Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[saltandpepper2]

What is chick saver, or sulmet?

Chick saver is an electrolyte mixture to boost the energy level and immune system. If I'm not mistaken, sulmet is a medicine for cocci, hard on the birds system, but works like a charm

 

[fisherlady]

Well...I went in this morning to toss the 3 Isbar eggs that are under my bantam Cochin Rosie as there were no signs of any hatching or movement as of the end of day 22, last night, and since today was day 23, I figured my Isbar project was a total bust again...BUT low and behold when I set momma aside to get the eggs, I pick up an egg and hear chirping...then see another pipping and zipping. OOOOppps....placed momma back down gently and quickly and let her do her stuff! Darn...hate it when I interrupt things like that...but it so looked like NOTHING was going on when I finally checked at the end of day 22.

Had a busy day away from the house today and came back this evening...one chick was sounding loudly under momma but another was sadly chilled and gasping its last breath outside of momma with the atypical swollen legs and tummy of beginning omphalitis.

So....I've revived that one under warm running water and eye droppered it with Chick Saver and Sulmet and have placed it in my mini ICU incubator...I've had good luck with this process with my Buckeyes and rescued 2 that way....good news it is now lifting its head and chirping pretty loudly.

Hopefully with continued eye dropper I'll have at least 2 Isbars hatched...no idea of the third one as I did not lift momma to check anything again. I was afraid I might have messed up stuff this morning in my haste....wow, I was really convinced NOTHING had been happening...they looked like total duds....candling was no good as these are thick vibrant blue green eggs (I hate trying to candle blue green eggs...the shell is so dense).

So, I think I've got 2 Isbars...morning will let me know if I have 3.

LofMc

fingers crossed that both he sick one and the last egg do well for you!!

 

[Shahann]

Three eggs hatched yesterday. Four more hatched over night. (Actually another hatched, but that chick did not make it.) One is piping now. One is still rockin' no rolling. I now know that I put too many eggs under my Americanua hen... but did I? I gave her 15 eggs. Can't wait to see what today brings. A couple of the chicks are eating already!!! Way too exciting. I do have to try to not mess with them so much, but it's soooo hard!

I LOVE how they are all so uniquely colored!!!






Yesterday after all my research I set seven eggs under a different broody Americanua.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Nursery/Infirmary: Sad story. Tuesday, I let my big flock free range as usual during the day and I came home to a dead hen in the back yard and 4 missing hens (out of a flock of 13 hens and a roo). My roo was looking a bit sad, as well, missing tail feathers, but otherwise acting normally. Taking a closer look at the dead hen, I figured the culprit was either a dog(s) or coyotes because it had a couple puncture wounds and a broken neck. We don't have too many other large predators in the area, though recently there have been reports of cougar and black bear sightings, they are more rare. Well, after about 45 minutes of being home a straggler buff came running home. She must have been hiding somewhere and she looked a little ruffled, but was running back to the coop ok. Wednesday, I came home from work midday and peeked into the coop (I didn't let the girls free-range, they were run/coop-bound) and I saw my buff looking really droopy and still on the roost. I didn't have anywhere set up at the moment where I could move her and I didn't have any first aid items on me, so I let her stay until I went back to work and was able to pick up supplies on my way home. I fixed up a contained corner of my pole barn for her with a heat lamp, bedding, food and water. Now I do think she and the others were attacked by coyotes, even though it was the middle of the day, because something came back in the middle of the next night and then again at dawn, which set my dogs off. I also think I've heard a coyote yipping nearby in the middle of the day (I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a coyote or puppy yipping, but my dogs bark at other dogs and howl in response to coyotes, so I'm going by their response). I'm going to have to figure out some safer pasture methods... At the same time, my little silkie hen (I have 2, but the other is just barely starting to lay) went broody. I've never raised chicks as I inherited these 2 flocks when I bought my house this winter (hence being unprepared for treating injuries), but since I just lost 3 hens, I decided to give her a few eggs. This is the second time she's been broody this spring. The first time I let her sit on her own egg, but she only sat for 2 weeks. I left her in the silkie flock (2 hens and 2 roos that were raised together), but the egg disappeared, so I don't know if someone ate it. This time I decided to move her to a makeshift nest also in the corner of my pole barn, hoping things will work out better. I didn't have any of her eggs ready for her (I would like more silkies), so I decided to give her the 4 cleanest eggs from the main flock from that day since I just lost 4 hens. I don't know which ones come from which hens, but they will be at least 50% RIR x whatever the hen was (I think I have buff orpingtons, silver-laced wyandottes, RIR's, and maybe Sussex (only 1 of 4 left...). I hope I'm not making a mistake trying to heal my buff and give my silkie some semi-privacy in the same space, but I'm a bit limited. The make-shift nest 24 hours after the attack (the red is iodine on the cuts on her back) This evening, I think she's starting to bounce back I'm not sure how long I should keep her in with my broody or when I can move her back into her flock...

