Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bumpercarr]

I just had my first "all natural" chick. Peepoe my little Silkie Roo who has never ever crowed (be jealous) bred with a silkie hen and an egg hatched yesterday. I am a bit concerned about weather the chick can get what he needs if he is in the hen house. not access to water etc. Should I put them in another pen. Here she is with all her mommas. And how do I decide what hen should raise her?
?

I put water and food in the same area as the hen and her chicks so that she can teach them to eat and drink. Shallow pans though, I just use a peanut butter jar lid....no danger of drowning although you have to fill it a lot. Quail feeders/waterers are good as well. Let the hens work out who will raise the chick, you never know, they just might all raise it together.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My mottled Cochin, Dottie, with her new Silkie/Sizzle babies! She's doing such a great job taking care of them, and managed to hatch all 6 of the eggs I gave her even though most of them were nearly 2 weeks old!

 

[ochochicas]

I've been following this thread for some time, hoping to make a decision to use broodies or an incubator. The hens I'll be using are very broody but I'm not sure I can deal with all the personality quirks that can pop up when they get down to business.

I can handle their evil attitudes but some of the things these birds put you folks through are bending me toward the 'bator!

I'll keep reading ....I got until early in the up-coming spring.

I agree with Poodle. Go with the broody. I have not hatched eggs in an incubator, but I have raised day-old chicks in the house vs. with a broody. While both experiences were fun, having the broody do all the work was more rewarding. It is nice not dealing with a heat lamp or worrying about if the chicks are warm enough at night. The broody also taught the chicks about hiding under trees, mixing with the flock, and how to go in to the coop at nightfall. She could also protect them outside where as the house-raised chicks were more timid and I had to watch them all the time. They did not mix with the other hens until they were of laying age. Way easier (and more natural) to use the broody.

BTW, my broody who was a bit nasty as a laying hen is a very good mom and has become friendly and easy to work with as a broody. The hen that used to be super nice and social is difficult and rebellious as a broody. She is submissive to the other broody so that could be part of the problem. I won't be using her as a broody again.

 

[Johnn]

Bella and her baby had me nearly in tears today! Bella was having a dust bath and he wanted to join in but couldn't fit so he started pecking Bella and pulling her comb and she was screaming and got up and chased him and then they settled down again and she was having a dust bath and he went and climbed on top of her and started trying to mate her but he didn't know to hold her head so she turned around and started dragging him off by his head! It was hilarious :')

 

[Turk Raphael]

I agree with Poodle. Go with the broody. I have not hatched eggs in an incubator, but I have raised day-old chicks in the house vs. with a broody. While both experiences were fun, having the broody do all the work was more rewarding. It is nice not dealing with a heat lamp or worrying about if the chicks are warm enough at night. The broody also taught the chicks about hiding under trees, mixing with the flock, and how to go in to the coop at nightfall. She could also protect them outside where as the house-raised chicks were more timid and I had to watch them all the time. They did not mix with the other hens until they were of laying age. Way easier (and more natural) to use the broody.

BTW, my broody who was a bit nasty as a laying hen is a very good mom and has become friendly and easy to work with as a broody. The hen that used to be super nice and social is difficult and rebellious as a broody. She is submissive to the other broody so that could be part of the problem. I won't be using her as a broody again.

I'm considering all very carefully. I'll be using a total of 3 breeds in my 'project' and all are notorious for broodiness. My first crosses will be Buckeyes over Turkens. I'm getting hand-picked young Turken hens from my family as seed-stock. They have bred this line of Turkens for about 7 decades and they know which ones are broody.

Thanks for your opinion and information!!!

 

[Wyochick98]

My hen stopped laying about 2 months ago so I was told to put golf balls in her box to help her lay again. Now to my surprise she became the coop broody. My 3 other hens (1 black sex link, 2 EE) all lay in the same next and she keeps them warm untili come and collect them each morning!! Silly girl! My question is how do i get her to stop brooding???

 

[bumpercarr]

I'm considering all very carefully. I'll be using a total of 3 breeds in my 'project' and all are notorious for broodiness. My first crosses will be Buckeyes over Turkens. I'm getting hand-picked young Turken hens from my family as seed-stock. They have bred this line of Turkens for about 7 decades and they know which ones are broody.

Thanks for your opinion and information!!!

