Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[fisherlady]

Well...the Isbar eggs and the last OE egg have no signs...day 22....sigh. I candled the Isbar eggs, and one looks full, and I *think* I felt something in it, pretty sure a peck...the other one was less full, the third one pretty sure is a dud. DIdn't bother with the OE as it is so dark.

Well...only one chick hatched, a penguin OE...and very healthy...still in total snuggle mode...and mom is still sitting tight...now what to do....I am hoping the one Isbar will hatch by tomorrow, but am not overly hopeful. Bummer.

So I've got a very tight window...I plan to put a call into my favorite feed store today to see what they've got by way of very young chicks and if nothing is showing by tomorrow morning, try to sneak in a foster tomorrow am.

I had noticed the Isbar seemed slower in development than textbook charts. I may put them in an incubator to see if they are simply just very slow. I have read some breeders have had problems with Isbar failed hatches. Hmmmmm.

News tomorrow.

Lady of McCamley

Sorry you didn't have a better hatch percentage.....

I am not familiar with the Isbars, but in this cold weather almost any hatching eggs are a real gamble unless you are gathering eggs every hour or two! I'm sure you will do fine with the chick you are getting to graft, it will be good for you to see how the new Queen does with the chicks!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Sorry you didn't have a better hatch percentage.....

I am not familiar with the Isbars, but in this cold weather almost any hatching eggs are a real gamble unless you are gathering eggs every hour or two! I'm sure you will do fine with the chick you are getting to graft, it will be good for you to see how the new Queen does with the chicks!

Thanks...yes this cold weather is playing havoc on everything.

Called my favorite store, nothing I wanted, so I called a big chain and they had JUST gotten in a batch of chicks. I ran down and got 1 California Grey, a breed I've been wanting for white egg layer (to offset those dark Marans eggs in the carton as my white layer is aging).

I only got the one as my luck I'll have 4 new hatched tomorrow if I don't think I will...worse case the lonely only has a friend now.

This little chick peeped loudly all the way home...I droppered some vitamins/electrolytes into it, then immediately stuffed it under the Queen Mum (which it is 8pm now so very dark)...who didn't budge. Foster stayed put and stopped cheeping...so far so good. I'll check later.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have the OE and the California Grey best of buds and if very, very lucky 1 Isbar.

Queen Mum has been exemplary through the brooding phase, so I'm sure it was cold eggs from the breeder or just bum luck...or maybe slow hatchers.

Updates tomorrow.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Update for this thread:

Good news...the foster California Grey is alive and well this morning and seems to have bonded with the Queen Mum. It is acting mostly like a good little chick...still shy, which I find most of my fosters are the first day or two, and hesitant around the more boisterous hatchling, but very much alive and well and eager to go back under mum when cold. Yay! Victory there thus far.

Bad news...NONE of the other eggs have any sign of pipping or movement in candling....My personal experience has been if they haven't hatched by end of day 23, they won't. This is now the start of day 24. Not looking good for those Isbars. Boo. I really wanted some of them. I put the two most likely in the incubator, and left the two least likely with the hen so it won't be a loss when she abandons the nest for the 2 live chicks.

I also noted a new trick I will use when fostering...at least with this hen, and I suspicion with others this was my issue too...when I took the eggs away to candle this morning, momma immediately got up and started scratching and fussing with the babies. When I put 2 eggs back into the nest, she immediately sat back down and the babies ran under to snuggle.

I know many of you plunk fosters down and have immediate success with no fuss, but I've had troubles with feed store fosters not bonding well with momma and getting chilled, especially once she is up and about with the hatchlings, who have adapted to the colder environment already and are quite boisterous...I think I will be sure to leave eggs down to tempt momma to sit as long as possible after hatching so that the fosters get a little more nest time as they adjust to the temperature difference. A day can make a big difference.

I also had the luck that this California Grey had just arrived mid afternoon and had just gone into the heat lamp bins...I don't think it had fully imprinted to go to a heat lamp but was still in "dog pile" mentality.

Keeping my fingers crossed that at least I will have a female OE and female California Grey ( that one is 90% chance as hatchery sexed)....and long, long shot that the incubator will produce an Isbar for me.

