Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[mayrooni]

my silkie went broody last week. can i still get eggs under her? how do i know that the eggs i give her are fertilized? i dont have enough roos to hens in my general flock to assume they are all fertilized. do i separate some? and how do i know that my matchup will reproduce well? i have a roo that looks like a barred plymouth, not sure he is. i have rir, delaware, red star, cinnamon lace, black austrolops how do i match up?

 

[sktlmt]

my silkie went broody last week. can i still get eggs under her? how do i know that the eggs i give her are fertilized? i dont have enough roos to hens in my general flock to assume they are all fertilized. do i separate some? and how do i know that my matchup will reproduce well? i have a roo that looks like a barred plymouth, not sure he is. i have rir, delaware, red star, cinnamon lace, black austrolops how do i match up?

Yes if you want chicks. You will have no idea what you are getting unless you separate 1 rooster with some hens. And even with that you have no idea what genes are going to dominate. I have 3 roosters who all have the same parents and 2 are caramel and white and the third is Black and auburn.
You can put eggs under her and candle them at day 10 to see which ones are fertile.

 

[PD-Riverman]

my silkie went broody last week. can i still get eggs under her? how do i know that the eggs i give her are fertilized? i dont have enough roos to hens in my general flock to assume they are all fertilized. do i separate some? and how do i know that my matchup will reproduce well? i have a roo that looks like a barred plymouth, not sure he is. i have rir, delaware, red star, cinnamon lace, black austrolops how do i match up?

If you seperate a rooster with some hens, you need to give them a couple weeks atleast before you set their eggs so "other rooster" stuff will be cleared out the hens system. Waiting several weeks will be to long for your already broody hen. Can you get some Good eggs from a neighbor/friend of a breed you would want.

I always move my broody hen properly to a private area so other hens do not lay eggs in her nest and for Many Other reasons--broke eggs/broody moving to another nest, etc, etc..

 

[horselover1999]

The eggs never hatched. They were supposed to hatch last weekend. I am going to move her back out to the coop tomorrow.

 

[Beyond Yonder]

Hello, I am about half way through all the post on this subject. I need more information on how to turn the chicks and mama in with the rest of the flock. How you did it and what happened. If I put them in a separate pen in their outside covered run won't they be cold, does the Mama want to roost in their coop? When do the little ones roost in the coop with the others. Oh, just so many questions after the hatch happens.

 

[Faraday40]

You have to think about what will fit your own situation. There's not just one way to go about raising chicks. Here's what I do:

Since I have many LF & my broody is a bantam, I prefer the "look but don't touch" approach. I put a small cage inside my covered run or coop. Some people have a whole separate broody coop & run, but I have limited space.
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If it's nice weather, I sometimes move (by carrying) the happy family to a baby play yard (with a lid to keep out predators) in the grass. After a week, I let the family walk to the grass by themselves, but still enclose them. They also walk the return trip to the cage in the run. After about 3 weeks, I have the cage & play yard available so they may run to safety or get chick feed, but I stop closing the doors. Sometime around 3-6 weeks the mama & babies start using the roost. After several days when I think they're fine & fully integrated, I put away the broody cage & play yard. If I see bullying, I leave the cages out longer.

 

[nchls school]

Hello, I am about half way through all the post on this subject. I need more information on how to turn the chicks and mama in with the rest of the flock. How you did it and what happened. If I put them in a separate pen in their outside covered run won't they be cold, does the Mama want to roost in their coop? When do the little ones roost in the coop with the others. Oh, just so many questions after the hatch happens.

My flock is small and most of the birds are not aggressive. I have limited room also. I separate the hen and chicks just long enough so that the chicks are moving around well (two days or so and then only if I think there might be trouble-like with a hen that is low in the pecking order). Then the hen and chicks go with the rest of the flock. If my birds were aggressive I'd do as Faraday40 does. The broody hen will not roost until the chicks are able to, or, until they no longer need her body warmth.

 

[horselover1999]

I reintroduced a hen this morning. None of the eggs hatched so I just carried her back to the coop. There was only about thirty minutes of pecking order squabbles. If one of the eggs had hatched I would have done the look but no touch method that I do with any new chicks.

 

[Beyond Yonder]

Thank you for your replies. So I lock them up in the covered run for a few days? Then Let them out with the other hens in a few days. Do they stay in their separate pens at night and not go in the coop or should I leave them in the coop until they are ready to walk down the ramp with their mama. Would this large dog crate in the photo be a good brooder for Mama and babies?

 

[Beyond Yonder]

This is the covered, secure, run. they also have an open run 50X20.