Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[kilby]

Hey I have 2 eggs under my Rhode Island and she lives on her own (her friend died) I will she be ok to live with her chicks for the rest of her life or will I have to separate them

I think you will be fine. If you get a rooster you can always make more little monsters.

 

[Desert Chick3ns]

Hey I have 2 eggs under my Rhode Island and she lives on her own (her friend died) I will she be ok to live with her chicks for the rest of her life or will I have to separate them

I think your hen will be fine, you will just have to watch her to see how she takes to the chicks. I have 2 RIRs and one recently went broody, so I put fertilized eggs under her (we had to slip in day old chicks because something went wrong with the eggs...but that's another story). She lived on that nest and wasn't really social with her sister that entire time. Once the chicks were there, she was so happy and focused on those chicks, that she still didn't socialize with the other RIR too much then either. Now that the chicks are 3 weeks old, the hens are happy to hang out together again. But...she is still mama hen! She loves those babies of hers, and I think if it was just her and the babies, she'd be just fine.

Good luck with your broody, and keep us posted! I love seeing mine with her babies!

 

[bbuubbles]

My 1st batch of hens are 14 months old. 1 went broody and sat on 9 eggs, not all her own. my girls lay in a community box. Their choice not mine. So after about what I thought 20 days I checked and there was a little black ball of fluff. I moved her on her nest into my original small coop because my husband found a dead chick outside of the run. We have 3 chicks from 9 eggs she abandoned the remaining eggs and they were cold so we disposed of them. She is doing great. My question is when will she start laying again? and I have another coop with 3 month old pullets, do I put her and babies with them or the adults? Thanks sooo much.

 

[sktlmt]

My 1st batch of hens are 14 months old. 1 went broody and sat on 9 eggs, not all her own. my girls lay in a community box. Their choice not mine. So after about what I thought 20 days I checked and there was a little black ball of fluff. I moved her on her nest into my original small coop because my husband found a dead chick outside of the run. We have 3 chicks from 9 eggs she abandoned the remaining eggs and they were cold so we disposed of them. She is doing great. My question is when will she start laying again? and I have another coop with 3 month old pullets, do I put her and babies with them or the adults? Thanks sooo much.

It all depends on the hen... I have one hen that will not lay an egg till her chicks are about 12 weeks and another hen that started laying when her chicks were 6 weeks. Both happened about the same time she cut them loose. Keep the chicks with Mama in the adult coop.

 

[Johnn]

Bella and baby having a look outside whilst I cleaned the shed out (baby makes so much mess!)

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Awesome pictures! What beautiful scenery you have there. Bella looks quite pleased with herself....

 

[bbuubbles]

It all depends on the hen... I have one hen that will not lay an egg till her chicks are about 12 weeks and another hen that started laying when her chicks were 6 weeks. Both happened about the same time she cut them loose. Keep the chicks with Mama in the adult coop.

Thanks
This has been a wonderful unexpected adventure. Yes I have boys and girls and know the out come but my girls were so uninterested in committing to this.

My daughter is in a 4-H livestock club and has decided next year these babies will be her project. start to finish.

 

[kilby]

My 1st batch of hens are 14 months old. 1 went broody and sat on 9 eggs, not all her own. my girls lay in a community box. Their choice not mine. So after about what I thought 20 days I checked and there was a little black ball of fluff. I moved her on her nest into my original small coop because my husband found a dead chick outside of the run. We have 3 chicks from 9 eggs she abandoned the remaining eggs and they were cold so we disposed of them. She is doing great. My question is when will she start laying again? and I have another coop with 3 month old pullets, do I put her and babies with them or the adults? Thanks sooo much.

If something can happen it will. Keep them protected. More than once here I have read that putting babies with anyone else is a bad idea. I wait 3 months although they are down with the flock or on the balcony in a pen before that. Hens were trying to fight with them through the wire cage. Thus the way I do it. I have a reflective bubble wrap to keep them in and sun and hens out. It is about five feet x three. Now it's there private feed area because I did not want other chickens eating their special grower feed. I let them eat for an hour or so depending on their activity and let them out, close the door until next time maybe two three times a day. I would have had them in a 8X10' fenced area that works great but I turned it into a garden. Chard and Zuchinni. I wish you good luck. my priority is saving all the hatched critters.

 

[breanna6627]

What if I want to put eggs under a hen, but it doesn't go broody? (My hens haven't even started laying yet)

I don't even have nesting boxes, (dont worry 2 month until they start laying)

 

[sktlmt]

What if I want to put eggs under a hen, but it doesn't go broody? (My hens haven't even started laying yet)

I don't even have nesting boxes, (dont worry 2 month until they start laying)

You can't make a hen go broody. You have to just wait for it to happen. Some of mine start acting broody starting around 8 months. Others it is over a year and 1 lovely hen is 3 and has never been broody. I started with 3 hens and now I have 42 chickens... I am still waiting to know for sure who is a boy and who is a girl.