Lady of McCamley

The California Grey foster (left) and OE hatchling (right)

 

[Lady of McCamley]

We built an additional brooder and moved it into the chicken room. I was able to move Dahlia and her nest into it without disturbing her. Hers are due to hatch in week.

Nice set up. One thought, possible observation. It looks like you've got some sort of liner down...is that a fabric type thing? Soft but not such that the chicks can catch their toenails?

New chicks need secure footing or they can develop splaying of the toes. You would not want them on any surface that is slippery or very uneven, or where they could hang up toes. Generally shavings/sawdust or sand or dirt is best.

Momma looks like she's adapted very nicely. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good hatch

Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

That is very good info, thanks for that post fisherlady! I have a question that sort of builds on the foster mom discussion. I have 2 hens that are sitting on 9 eggs total, all 9 are due to hatch on the same day in approximately 2 weeks. I am letting the hens hatch from the nests in the coop, though I will probably build a little "chick corral" once they hatch to give the moms and chicks some private space. This is where my question comes in. I am going to have a number of chicks of the same age and 2 momma hens, and was planning on having them all in the same area. Will this work? Will one of the moms steal all of the chicks? Should I be prepared to have separate areas for each mom?

Fisherlady will have better info on this as she is more experienced at communal brooding than I am...but I can answer that it all depends on the hens.

Some hens communal brood like loving sisters, and it is a joy to watch.

Some hens brood like feuding sisters, and well, that's not such a joy to watch as one steals the others chicks or is aggressive to the other hen and babies get tromped in the struggles.

As is common with most things chicken, you can try it but watch closely and have a plan B.

If the hens were friends before, chances are better that they will brood well together. If they are just flock members, especially of different pecking order status, chances are things won't go smoothly.

I personally did not do well with a banty and LF trying to co-brood; I had to separate as the LF made life miserable for the banty. However, a different LF hen seemed more stoic with my faithful Silkie banty, and while not lovingly co-brooding, at least they kept to their different corners well. I am attempting to create a good co-brood situation with my 2 bantam Cochin sisters who I have bought as young pullets and are being raised together on a single side of my brooder hutch. When one goes broody chances are the other will too, and I hope they will co-brood nicely.

My thoughts.
Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Aw Crap! Darn that chicken math! So I made the mistake of going to the local feed store to get some pasture fertilizer, and left with 3 chicks. So now I have to figure out where to put them. Right now they are in a large tote all warm and cozy under a heat lamp. I tried to put them with my broody mama that has chicks the same age of less than a week but even with me being sneaky and waiting until it was dark and throwing them under her and whatnot like I have read to do. She figured out that she had intruders in her midst. A couple hours later after she did fine for a while. I found the new chicks in a corner staying away from her because she was trying to pick at them, in a way that made me worry she would hurt them and she obviously wanted them gone. So that option is out.

Thankfully I still have 2 options left: I can keep them on their own. Or I have another broody hen that has been brooding as long as my mama hen, she has ripped out all her chest feathers, and when I get her down everyday to go eat scratch with the others she lays there on the ground like she is ****** that I picked her off the nest. She is a Buff Orpington and so I am thinking that she may be the perfect adoptive mother. I have her sitting on some fake eggs right now. So this is uncharted territory for me so please let me know if I am on the right track or not.

I am going to put her in the crate and cover it so it is dark, and let her sit in there for tonight and through until tomorrow night. Tomorrow night I am thinking of sneaking the chicks under her and seeing what she does. My question is, since my coop is cold at night (getting around 25-30 degrees at night) do I put a heat lamp above the crate for the first night or so? Or will that ruin them wanting to be under mama? Or should I not put the crate in the coop, and put it somewhere warmer at first? This crate is a wire one all the way around, not solid anywhere and is made for an XL dog so it is good size, and I would put a blanket, or wood or something over it to keep it darker and keep the other hens from roosting on top. Any advice on grafting chicks to a hen are welcome!

Yeah, that dang chicken math hits every time.

Your first momma is too far into hatchling mode to accept new chicks...while some mommas seem to have "the more the merrier," most view new chicks as intruders after they've got their clutch up and scratching. It is usually a very narrow window for adding fosters...at least with my broodies. I've yet to get one that is like your big Aunt Martha who can never have too many kids.

