Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[nchls school]

Looking forward to pictures of the them when they peek out from under mom

One so far-another is pipped. Two others to go. I'm hoping all four make it. There were seven eggs to begin with; three died in the first week of development.

 

[tjo804]

Healthy chickies!

Congrats on the one are they all going to look like your avitar? Super Adorable!

 

[journey11]

Hi everybody.

I have a broody bantam Golden Seabright. I can't believe she had a mind to set eggs in the dead of winter! The temps have been quite warm for awhile now with the weird weather. She was missing for about 2-3 weeks and I had a feeling she had gone broody because one of her sisters did too, back in Nov. So she finally turned up and I followed her back to her hiding place...right underneath my husband's woodpile he has been working on. It is a miracle that she wasn't squished, because the logs could have fallen as he was moving them to split the wood!

Now the temps are supposed to go below freezing tomorrow night, so I felt it was best to go ahead and move her. We brought her into the garage and I put her in a cage inside of a brooder set-up and put a heat lamp over her, just enough to keep her warm. It has to be getting close to hatch time and I surely didn't want to find little frozen chicks or her frozen to death, just being a little banty I don't know how she could keep herself warm at those temps either. Five of her eggs were warm to the touch and we did note a couple of them wiggle! I removed the cold ones and candled them to be sure they really were dead and they were.

She is very upset that I moved her though. She has been off of the nest for about an hour. She ate and drank, relieved herself and groomed her feathers and finally calmed down. I have left her alone and will check on her here in a couple of hours to see if she will set on her eggs again. I really don't know what else I could have done, but I wanted to give them the best chance I could. Do you think the chicks will die since she has been off of them for about an hour? The ambient temp with the heat lamp is about 60-70 degrees.

I'm really hoping this works out.

 

[PD-Riverman]

One so far-another is pipped. Two others to go. I'm hoping all four make it. There were seven eggs to begin with; three died in the first week of development.

I wish you Luck. Things can be alot different in your area than mine, When by broody is in her last 3 days---"I" would Not bother her---I would not tilt or lift her to see if a egg is pipped or hatched. I would just leave her alone till she finishes and comes off the nest. In my area she needs all the moisture she has built up to hatch the eggs----tilting/lifting her causes the moisture to escape. Might not affect you.

 

[vpatt]

I have two bantam cochins. The hen is a frizzle. When she raised babies the rooster slept in the nest with them. I kept one of the chicks, a frizzled roo and recently i got a little silkie. So i hope to have some little sizzles before too long. Your Myrtle is cute.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hi everybody.

I have a broody bantam Golden Seabright. I can't believe she had a mind to set eggs in the dead of winter! The temps have been quite warm for awhile now with the weird weather. She was missing for about 2-3 weeks and I had a feeling she had gone broody because one of her sisters did too, back in Nov. So she finally turned up and I followed her back to her hiding place...right underneath my husband's woodpile he has been working on. It is a miracle that she wasn't squished, because the logs could have fallen as he was moving them to split the wood!

Now the temps are supposed to go below freezing tomorrow night, so I felt it was best to go ahead and move her. We brought her into the garage and I put her in a cage inside of a brooder set-up and put a heat lamp over her, just enough to keep her warm. It has to be getting close to hatch time and I surely didn't want to find little frozen chicks or her frozen to death, just being a little banty I don't know how she could keep herself warm at those temps either. Five of her eggs were warm to the touch and we did note a couple of them wiggle! I removed the cold ones and candled them to be sure they really were dead and they were.

She is very upset that I moved her though. She has been off of the nest for about an hour. She ate and drank, relieved herself and groomed her feathers and finally calmed down. I have left her alone and will check on her here in a couple of hours to see if she will set on her eggs again. I really don't know what else I could have done, but I wanted to give them the best chance I could. Do you think the chicks will die since she has been off of them for about an hour? The ambient temp with the heat lamp is about 60-70 degrees.

I'm really hoping this works out.

I'd remove the heat lamp.

I think it was good to consider how to keep her warmer, and safer, if the temps fell below freezing without any draft/rain/snow and predator protection; however, broody hens, and their chicks, are fine in ambient cold temperature. They just can't handle direct rain/wind/snow.