I would say as long as they are not squabbling, as long as they need! I had a fox attack my BR last year, and she had a nasty puncture wound. She has recovered beautifully. There is hope!

Well...I went in this morning to toss the 3 Isbar eggs that are under my bantam Cochin Rosie as there were no signs of any hatching or movement as of the end of day 22, last night, and since today was day 23, I figured my Isbar project was a total bust again...BUT low and behold when I set momma aside to get the eggs, I pick up an egg and hear chirping...then see another pipping and zipping. OOOOppps....placed momma back down gently and quickly and let her do her stuff! Darn...hate it when I interrupt things like that...but it so looked like NOTHING was going on when I finally checked at the end of day 22. Had a busy day away from the house today and came back this evening...one chick was sounding loudly under momma but another was sadly chilled and gasping its last breath outside of momma with the atypical swollen legs and tummy of beginning omphalitis. So....I've revived that one under warm running water and eye droppered it with Chick Saver and Sulmet and have placed it in my mini ICU incubator...I've had good luck with this process with my Buckeyes and rescued 2 that way....good news it is now lifting its head and chirping pretty loudly. Hopefully with continued eye dropper I'll have at least 2 Isbars hatched...no idea of the third one as I did not lift momma to check anything again. I was afraid I might have messed up stuff this morning in my haste....wow, I was really convinced NOTHING had been happening...they looked like total duds....candling was no good as these are thick vibrant blue green eggs (I hate trying to candle blue green eggs...the shell is so dense). So, I think I've got 2 Isbars...morning will let me know if I have 3. LofMc

Wow, it's amzing how nature works. We always think we know better. Hoping your little chick pulls through! Please keep us updated....

 

[beckybsc]

I am super new to the whole broody thing I have a cochin mix bantam and a naked neck bantam I used to have 15 all together motly all being bard rocks but a fox attack left me with the two bantams and of course they went broody .. My neighbor down the road gave me 6 easter egger furtile eggs and 6 golden comet eggs soo here's hoping now is 6 full sized eggs each too much for my bantams? When I go check they seem to have them all coverd up so maybe not?

 

[emmyeagle]

I have my first broody hen. Hatch date is about Wednesday. I can't wait! She's got 6 ee eggs and 1 of hers(BR). Going to move her whole nest box this afternoon. Haven't had a chance to do it earlier. Will they be ok with the move?

 

[Majd]

I'm on my phone. How can i post pics??

 

[fisherlady]

I have my first broody hen. Hatch date is about Wednesday. I can't wait! She's got 6 ee eggs and 1 of hers(BR). Going to move her whole nest box this afternoon. Haven't had a chance to do it earlier. Will they be ok with the move?

If they are so close to hatch I would not move her unless there is a problem with other birds interfering... she can easily be moved after hatching since the chicks rarely roam much the first day. her nest can be blocked with hardware cloth on hatch day if you are worried about chicks falling out of it. If you do need to move her I would do it when it is dark and quiet and hopefully keep her area dim for a while after the move. Watch her closely though because if she freaks too bad she could scatter the nest and eggs.