Now for the Buff Orp. I lost how long your Buff Orp has been sitting...she sounds like she is in a deep brood, so it is worth a try....but leave a couple of the fake eggs down so that she is still sitting when you place the chicks under her as fosters need some extended snuggle time to acclimate to the cold. If you read back a few posts, Fisherlady gave an excellent overview of the brooding/hatching/mothering process. You are attempting to add chicks without the hen having experienced the hatching process, especially a first time broody? That can be trickier as many first timers almost freak out the first time they feel hatching going on down below.
One poor gal looked like she was going to jump out of her feathers, but her instincts told her to stay put, and stay put she did...albeit with great trepidation.

You are also fostering feed store chicks which have acclimated to heat lamps and imprinted on that as the method of comfort. I would get those new chicks under a broody asap as you are pushing the bonding time for them. Generally the first few days is by far the best. By the end of week 1 it is much harder for the chicks to imprint with a hen, but it is possible. By the end of week 2, much much harder and I had foster losses. By week 4, it was impossible for me to get a sulky broody to huddle a bit with older chicks after their mother fledged them in cold weather.

Those are some thoughts. Try and watch. Keep us posted especially as to any lessons you've learned as to what worked or didn't.
Lady of McCamley

 

[aatx]

Nice set up.  One thought, possible observation. It looks like you've got some sort of liner down...is that a fabric type thing? Soft but not such that the chicks can catch their toenails?

New chicks need secure footing or they can develop splaying of the toes. You would not want them on any surface that is slippery or very uneven, or where they could hang up toes. Generally shavings/sawdust or sand or dirt is best.

Momma looks like she's adapted very nicely. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good hatch 

Lady of McCamley

Only has a layer of puppy pads in it now. I'll cover with paper towels the first few days and then add in the shavings. Nothing is set up for the chicks now - just for the broody. The large white board on the bottom is just protecting my floor. I need to get some more bricks added, but my brick pile is currently iced over.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Double post for my friends on this thread..

Went out to check on chicks and feed some treats to the hens, who of course came to greet me in the yard.

Guess WHO else came to greet me...yup...the little foster California Grey.

This little guy had to first get out of the left broody hutch (figured out the hole it used and plugged it), then drop 3 1/2 feet into the broody run, then squeeze through some hole in the chicken wire, then waddle around into the main side yard, then come and greet me with the rest of the chickens.

Good news, the chick apparently knows to go to the person. Bad news...good GRIEF stick with the hen!!!

Of course the hatchling is a good little chick snug up with momma...this foster...why not see the world...I've been across country already.

Thankfully today is a spring like day around 60 to 65 degrees, so while chilled, and a little wobbly from its journey, and thirsty (did a face plant), even a little hungry, but no apparent permanent harm.

Stuffed him back under Momma and waited. Seemed to stick, but is chirping madly. Momma is clucking comfort to it. Hopefully it will figure out to obey her and stick close.

I have had serious issues with fosters figuring out to bond with the hen. I NEVER have these issues with new broody hatchlings...they don't tend to wander until about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks when they get wing feathers.

I will stay on careful watch throughout today. If need be, I will put another board up to keep hen/chicks confined in just the nest box for 24 hours in hopes foster loses the wanderlust.

LofMc

 

[KrystalRose]

Well, since we are getting a cold snap getting to 18-20 degrees at night, we put the dog crate with potential mama in the room where my other broody mama and chicks are, they also have their own area and are not right next to each other. Potential mama has adjusted to the crate and new nest and is sitting on her eggs still, but when the other mom and chicks get up and the chicks are all chirping she starts trying to talk to them, like saying "hey get over here, I will take care of you". So wish me well tonight when I do my foster kids intro after dark. A part of me wants to see if she will take them in the daytime, as I have read some people have had luck with this. But I am afraid if she doesn't like them and then the tonight attempt will be useless.

When I let her out today to scratch with the other hens, she walked around half the time puffed up wings out like a turkey does, like she was imagining chicks under her. I really really hope this translates to her being a good foster mom.

By the way she has been broody for about a month. And good idea of keeping the eggs under her for the first little while to encourage her to sit longer. And hopefully she wont freak out feeling movement under her for the first time. Thankfully, I think, the feed store used a low hanging type radiant heater for the chicks, so I think they still have the instinct to get under the dark warm area.

Thanks for the replies and advice!

 

[Guitar Girl]

How's the hatching going this year, for everyone?