Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[MelissaZeno]

I have a hen that has 6 eggs under her and one chick hatched sometime in the morning and on in the late afternoon. I'm so excited and can't wait to see the rest.

 

[sktlmt]

It has been a rough week. I had a broody hen sitting on what I thought was 16 eggs. A friend marked them. When I moved her inside due to heat there was an extra egg. I figured it was at least 10-14 days away from hatching and the others in the nest were due to hatch in a couple days. I put the random egg under another broody and it hatched a couple days later and all I found was the shell. UGH!!

The other broody Pip hatched out 13 of the 16 eggs. She has been good to the babies and a psycho ***** to me. I try to put food in the box and she attacks my hand then jumps out of the box and attacks my feet. I can reach in and pick up the chicks and she is fine with that. but food and water she goes ballistic. My last broody was the opposite. food and water she was calm with if i tried to touch the babies she would attack my hand. Then again she is psycho in her daily life!

 

[MelissaZeno]

We just found an egg under my broody hen and she had stepped on it. The chick had peeped and had its beak out. it is still breathing but it hasn't absorbed all of the yolk. Is there any way to save this chick? The entire shell was broken and I helped it out of the sack but I don't know what to do now, Should I put it back under the hen?

 

[sktlmt]

We just found an egg under my broody hen and she had stepped on it. The chick had peeped and had its beak out. it is still breathing but it hasn't absorbed all of the yolk. Is there any way to save this chick? The entire shell was broken and I helped it out of the sack but I don't know what to do now, Should I put it back under the hen?

How is your chick doing? What did you end up doing? I would have kept the chick warm on a heat pack until the incubator warmed up. I would be afraid the hen would crush the chick.

 

[kilby]

How is your chick doing? What did you end up doing? I would have kept the chick warm on a heat pack until the incubator warmed up. I would be afraid the hen would crush the chick.

Ditto everybody. Can't seem to say this enough, protect the chick from your hen. She is liable to kill it because it has small chance to survive her/his condition even though it could be fine in your capable hands. ie buy an incubator or fix one out of heat lamp and box.

 

[kilby]

It has been a rough week. I had a broody hen sitting on what I thought was 16 eggs. A friend marked them. When I moved her inside due to heat there was an extra egg. I figured it was at least 10-14 days away from hatching and the others in the nest were due to hatch in a couple days. I put the random egg under another broody and it hatched a couple days later and all I found was the shell. UGH!!

The other broody Pip hatched out 13 of the 16 eggs. She has been good to the babies and a psycho ***** to me. I try to put food in the box and she attacks my hand then jumps out of the box and attacks my feet. I can reach in and pick up the chicks and she is fine with that. but food and water she goes ballistic. My last broody was the opposite. food and water she was calm with if i tried to touch the babies she would attack my hand. Then again she is psycho in her daily life!

 

[Faraday40]

The results are in:
Our DD was awarded Best in Show for her poultry science experiment. She is beyond excited!


This year's project was to compare hatch rates of a broody hen to an incubator. The results: INCONCLUSIVE. Although she was not happy with the results she got, I told her she must accurately explain what happened & not force her results one way or another. Each trial, the eggs were fresh from the same sources.

Trial 1: Not really a trial.... The broody gave up the day before we were going to buy the fertile eggs. The incubator won b/c the broody had 0%.
Trial 2: Both got 86% when rounded, so it was a tie.
Trial 3: Surprisingly, the same broody wanted another round! Just picked up some local eggs, since we were not planning on a 3rd opportunity. Although we normally get 85-95% hatch rates in the incubator, for some reason only 54%. The broody won trial 3 with 86%.

If she averaged everything together, the incubator would win. (The busted broody in trial 1 doomed her results with 0%.) If DD didn't count trial 1 - since it never really started - then the broody would, but would the test be fair? Instead DD compared some of the Pros & Cons of each method. She liked how easy the care was for broody group & how there were no transition issues for the chicks. She also liked how many eggs could fit in the incubator & how the chicks imprinted on her. Of course she didn't like Mom always telling her to clean, water, feed the multiple brooders.

I'd love to continue this exp & have more trials, but what would I do with all the chicks?!!

In the end, she was awarded Best in Show for "Animal Science." (2nd year in a row)
And, she already has her project idea for next year.


Here's Cookie - our 3X broody volunteer.



Another chicken-related project (Nature art) won a class champion ribbon. She collected these feathers during molts throughout the year.


She entered & won other prizes but I won't bore you with all the non-chicken related stories.

 

[newchickincoop]

Hi I'm having my first hatch started last Friday seven days ago with my hand and it's her first hatch she just hatched another one last night how do I know if the egg she's sitting on her still viable it seems like a long duration between but she hasn't stopped sitting on them

 

[kilby]

Hi I'm having my first hatch started last Friday seven days ago with my hand and it's her first hatch she just hatched another one last night how do I know if the egg she's sitting on her still viable it seems like a long duration between but she hasn't stopped sitting on them

Did you mark the dates for each egg. That would seem to be the easiest way. Second, it could take a week longer if temp and humidity was not constant. I would just do every thing possible to let it hatch on its own. I had one this year that i thought would have hatched and I thought I would help it. I guess the previous broody could have been off it longer than I thought. She survived just 3 days. She still had the attachment to the yolk on her belly I guess forming a scab.

 

[Stacyc]

So excited! My first broody hen. Went and bought 9 fertile eggs, placed them under her and behold! 20-21 days later three have hatched so far. Lost two during her extensive sit, still waiting on the rest. Once all hatched I will move her to her own private space, still visible to all but no one can get to her. I tried to move her when she went broody, she was having none of that, I didn't have enough bricks to hold the screen in front of nest so I just kept her in the big coop, stapled up a dark screen so the others will stop staring at her and not be to curious in the little peeps.