Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

Thank you for the lovely update....here's to Jessica...how many more days/weeks does she have do you think. (I've forgotten.)

Olivia and chicks at 4.5 weeks are on schedule. My large fowl mommas teach their babies to roost alongside them around that age, and the babies are fully feathered and do fine. It is only my Silkie that would never quite cut the apron strings and continue to try to mother them even when they were larger than she was.

As to budding romance, you are correct, no worries with Joe and his mother. I've been reading up on breeding genetics in chickens and that is how the "big boys" get started...they choose the best male and female, then of that union, they breed back the best daughter/son to the parents, and do that several generations until finally they do one generation of siblings, then start the process again with daughter/son to parents, then finally siblings, until by the end of that round they have an established line (hopefully). Those experienced may correct me, but I'm pretty sure I got all that right. I was surprised to learn that inbreeding is not such a concern with the first generations but actually desirable.

Happy holidays to your flock...I look forward to updates on Jessica and her little clutch. <You go girl!>

Lady of McCamley

My large fowl broodies are the same as Lady Of McCamley noted, they have their little ones up and roosting about that age and my silkie broody keeps hers much longer to herself when the weather is cold, even when they are nearly as big as she is! In the summer though my Silkie gets the little ones up to the roost by about 4 or 5 weeks also.
My research into genetics also follows what L of M said, line breeding is common and it took me a while to wrap my head around the thoughts of offspring being bred back to parents but it works in the chicken world...

She did it!!! Wow who would of thought I would be so proud of little Sparrow for doing something that is just natural for her. She did a great job and she is being a great mommy. Thank you all for your great advice.

Congrats on the hatch, they make an adorable family!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

She did it!!! Wow who would of thought I would be so proud of little Sparrow for doing something that is just natural for her. She did a great job and she is being a great mommy. Thank you all for your great advice.

All THREE hatched!!! Well done Sparrow. Well done.

Lady of McCamley

 

[vpatt]

 Thank you for the lovely update....here's to Jessica...how many more days/weeks does she have do you think. (I've forgotten.)

Olivia and chicks at 4.5 weeks are on schedule. My large fowl mommas teach their babies to roost alongside them around that age, and the babies are fully feathered and do fine. It is only my Silkie that would never quite cut the apron strings and continue to try to mother them even when they were larger than she was.

As to budding romance, you are correct, no worries with Joe and his mother. I've been reading up on breeding genetics in chickens and that is how the "big boys" get started...they choose the best male and female, then of that union, they breed back the best daughter/son to the parents, and do that several generations until finally they do one generation of siblings, then start the process again with daughter/son to parents, then finally siblings, until by the end of that round they have an established line (hopefully).  Those experienced may correct me, but I'm pretty sure I got all that right. I was surprised to learn that inbreeding is not such a concern with the first generations but actually desirable.

Happy holidays to your flock...I look forward to updates on Jessica and her little clutch. <You go girl!>

Lady of McCamley

I had miscounted and said the hatch date was January 15, but it is the 17. I will probably candle one more time before then? Who would have thought egg candling could be so interesting?

 

[ChickyChickens]

WOW...i have 10 broodies at the moment....

 

[vpatt]

WOW...i have 10 broodies at the moment....

Wow!! I think this is one of the things I'm wondering about. I love the idea of letting a broody raise chicks.....I mean this is our second time in less than 6 months, lol. But I did try to break up both of them so we could wait for better weather. I couldn't break Olivia at all. Jessica gave up in November and then was back at it before Christmas. I put her back in the coop at nite and the last time I tried that she flew out of the coop and was running around me like a football player to get back to her nest. (Picture her with an egg under her wing, running with her head down...lol). So I gave up and gave her the four eggs. I love it! But I am wondering what i will do if a lot of girls go broody at the same time. And even giving them only a couple of eggs will eventually result in LOTS of extra chickens. So what is the answer? Will they sit happily on nonhatching golfballs if I cant break up their broodiness? Or do I advertise "free chickens" on Freecycle? I guess many could become Sunday dinner? I cannot do that myself...but hubbie would help me out there. But that sounds well i dont know....not appealing to me. What do the rest of you all do who are just in this for a fun hobby? I want the birds to be healthy, happy and live as naturally as possible and raising chicks seems to be what makes some of them happy....but i realize there are limits. I hope I don't sound as if I'm taking this too lightly. LofMc?

