Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Coop de Grass]

@fisherlady Congrats on your broodys! Based on the photos, you don't isolate the Broody and chicks? I love seeing Laverne out with her chicks in the middle of the flock! I have only let the family out when the chicks were 3 weeks old, and it was a real nuisance to keep them separated inside the coop. The broody did a good job of keeping the other hens away once they were in with the rest of the flock.

 

[fisherlady]

@fisherlady
 Congrats on your broodys! Based on the photos, you don't isolate the Broody and chicks? I love seeing Laverne out with her chicks in the middle of the flock! I have only let the family out when the chicks were 3 weeks old, and it was a real nuisance to keep them separated inside the coop. The broody did a good job of keeping the other hens away once they were in with the rest of the flock.

Thanks....
We give most of our hens a few days of peace and quiet to teach the littles the vocalizations and make sure everyone is keeping up well, they are only separated by wire during that time so the flock knows all about them. The chicks also learn during that time that humans are the source of goodies and they learn some of our vocalizations for food/treats which makes it easy to call them in when they are out free ranging.
The hens start taking them out into the paddock with the rest of the flock within the first week and are left to decide for themselves when they want to range further. We give them a quiet spot on the floor until the hen wants to start moving them up onto the roost boards and shelves (she usually starts training them to roost by the 2nd week)

With that being said.... our flock is very broody experienced and chick friendly, all flocks may not be so friendly towards littles being underfoot all the time, but I think that supervision and removal of nasty flock members can really help establish a good environment. To our flock it is a normal thing to have multiple broody hatches of varying ages roaming around, and teenagers causing an occasional uproar!LOL

 

[Catandherchicks]

A few recent pictures. ..
Brownie has her wings really, really full with her dozen! None of them actually need under her anymore but they still want their mommy time, poor girl will probably be happy to cut the apron strings soon! LOL

Laverne has her 2 week olds out and about just like the big chickens, she is a first time broody and is doing great with her 9.... she is teaching them to roost on the sticks and they have been managing ramps and steps since 6 or 7 days old.

And another hen went broody this week, she got her eggs yesterday, she is #4 currently sitting....we have 2 due the end of this week.
Patty, doing her broody monster look...

What a beautiful and colorful flock! Big congrats!

 

[ameliadanielle]

Our flock is baby chick friendly... but the ONLY thing that goes missing out if our backyard are baby chicks. Ours free range. The big birds of prey must be scared of our great pyrenees, but there is something VERY brave but has to be tiny, it only goes after chicks. All a zillion of them also want to use the SAME nest. So our broody ends up getting pushed around and having eggs laid on top of her and new eggs shoved underneath her. It's just easier for me to move her. They seem to enjoy being served their food and allowed the luxury to relax and eat whenever they feel like it and not have to worry about other hens getting in their nest. My broodies get upset EVERY time another hen gets in the nest with her. They take moving pretty well. I get a nest made up, wait until dark, reach under the broody and remove her eggs and put them in the new nest, then I pick up the broody and put her at the door of her new nest and she'll just go in and settle down in it. I have a 4ft x 4ft pen in the back where my other birds free range, it has a wire door so often the flock is over there checking out mama and babies through the wire. So by the time the chicks get old enough to go out in the yard without becoming somethings snack, the flock is pretty much OK with them.

Maybe it's just my birds but my buff orpingtons are very sweet broodies. They puff up and growl a little but they won't even peck in defense. So my friendly flock turns into a pack of piranhas whenever there is food or treats involved. So it's better that the chicks are older before I release them to live with the flock. Big enough to run if there is trouble. When my flock is just ranging and eating bugs and grass... they could care less if a baby is around. Left overs tossed out the back door? Those chicks better back up. Lol. Apparently my flock is just addicted to the scraps they get, which is mainly vegetables, fruits, breads, and sometimes a little meat.

 

[fisherlady]

What a beautiful and colorful flock! