Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

You've gotten great advice. I'll just add to #4 and #5 suggestions by saying I have used cardboard zip-tied to a wire dog crate with great success. The chicks will get out and not always get back in if the wire is left plain. I am posting a picture of how I did one of mine. I used high cardboard in the back to give "privacy" and lower cardboard in the front half and on the door side so I could see in, the flock could see in and the mama and chicks got some ventilation. Be sure there are no gaps where the cardboard meets or they will find a way to get stuck there.
I move mine out during the day (weather permitting) into a chicken tractor on grass when they are 2 or 3 days old. Once the rest of the flock has gone to roost in the evening. I open the tractor door and shoo the mama and chicks out. She takes then to the coop (mine has ground level access), often stopping and scratching and showing them goodies, and into the broody box. I close them up and repeat for the next week or so. By that time, the chicks know mama and the flock knows they are "members". I let them out of the tractor earlier, when the flock is still out but starting to think about going to roost. The mamas will eventually stop taking them to the crate and use one of the lower nest boxes. At that point, I'll remove the crate......or clean it and get it ready for the next one!

Same hen and her brood at 4 weeks old on a low ladder perch that is resting on the abandoned crate.

Adorable pictures! Really nice set up and great explanation for an option on brooding/integration. Thank you!

 

[bumpercarr]

What I've done with my dog crate is bought a "short" roll of screening, the kind you use on your windows (plastic not metal, metal can cut babies) but it is only about 6" wide and 50 feet long used for screen repair. I zip tie it to the inside of the crate and it keeps the chicks from being able to escape. I like it because I can see through it easily to check on water/feed without having to disturb anyone yet it keeps everyone in the crate. I do have a little different situation than most as I raise brahmas, by the time they are a few days old they can't fit through the bars anymore anyway...still, I like to make sure that they are safe.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Lots of really great ideas of how to keep the little tykes in where they belong. Love the tips.

I'll share another one that has become my favorite to help with clean up....

If you have a wood coop that is not sitting on the ground but raised floor, especially if they are waist high like mine for easy clean out...or a dog crate or hutch, use your fresh empty feed bags to cut up for liners.

It makes clean out of the nest boxes and hutch/coop house or dog crate bottom SO EASY. It simply pulls out like a tray, and I dump the dirty litter, or it rolls up like a burrito and I take the liner and litter out. What little falls out is easy to scoop up.

I re-use the liner if it looks clean, or cut up another feed bag (the kind that are sort of plastic coated like the Purina Layer type).

It has cut my coop cleaning down to less than half the time and really eliminates a lot of the scraping. I feel good that I have a clean floor underneath that liner, and the filth is easily lifted and taken away.

Lady of McCamley

 

[Faraday40]

Lots of really great ideas of how to keep the little tykes in where they belong. Love the tips.

I'll share another one that has become my favorite to help with clean up....

If you have a wood coop that is not sitting on the ground but raised floor, especially if they are waist high like mine for easy clean out...or a dog crate or hutch, use your fresh empty feed bags to cut up for liners.

It makes clean out of the nest boxes and hutch/coop house or dog crate bottom SO EASY. It simply pulls out like a tray, and I dump the dirty litter, or it rolls up like a burrito and I take the liner and litter out. What little falls out is easy to scoop up.

I re-use the liner if it looks clean, or cut up another feed bag (the kind that are sort of plastic coated like the Purina Layer type).

It has cut my coop cleaning down to less than half the time and really eliminates a lot of the scraping. I feel good that I have a clean floor underneath that liner, and the filth is easily lifted and taken away.

Lady of McCamley

Ooooohhh I like that idea.

 

[bumpercarr]

Lots of really great ideas of how to keep the little tykes in where they belong. Love the tips.

I'll share another one that has become my favorite to help with clean up....

If you have a wood coop that is not sitting on the ground but raised floor, especially if they are waist high like mine for easy clean out...or a dog crate or hutch, use your fresh empty feed bags to cut up for liners.

It makes clean out of the nest boxes and hutch/coop house or dog crate bottom SO EASY. It simply pulls out like a tray, and I dump the dirty litter, or it rolls up like a burrito and I take the liner and litter out. What little falls out is easy to scoop up.

I re-use the liner if it looks clean, or cut up another feed bag (the kind that are sort of plastic coated like the Purina Layer type).

It has cut my coop cleaning down to less than half the time and really eliminates a lot of the scraping. I feel good that I have a clean floor underneath that liner, and the filth is easily lifted and taken away.

Lady of McCamley

I like that idea a lot....I have to use a sawed off hoe to scrape my floors.

 

[bramblefir]

After we put Eunice back on her nest from her prolonged broody break, she then sat on her nest for two days straight. It was very clear that she wasn't getting up at all. I gently lifted her off the nest yesterday and she proceeded to scarf down a ton of food and water before hobbling back to the nest.

While she was off I counted the eggs, 17, and candled them. There appears to be very good development in all of them, although the unmarked eggs are 2-3 days behind. I do have an incubator handy to take care of them if need be.

 

[fisherlady]

We had 2 more hens hatch yesterday and overnight last night, I think they both have either 7 or 8, Lacey has 7 that we have seen, and Rosie has 6 I have seen but I found more egg shells, so probably more chicks that just haven't shown yet. Lacey is much better about being social than Rosie, so only have pics of her brood so far.





I was amazed at how mobile these little ones were already, and the coop was around 25*F but they were still buzzing around quite willingly, even if only for a few minutes at a time.
I will have some more pics tomorrow, they are on my phone and I need to upload them yet.
The 3 hens who hatched the last week of January are in the main coop with the general population full time now. They are nesting in a quiet corner yet, but I have seen one of the hens already up on the roost shelves showing the little ones around during the day, so I think they will be moving up to shelves in the near future.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

We had 2 more hens hatch yesterday and overnight last night, I think they both have either 7 or 8, Lacey has 7 that we have seen, and Rosie has 6 I have seen but I found more egg shells, so probably more chicks that just haven't shown yet. Lacey is much better about being social than Rosie, so only have pics of her brood so far.





I was amazed at how mobile these little ones were already, and the coop was around 25*F but they were still buzzing around quite willingly, even if only for a few minutes at a time.
I will have some more pics tomorrow, they are on my phone and I need to upload them yet.
The 3 hens who hatched the last week of January are in the main coop with the general population full time now. They are nesting in a quiet corner yet, but I have seen one of the hens already up on the roost shelves showing the little ones around during the day, so I think they will be moving up to shelves in the near future.

Always good to see updates of your broody endeavors...things are really perking around your place!

LOVE the first hen's expression! (EDITED to add: You should keep that for next year's broody hen photo contest!)

I'm on week 1...candled and 2 Isbar show development, 1 Isbar I don't think is developing, but hard to see in the green shell. Really can't see much in the Marans eggs (Olive Egger of Isbar roo over Cuckoo Marans hens)...these are especially dense so I may just have to wait to see what I get. I won't be candling again as with the denser shells (and being too cheap and lazy to set up a really expensive or quality candling method), I know I won't see anything later.

Fun, fun, fun to see your broods.
LofMc

 

[vpatt]

We had 2 more hens hatch yesterday and overnight last night, I think they both have either 7 or 8, Lacey has 7 that we have seen, and Rosie has 6 I have seen but I found more egg shells, so probably more chicks that just haven't shown yet. Lacey is much better about being social than Rosie, so only have pics of her brood so far. I was amazed at how mobile these little ones were already, and the coop was around 25*F but they were still buzzing around quite willingly, even if only for a few minutes at a time. I will have some more pics tomorrow, they are on my phone and I need to upload them yet. The 3 hens who hatched the last week of January are in the main coop with the general population full time now. They are nesting in a quiet corner yet, but I have seen one of the hens already up on the roost shelves showing the little ones around during the day, so I think they will be moving up to shelves in the near future.

Oh my goodness...they are so cute and I agree ...love mama's expression.

 

[poodlechicks]

I keep coming here to get my fix of cuteness. Those fuzzy little things warm my heart during these frigid days.