Bringing her inside at this point is always risky, as many broodies simply do not like to be moved from their chosen spot and will reject the eggs until they are back to the original spot. Being moved and heated substantially adds a whole new level of risk. It may make her very unhappy as she simply overheats.

So take away the heat lamp. Just let her have ambient outdoor temperature protected from direct wind/rain/snow with lots of warm bedding around her. She'll be fine. She has a down layer covered by ample oiled feathers for a slicker to protect her from the wind. She has been living in the ambient temps all along, adjusting to temperature changes. Just provide some cracked corn and BOSS for better energy and fats during cold snaps.

If in doubt at a broody's ability to adjust from temperate to sub-freezing, look at my BCM brood below....hatched in unheated but enclosed hutch during one of the worst winter storms we've had in years....our normally more temperate 40 degree drizzle turned into 2 weeks of blowing snow, freezing rain, and harsh east winds with wind chill down to the single digits. Momma was fine, and so were those babies in wonderful down coats with momma as a warming hut.

My 2 cents.
LofMc

EDITED TO ADD: The eggs are fine if she's only been off about an hour, but they do need to get back under her. If she doesn't settle in the new location, after removal of the heat lamp and a blanket over the cage to make it dark, you may have to put her back in her original spot and put some sort of make shift protection for her there. Chances are, seriously, she would have hatched just fine in the wood pile without intervention. But the risk of predators would be great, and the chicks wandering as well.

 

[Faraday40]

Hi everybody.

I have a broody bantam Golden Seabright. I can't believe she had a mind to set eggs in the dead of winter! The temps have been quite warm for awhile now with the weird weather. She was missing for about 2-3 weeks and I had a feeling she had gone broody because one of her sisters did too, back in Nov. So she finally turned up and I followed her back to her hiding place...right underneath my husband's woodpile he has been working on. It is a miracle that she wasn't squished, because the logs could have fallen as he was moving them to split the wood!

Now the temps are supposed to go below freezing tomorrow night, so I felt it was best to go ahead and move her. We brought her into the garage and I put her in a cage inside of a brooder set-up and put a heat lamp over her, just enough to keep her warm. It has to be getting close to hatch time and I surely didn't want to find little frozen chicks or her frozen to death, just being a little banty I don't know how she could keep herself warm at those temps either. Five of her eggs were warm to the touch and we did note a couple of them wiggle! I removed the cold ones and candled them to be sure they really were dead and they were.

She is very upset that I moved her though. She has been off of the nest for about an hour. She ate and drank, relieved herself and groomed her feathers and finally calmed down. I have left her alone and will check on her here in a couple of hours to see if she will set on her eggs again. I really don't know what else I could have done, but I wanted to give them the best chance I could. Do you think the chicks will die since she has been off of them for about an hour? The ambient temp with the heat lamp is about 60-70 degrees.

I'm really hoping this works out.

My response is a little late, so I hope things worked out by now.

If I move a broody, I always put a blanket or towel over the cage to keep it dark. I usually move her at night & the towel stays on for 24 hrs. (I remove the towel on the 2nd night) The hen thinks it's just a very long night & stays put. By the time the sun rises on the second morning, the towel has been removed the night before & she's already been in the new cage for more than 36 hrs. She has little memory of being moved & her broody life continues as normal, but in the new cage.

 

[Kassaundra]

Pics of chicks and mom from today. They are about 2.5 weeks old. We have had torrential (almost Biblical rains) this week, and the day temps have been 30 and nights 20, they are running around like they own the world. They have a dry nest area, and some yard area that is covered w/ tarp (the whole area is covered w/ netting), they have no idea they are suppose to be under 85' heat light. lol

 

[CharlotteRenee]

Do the momma hens take care of the chicks for a while or do you need to use a brooder right when they hatch??

 

[Kassaundra]

Do the momma hens take care of the chicks for a while or do you need to use a brooder right when they hatch??

The mom won't take them out for a couple of days, then they take them out freely. They just need a safe dry protected spot. The chicks can spend a lot more time out from under the mom then what people who strickly "light" brood chicks would ever believe. When they get to feeling cool they will get under mom for warmth. Or when mom thinks they have been out and about to long she will call them to the nest or to get under her outside in their yard.