I've done both incubator and broody hatching. Each has its own advantages. Incubator hatching is good for when you want to hatch and don't have a broody ready to sit, you don't have to fight with a hen to get to the eggs to candle or check on them, don't have to worry about "extra" eggs showing up in the nest. Broody hatching is good for not having to take care of the babies after they hatch or worry about humidity, temperature or turning. As far as the hatch rate goes, I usually end up about the same (with my own eggs...not shipped eggs) at 6 weeks with both methods. I lose more that don't hatch in the incubator, but I tend to lose more during the chick stage with the broody. I haven't ever hatched in the incubator and then given the chicks to the broody, but I suspect I would have a lower survival rate overall using that method.

Obviously, broody hatching is less work, but you have to be willing to hatch on the broody's schedule rather than your own. What I prefer is to incubator hatch on my schedule and then let the broodies hatch some if they are so inclined. That way, I have the best of both worlds.

Right now, I am not incubator hatching....I'm done until November. But, I have a broody that is working on 10 eggs right now. These are all her own eggs, I don't have any other hens that are laying right now. She wouldn't necessarily be my choice for a breeder for a number of reasons, but she decided she wanted to try to hatch some eggs so I'll let her try. I'm not very worried about how many, if any, hatch and survive as I'm not working on breeding until November. So, if I get a few extra chicks that I don't have to raise in the brooder, that will be nice. If not, I'll break her brood and start hatching again in November.

 

[Aussie-Chook]

Very excited ... our first attempt at utilizing a broody hen from one (all-hen) flock to incubate fertile eggs from a second flock has worked!!

Our 15 month old Barred Rock went broody a couple months ago. Our new spring flock (with roos) just started laying the last week in July, so I collected their "fertile" eggs for a week (they were small eggs and I didn't have much hope), built a "nursery coop/run" put broody girl in & nine eggs under her and marked the calendar ... August 26 was hatch day ...

Lo & behold, we went tonight and heard peeps ... I couldn't open the door fast enough, and we discovered 3 fluffy chicks and one egg partly-zipped!!

One looks like a Sex Link chick (yellow with stripes) the other two are fuzzy yellow, likely Tetra Tint x Sex Link (roo) ...
Mama hen was most obliging in letting us pick up the chicks and hold them! SOOOOO CUUUUTE!!

Blog post at beginning: http://atr-sp.blogspot.com/2014/08/our-first-attempt.html

Can't wait to check in tomorrow morning to see if the other egg hatched, or even more!!

QUESTION: When should I discard unhatched eggs??

peep 1 "Sex Link"??

peep 2

Peep 3

broody Barred Rock Mama "Gandie" and two of her peeps

 

[bumpercarr]

Very excited ... our first attempt at utilizing a broody hen from one (all-hen) flock to incubate fertile eggs from a second flock has worked!!

Our 15 month old Barred Rock went broody a couple months ago. Our new spring flock (with roos) just started laying the last week in July, so I collected their "fertile" eggs for a week (they were small eggs and I didn't have much hope), built a "nursery coop/run" put broody girl in & nine eggs under her and marked the calendar ... August 26 was hatch day ...

Lo & behold, we went tonight and heard peeps ... I couldn't open the door fast enough, and we discovered 3 fluffy chicks and one egg partly-zipped!!

One looks like a Sex Link chick (yellow with stripes) the other two are fuzzy yellow, likely Tetra Tint x Sex Link (roo) ...
Mama hen was most obliging in letting us pick up the chicks and hold them! SOOOOO CUUUUTE!!

Blog post at beginning: http://atr-sp.blogspot.com/2014/08/our-first-attempt.html

Can't wait to check in tomorrow morning to see if the other egg hatched, or even more!!

QUESTION: When should I discard unhatched eggs??

peep 1 "Sex Link"??

peep 2

Peep 3

broody Barred Rock Mama "Gandie" and two of her peeps

Congrats. When the broody leaves the nest with her chicks unless you want to throw them in the incubator to see if anything is just really late.

 

[pmcatnip]

Cute little fluffy butts! Awww!

I had a hatch that was staggered by three or four days. It worked out in my case because I had two hens with eggs hatching at the same time, so I gave all the early chicks to one hen and all the late chicks to the other. The success of any latecomers will depend on how long your hen continues to sit after the first babies hatch. Mine seem to wait two days and then get up. I have found wet dead babies that hatched later the same day after she got up, couldn't find her, and died of cold before I found them. . There was actually one that hatched just after hen #1 got up from the nest, she couldn't have been up very long as it was first thing in the morning, and the chick was on the brink of death when I found it all wet and laying on the ground. I warmed it up carefully in a bowl of warm water and then blow dried it. Then it was happy and peeping so I tried to give it back to momma but she wouldn't take it. So I gave it to hen #2 who did accept it since she was sitting on the late eggs. So keep a close watch on your hen to see when she gets up and check very frequently for any babies that might need help after hatching late.