 

[fisherlady]

Wow!! I think this is one of the things I'm wondering about. I love the idea of letting a broody raise chicks.....I mean this is our second time in less than 6 months, lol. But I did try to break up both of them so we could wait for better weather. I couldn't break Olivia at all. Jessica gave up in November and then was back at it before Christmas. I put her back in the coop at nite and the last time I tried that she flew out of the coop and was running around me like a football player to get back to her nest. (Picture her with an egg under her wing, running with her head down...lol). So I gave up and gave her the four eggs. I love it! But I am wondering what i will do if a lot of girls go broody at the same time. And even giving them only a couple of eggs will eventually result in LOTS of extra chickens. So what is the answer? Will they sit happily on nonhatching golfballs if I cant break up their broodiness? Or do I advertise "free chickens" on Freecycle? I guess many could become Sunday dinner? I cannot do that myself...but hubbie would help me out there. But that sounds well i dont know....not appealing to me. What do the rest of you all do who are just in this for a fun hobby? I want the birds to be healthy, happy and live as naturally as possible and raising chicks seems to be what makes some of them happy....but i realize there are limits. I hope I don't sound as if I'm taking this too lightly. LofMc?

This is exactly the issue when raising back yard flocks on limited space... and I know because I am there. I want broodies for more natural incubation and chick rearing, not to mention that they are just plain adorable to watch! Well, I got more than I ever thought I would find with the Large Fowl birds.... or maybe it is true that it is contagious.... because I went from having 3 bantam type mystery mixes who were broody to a whole coop full of LF birds wanting to set on eggs! We have around 25 adult hens (usually, # does go up and down a bit)... only 5 are bantam mixes, but this year we had 33 broody hatches. We now have 2 hatchery type Jersey Giants who were broodies (1 was broody twice), and a group of Plymouth Rock hens who are intent on repopulating the chicken world and 4 barnyard mixes who also decided to join in the fun!
Broody tendancies have been declining over much of the chicken world because of much breeding for egg production but in our neck of the world that just is totally reversed.... and yep, you have to sell or butcher off extra birds and I can say that it isn't usually difficult to sell the pullets, but the young cockerels just aren't in demand unless it is an exceptional bird for some reason (size, example of breed, color)... but I can also attest that butchering can provide you with some wonderful meals, so it is something to consider when striving for a self sustaining flock.

 

[bumpercarr]

Wow!! I think this is one of the things I'm wondering about. I love the idea of letting a broody raise chicks.....I mean this is our second time in less than 6 months, lol. But I did try to break up both of them so we could wait for better weather. I couldn't break Olivia at all. Jessica gave up in November and then was back at it before Christmas. I put her back in the coop at nite and the last time I tried that she flew out of the coop and was running around me like a football player to get back to her nest. (Picture her with an egg under her wing, running with her head down...lol). So I gave up and gave her the four eggs. I love it! But I am wondering what i will do if a lot of girls go broody at the same time. And even giving them only a couple of eggs will eventually result in LOTS of extra chickens. So what is the answer? Will they sit happily on nonhatching golfballs if I cant break up their broodiness? Or do I advertise "free chickens" on Freecycle? I guess many could become Sunday dinner? I cannot do that myself...but hubbie would help me out there. But that sounds well i dont know....not appealing to me. What do the rest of you all do who are just in this for a fun hobby? I want the birds to be healthy, happy and live as naturally as possible and raising chicks seems to be what makes some of them happy....but i realize there are limits. I hope I don't sound as if I'm taking this too lightly. LofMc?

Yeah, it can be real easy to get overrun with chicks, and remember that 1/2 of them should be males, statistically speaking. I've always had difficulty breaking a brood, easy enough to make them stop but pretty soon they are trying again. So, I usually just let mine raise some.....hopefully I have fertile eggs to put under them when I need to. The problem with letting them sit on golf balls is that the hen spends a lot of energy and does not take care of herself very well while she's trying to hatch that golf ball that will never hatch. So, I would expect that their health would decline rather rapidly after the 21-25 days that she sits on them with no results. And, you'll still end up having to break her brood (although some will break on their own, most won't until they get what they are after....chicks). So, your options are to buy chicks to put under the broody, give them eggs to hatch, or break the brood. It is totally up to you which of those solutions work for your particular situation.

As far as giving chicks away, generally it is pretty easy to do that when they are chicks or when they are juvenile pullets. The difficulty is that if you give the away as chicks, your broody will probably start to brood again fairly soon (some do, some don't) since she really never got to raise her chicks. If you wait until they are "weaned" at 4-6 weeks, you and whoever is taking your chicks can tell what sexes they have and very few folks want the males.

This is what I do with mine (and I hatch a lot of chicks 60-100 a year). Because I'm doing some serious, selective breeding of one breed, I have to keep my chicks (unless there is something obviously wrong) until they are approximately 6 months old. At that point, I am able to cull those that I know for certain that I won't be using in the breeding program (usually about 1/2). At that point, I sell the pullets that I don't want to keep. I'll also try to give away the extra cockerels, but usually only a few people want them. I put my price at what it cost me in feed to raise them (each bird eats approximately 37.5 lbs of feed in six months, so that is about $15 worth of feed...doubled since I can't sell the cockerels...so $30 per pullet). I don't usually have any trouble selling pullets that are close to laying age in the early fall or spring (pullets are already laying from last year's hatch). They are almost impossible to sell in the winter. I continue to cull until I've got the number that I need, as the hatch gets older I figure out which ones I don't need. At about 12 months, I send any of the boys that I don't need to freezer camp. I can usually get some help by offering a farm raised chicken to some of my friends in exchange for their help. I don't pluck my birds, I usually just breast them out and keep the legs/thighs as well. My breeding birds sell for about $200 a pair and I only sell them as pairs. I can also sell some of my culls for more once they get close to breeding age as long as they are pretty good examples of the breed.

