZ but after everyone hatched and started moving around I just raked it back out.

Putting down hay really didn't seem to matter much to the broodies as the ones who got chicks sat on the Sweet PDZ without hay in their corners. I'm not sure they needed the hay as I also kept finding the broodies outside in the run sitting in the dirt on their babies at night. You could find a small bag of it and just use that in a small area rather then cover the whole surface.

What is sweet PDZ?

 

[lablover]

We had three chicks this morning. One was dead, hanging over the side of the nest. One was under her and one had already fallen to the ground and was lodged between the fence and the tin panel of the coop. She's still sitting like this, and they're under her butt which makes it easy to crawl and fall over.

I now have hay directly under this nest set up, so if she does get them down today, hopefully she will lay there. There are two more eggs that I'm not sure about, so hopefully she stays long enough for them.... Every time a chick moves out from under her, she puffs up and clucks to them.