 

[Majd]

Hey just found this thread... Haven't been active for a while.. I always hatch my chicks with my flock's girls... We've always done that and never had an incubator... All natiral... And as usual this spring we had many pullets from last season go broody... One of them hatched 9(wich is bad for us lol), the other hatched thirteen(not bad), and the most recent harched 14 and one died, so 13....
I wrote this post thinking i would share the story of my most recent broody. She's a true fighter. First of all i wnat to introduce my lovely hen: Elma. When she was a young girl, she went broody and hatched out some 18 chicks or so (I can't remember that was 8 years ago or so. Yep. I was like 10 or 11)... Anyways she was a great mommy and raised them all to adulthood... And ever since she never went broody again... But never stopped laying her beautiful white rounded eggs... Even through her 8th birthday (wich is this spring)... She is soooo sweet, my favourite of the whole flock... So this season she started laying in the spring as usual(although she used to lay through winter) and then gradually began clucking like broodies do, but still continuing to lay... Until suddenly she went full broody and was very determined to become a mom... We were soo surprised and quite happy for her... But we didn't her to go through the stress of broodyness... So we put her in a wire cage to break her broodiness about tow weeks ago... On the first day all went well but she was still broody, the second and third day the same... On the fourth day one of my family members forgot to move her cage to the shade, and the temperature was about 40 degrees celcius... (A heat storm) so when i went back home there i found her... She was suffering a heat strole... Her body was boiling... She looked like an old man just had a heart attack and a stroke at the same time... She was upside down he leggs very stiff and could barely breath... I quickly took her home and put her in tap water... The water quickly turned hot.... I changed it over and over but her body wasn't cooling quickly enough... So i quickly grabbed an ice water bottle from the fridge and startied washing her with that water... And quickly enough she started shaking from the cold, i was a bit relieved by then...then i grabbed a paper towel and dried her well... She seemed relieved but couldn't express it because she was still looking like hrandpa just had a stroke.... Poor girl... I made her a deep comfortable nest is a box line with towels and put her in for the noght.... She put her head on the edge and closed her eyes and was making a snoring sound... She was in deeeesp sleep... Like when you come back from camping and take a shower and go to sleep... I wasn't sure she was gonna make it .... Oh and i gave her plenty of water directly in the mouth and the tight dose of panamax and some food... The next morning the family let the flock out so i went to the coop thinking that I'm gonna have to barry her... But she was nowhere to be found... Wow did she get better that quick? Did she die and noone told me? I wnet back out and there she was preening herself like nothing ever happened last night... I was like this is a miracle... And guess what... Yes she was still broody!!! That day she didn't seemed broody anymore because she didn't go to her nest but was still clucking... She toon that day off to recover fully( smart girl) the next day arroung noon she was back in her mest box!!?!?! Let me tell you thata traditional way to break a broody 100% percent is to dip her chest area in some cold water well.. And it always works wonders... This girl had a good 15 mins taking a cold baths with ice cold water from had to toe , she's 8 years old... And guess what she still wanted to be a moma! So the next day when she was still determined... I felt so heartbroken for her and grabbed 18 of out eggs(shes a chibby girl) and she readily took them in her nest made especially for her needs... Now she's been sitting for three days... I take her out once daily and give her treats as much as possible throughout the day... And make sure all is going smoothly... She looks at me soo cutely beeing so grateful and so happy... I can tell from her face... Hoping all goes well for her....
By the way... 8 years is not veey old here... In the US maybe... But not here... Our chickens live an average of 12/13 years strong... And laying during the teens is not far from reality... And 18 eggs are not too much on her i promise... She can hold more.... Our chickens are all mutts from the areas old generic pool (except for a few red sex links that we have)... This is just for you to understand the situation more... And we've had chickens like forever... It's part of our lifestyle in the countryside...
I will post pics soon if you guys are interested... Sorry it was so long!
And happy natiral hatching

Here are some pics from today:

 

[Majd]

Its not working!!!!!