Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[ameliadanielle]

My eggs are hatching! I've had a broody hen in my garage for 3 weeks now. Sometimes in the kitchen on the coldest nights. 5 have hatched, 7 more to go. Except two eggs are pretty poopy. This hen sat so diligently she rarely got off the nest to poop... which means she pooped in the nest so I cleaned as best as I could while being attacked. So excuse the disgusting state of this nest box. I've been attempting to clean it every day for 3 weeks... but I was also scared I would disturb mama and these silkie eggs are precious around here. These will be the first silkie babies we have hatched out here. I didn't want to scare her off the nest. She's so mean. The meanest silkie I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. We got her because our other silkies wouldn't go broody... she goes broody alright but I don't think I'll ever want to deal with her broody again.

She's also pretty angry that I took her out of the nest box to get a picture of the chicks. She was sitting on the brown eggs when we brought her inside to her own nest box and I put the silkie eggs under her. So all four dry chicks are big chicks from our laying hen flock. The first silkie to hatch is the wet little guy making his escape right now.

 

[nchls school]

My eggs are hatching! I've had a broody hen in my garage for 3 weeks now. Sometimes in the kitchen on the coldest nights. 5 have hatched, 7 more to go. Except two eggs are pretty poopy. I have had many eggs that were covered/streaked with droppings hatch.This hen sat so diligently she rarely got off the nest to poop... which means she pooped in the nest so I cleaned as best as I could while being attacked. So excuse the disgusting state of this nest box. I've been attempting to clean it every day for 3 weeks... but I was also scared I would disturb mama and these silkie eggs are precious around here. These will be the first silkie babies we have hatched out here. I didn't want to scare her off the nest. She's so mean. The meanest silkie I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. We got her because our other silkies wouldn't go broody... she goes broody alright but I don't think I'll ever want to deal with her broody again. I have a silkie like yours. While it makes looking at the chicks harder, being mean also means she will do a good job protecting the chicks

She's also pretty angry that I took her out of the nest box to get a picture of the chicks. She was sitting on the brown eggs when we brought her inside to her own nest box and I put the silkie eggs under her. So all four dry chicks are big chicks from our laying hen flock. The first silkie to hatch is the wet little guy making his escape right now.

 

[ameliadanielle]

Our first broody was a Buff Orpington back in October/November. She was a very laid back broody, maybe because they were raised by me in the house she wasn't scared of me at all. She never attacked me. She lightly pecked a couple of times and she growled at me but nothing like this silkie. Lol.

 

[ameliadanielle]

Our other silkies I think are so sweet and laid back they just don't have what it takes to be broody moms. Our white silkie is the sweetest and our lap chicken. I think she's a little special. Hahaha.

 

[PD-Riverman]

She's also pretty angry that I took her out of the nest box to get a picture of the chicks.

I do not blame her----she had sit there on the eggs steady for the last 2/3 days to keep moisture up so the chicks could hatch easier and someone takes her off the nest---She is your hen and you can do what you want---if you want advise I would have told you not to remove her or even tilt her to see under---so she can keep the moisture up so her babies have a better chance of hatching without problems. I wish you luck!

 

[nchls school]

Our other silkies I think are so sweet and laid back they just don't have what it takes to be broody moms. Are you sure? If you wish to try set one hen up with a nest she does not have to share. Leave her eggs in the nest. Usually when there is 10-12 eggs the hen goes broody. This is what I do and rarely does the hen not go broody. Actually, in the last year every single one has gone broody.Our white silkie is the sweetest and our lap chicken. I think she's a little special. Hahaha.

 

[nchls school]

I do not blame her----she had sit there on the eggs steady for the last 2/3 days to keep moisture up so the chicks could hatch easier and someone takes her off the nest---She is your hen and you can do what you want---if you want advise I would have told you not to remove her or even tilt her to see under---so she can keep the moisture up so her babies have a better chance of hatching without problems. I wish you luck!

X 2

 

[Violetsfeathers]

I have three chicks out of four eggs hatched and the last one is pipping

My marshmallow is such a good mom, she only pecked me once, and it wasn't very hard but I tapped her head for it, she hasn't done it since. I think she knows I won't hurt her chicks now

 

[ameliadanielle]

I do not blame her----she had sit there on the eggs steady for the last 2/3 days to keep moisture up so the chicks could hatch easier and someone takes her off the nest---She is your hen and you can do what you want---if you want advise I would have told you not to remove her or even tilt her to see under---so she can keep the moisture up so her babies have a better chance of hatching without problems. I wish you luck!

Our air is naturally humid here. I finished hatching an egg on a heating pad in November with no humidity issues. In fact, sometimes our humidity is higher than what is recommended for an incubator at lockdown. So no worries about damaging chicks with low humidity here.

 

[ameliadanielle]

When our white silkie attempts being broody, she stands over the eggs. For days she will stand there. Not sitting on them. Our other partridge silkie actually does sit on the eggs but the few times she has it only lasts a day. I have separated them with a nest of eggs to try and get them to go broody, they just aren't very good at it. I thought at first it was because they might be too young, but we've had them since last summer and they were adults and already laying eggs when we got them. They lay eggs, they just don't do well being broody. That's why we got the current silkie hen. She was broody when we brought her home.