Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[oolyboolu]

N EGG IS PEEPING!!! YaaaaaaaaaYyyyyyy!!!!!!

Is there anything I should do, or just leave mama to it?

 

[cwrite]

AN EGG IS PEEPING!!! YaaaaaaaaaYyyyyyy!!!!!!

Is there anything I should do, or just leave mama to it?

Leave mama to get on with it.

 

[ochochicas]

She will aggressively protect them until she is ready to cut the apron strings. So if you are waiting it will be 5 or 6 weeks if you don't intervene somehow.

I have found we can bribe the broody to hang out around us with some scratch or meal worms and it's the best chance for getting the chicks used to humans also (we use finch seed and meal worms, the finch seeds are very small and easy for the chicks to eat). To do so you need to have the broody and chicks somewhere separate of the rest of the flock (for the first few encounters at least). Sit down on the ground with your legs out in front of you or sit cross legged. Sit quietly in the vicinity of the birds for a few minutes and then scatter a small handful of the treat somewhere close to you. Mama hen will see it and check it out and call over the chicks. Just let the mama and chicks eat and scratch undisturbed. If you want you can scatter some more a bit closer and eventually hold your hand down flat on the ground with a few treat seeds in it as the chicks get used to you. Eventually the chicks will get used to you, and begin associating people with good things. After a few encounters like this I have found our broodies and chicks come running to us when we are out in the yard and the more forward little ones will even jump up onto my legs or lap if I am sitting down.
After they are used to humans then you can start trying to get them more tame and used to being handled. I do this by just spending time on the ground with them and having them take treats from your fingers until they are willing to jump onto your hand searching for more. I don't try to pet our birds, but I do like them being comfortable sitting on my lap or being held by myself or my husband. When ever I do hold the birds as youngsters I offer them a couple of meal worms or other treat while they are being held, this helps them associate being held with something good. They don't have to be petted to get used to being handled enough to make it easy to provide basic first aid or other care as they get older.

This is good advice. In my opinion, all chicks should get used to being handled by people. My chicks where raised in a horse stall so I put a low chair in there and would sit while they ate. They also got use to being picked up and held. I didn't handle them a lot (should have done more) but they are all fairly easy to catch and don't get nervous when handled. Two out of the three cockerels are very sweet and don't mind being packed around the yard. When one of the pullets became ill, we brought her in the house for a few nights. She got used to it fairly quickly since we had handled her as a chick.

We bought some 2 month old chicks to add to our flock after the broody hen was done with her babies. The new chicks where not handled as babies and are very flighty. They will come up and eat scratch grains out of my hand, but other than that we can't catch them until nighttime when they are ready to roost. We thought we could tame them at 10 weeks but it seems like it was already too late in the game. They are better than they were, but they won't ever be lap chickens.

 

[ChickyChickens]

Snowflake and Sparkle each have one chick!! The rest of their eggs are pipping, zipping ore peeping inside their eggs!!

Cant wait till all the eggs hatch!!

 

[dreweysmom]

My silkie "Queen Elsie" just now went broody, she is 9 months old and does not lay fertile eggs. I live in Conyers,GA and need to know of a place to purchase fertile eggs for her. I also have "Raven" who is my black silkie and "Vanilla" who is a creamed colored silkie/frizzle mix. Raven and Vanilla are still laying eggs and have not gone broody.

 

[Johnn]

Mam and Coco

 

[oolyboolu]

Babies!! My goobers hatched! 5 Friday morning, 1 later that day, and 1 on Saturday

there are 3 eggs still left but Mama doesn't feel like moving so I guess I'll give them till the end of Tuesday. I'm so in love with these little peeps!!!

 

[fisherlady]

Babies!! My goobers hatched! 5 Friday morning, 1 later that day, and 1 on Saturday

there are 3 eggs still left but Mama doesn't feel like moving so I guess I'll give them till the end of Tuesday. I'm so in love with these little peeps!!!

Congrats on the hatch! They look like a happy little group!

 

[Blooie]

Oh, they are so cute! I am sitting on pins and needles here - 8 days to go!

 

[ChickyChickens]

They are soo cute!!