So, getting rid of unwanted chicks/juveniles/adults is not particularly easy but not particularly difficult either. I advertise on Craigs List and several other local free boards as well as with the breeder's and poultry association that I belong to. Most of the time, I have a waiting list until fall.

 

[vpatt]

Yeah, it can be real easy to get overrun with chicks, and remember that 1/2 of them should be males, statistically speaking.  I've always had difficulty breaking a brood, easy enough to make them stop but pretty soon they are trying again.  So, I usually just let mine raise some.....hopefully I have fertile eggs to put under them when I need to.  The problem with letting them sit on golf balls is that the hen spends a lot of energy and does not take care of herself very well while she's trying to hatch that golf ball that will never hatch.  So, I would expect that their health would decline rather rapidly after the 21-25 days that she sits on them with no results.  And, you'll still end up having to break her brood (although some will break on their own, most won't until they get what they are after....chicks).  So, your options are to buy chicks to put under the broody, give them eggs to hatch, or break the brood.  It is totally up to you which of those solutions work for your particular situation.

As far as giving chicks away, generally it is pretty easy to do that when they are chicks or when they are juvenile pullets.  The difficulty is that if you give the away as chicks, your broody will probably start to brood again fairly soon (some do, some don't) since she really never got to raise her chicks.  If you wait until they are "weaned" at 4-6 weeks, you and whoever is taking your chicks can tell what sexes they have and very few folks want the males.

This is what I do with mine (and I hatch a lot of chicks 60-100 a year).  Because I'm doing some serious, selective breeding of one breed, I have to keep my chicks (unless there is something obviously wrong) until they are approximately 6 months old.  At that point, I am able to cull those that I know for certain that I won't be using in the breeding program (usually about 1/2).  At that point, I sell the pullets that I don't want to keep.  I'll also try to give away the extra cockerels, but usually only a few people want them.  I put my price at what it cost me in feed to raise them (each bird eats approximately 37.5 lbs of feed in six months, so that is about $15 worth of feed...doubled since I can't sell the cockerels...so $30 per pullet).  I don't usually have any trouble selling pullets that are close to laying age in the early fall or spring (pullets are already laying from last year's hatch).  They are almost impossible to sell in the winter.  I continue to cull until I've got the number that I need, as the hatch gets older I figure out which ones I don't need.  At about 12 months, I send any of the boys that I don't need to freezer camp.  I can usually get some help by offering a farm raised chicken to some of my friends in exchange for their help.  I don't pluck my birds, I usually just breast them out and keep the legs/thighs as well.  My breeding birds sell for about $200 a pair and I only sell them as pairs.  I can also sell some of my culls for more once they get close to breeding age as long as they are pretty good examples of the breed.

So, getting rid of unwanted chicks/juveniles/adults is not particularly easy but not particularly difficult either.  I advertise on Craigs List and several other local free boards as well as with the breeder's and poultry association that I belong to.  Most of the time, I have a waiting list until fall.

Thnx for the response. I think could cook and eat the birds. But not sure about the butchering.....I know my grandparents and parents did this, but I don't know if I could. I have kept from naming the 3 chicks.....partly cause I'm not sure if I am keeping them and partly because I cant tell them apart.

I went on a mission trip in October to help a couple cut wood for the winter. She had chickens and when we were stacking wood I saw her chopping block with feathers on it and an axe nearby. I'm pretty sure she did the deed herself as her husband is blind. But maybe he did it. How many of you butcher your own chickens?

 

[fisherlady]

Thnx for the response. I think could cook and eat the birds. But not sure about the butchering.....I know my grandparents and parents did this, but I don't know if I could. I have kept from naming the 3 chicks.....partly cause I'm not sure if I am keeping them and partly because I cant tell them apart.

I went on a mission trip in October to help a couple cut wood for the winter. She had chickens and when we were stacking wood I saw her chopping block with feathers on it and an axe nearby. I'm pretty sure she did the deed herself as her husband is blind. But maybe he did it. How many of you butcher your own chickens?

We do.... for many reasons. If you are interested in getting started you can check out the threads on here about it.... a good one is here....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ort-group-help-us-through-the-emotions-please

 

[vpatt]

We do.... for many reasons.  If you are interested in getting started you can check out the threads on here about it.... a good one is here.... 
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ort-group-help-us-through-the-emotions-please

Thnx...ill check it out.