Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[sssharon]

I'm so happy to hear that your Broody is accepting her chick now. Is so much fun to watch them in action.

 

[chickchoon1]

10:30 pm and am sad. The 1/2 chick is still 1/2(since a.m.) and I pulled a small amount of remaining shell/membrane away and seems to be dead but....I will leave with her and try not to dwell on it. Others look well(and, of course, very adorable) so will say a prayer and hope the other eggs will do ok(if viable) Mama BO is doing great.

 

[sssharon]

Thanks chicken lady 2014!

 

[sssharon]

Sorry about your chick,hope the others do well.

 

[chickchoon1]

Well, was exhausted yesterday and miscounted(anything over 2 can confuse me when tired!!) so have THREE live chicks. few more eggs remaining and I will just leave them with her for a few days. All the little faces were peeking out from under Mom and they were pecking my fingers. Have to get chick feed today and get feeders in correct position. It was only 45 degrees this morning but Mom was toastie. Their outside run isn't open to them yet and I have to de-weed a bit but at least I have correct fencing up to keep the kids from escaping. I have dog panels around their area and past chicks would go thru and mama would jump out to take them all over yard. 1 kid is solid black with black beak/dark legs.

 

[Faraday40]

DD's project this year is to compare hatching with broody vs. incubator. We love watching our Cookie (brood) with her chicks. She calls & they come running from all over the coop to gather around her.

Well DD found a new game to play. She puts one chick from the incubator lot on the ground in the living room & walks to the kitchen making the quick broody bawking call. She gets a secret little thrill as the chick comes running for its "mommy." She has even started playing "Hide & Seek" by going behind the sofa or around the corner & calling out. If a dog or little brother comes near, she snatches up the chick & makes a defensive broody growl. I don't know which is more funny: A chick tagging after a little girl or DD's chicken imitations. Just thought I'd share my amusement of the day.

 

[fisherlady]

DD's project this year is to compare hatching with broody vs. incubator. We love watching our Cookie (brood) with her chicks. She calls & they come running from all over the coop to gather around her.

Well DD found a new game to play. She puts one chick from the incubator lot on the ground in the living room & walks to the kitchen making the quick broody bawking call. She gets a secret little thrill as the chick comes running for its "mommy." She has even started playing "Hide & Seek" by going behind the sofa or around the corner & calling out. If a dog or little brother comes near, she snatches up the chick & makes a defensive broody growl. I don't know which is more funny: A chick tagging after a little girl or DD's chicken imitations. Just thought I'd share my amusement of the day.

It is fun playing 'broody' with chicks.... and it is amazing how quickly they will accept humans behaving that way. We had a problem hatch chick which was a pretty sad state for the first week or two. We routinely imitated noises we heard the broodies use when showing things to their little ones when we were trying to teach him to forage and even when first teaching him to eat and drink.

We found tapping something with our finger and making a soft 'took, took, took' sound he seemed to understand it meant something edible. We brought the runt of the broody's remaining chicks (Watson) into the house after day 5 to be a companion for the little one (Sherlock) and since Watson was used to foraging already with her broody mama and responding to the vocalizations it helped further Sherlock's teaching. In no time I could call them to anywhere I wanted with a simple tap of the finger on a surface and get Sherlock to eat (or at least try) any new foods simply by tapping the dish and 'took, tooking' for him. Sherlock now loves to forage for seeds and will come running to his name even... and Watson responds to her name also, which has been a fun thing to see.

Sherlock and Watson are both now out in the coop with the rest of the teenagers but any time I am outside working around their area I have a bird attached at my ankle... little Sherlock is very, very attached to humans and wants picked up and carried around anytime a human is nearby. Strange behavior for a chicken but sort of understandable since his rough start. He even did the same for my Daughter-in-Law when they stopped to check on the birds when we were away last weekend.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

4 and 1/2 out of 9 hatched so she will have at least 5 kids.She is SO fluffed and watching. Hard job.

I love how they get all fluffed up! So awesome!

The egg is pipped!

Yay!

I'm going to join! We have had chickens for almost a year now and have learned a lot about raising and keeping layers and have started hatching now with broodies and the bator!! I do have 2 broodies sitting on eggs. 1 has 7 chicken eggs the other has 5 Pekind duck eggs. And have many more hens making the "broody cluck".

I love that noise, I hear my one hen making it about a week or so ago, and I thought maybe it was just my imagination. By Wednesday, she was set on the nest! And by Friday, I had gotten her fertile eggs.

It hatched! My broody has a chick!

Yay! She must be very proud.

DD's project this year is to compare hatching with broody vs. incubator.  We love watching our Cookie (brood) with her chicks.  She calls & they come running from all over the coop to gather around her.  

Well DD found a new game to play.  She puts one chick from the incubator lot on the ground in the living room & walks to the kitchen making the quick broody bawking call.  She gets a secret little thrill as the chick comes running for its "mommy." She has even started playing "Hide & Seek" by going behind the sofa or around the corner & calling out.  If a dog or little brother comes near, she snatches up the chick & makes a defensive broody growl.  I don't know which is more funny: A chick tagging after a little girl or DD's chicken imitations.  Just thought I'd share my amusement of the day.

That is awesome! Who needs video games when you can play with baby chicks?

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

I think someone should invent a nesting box with a clear (maybe lucite) bottom, so you can see what's going on when the chicks hatch, and how the mama hen manages them throughout the process.

 

[holm25]

I think someone should invent a nesting box with a clear (maybe lucite) bottom, so you can see what's going on when the chicks hatch, and how the mama hen manages them throughout the process.

Hmmm. It might be time to start experimenting!!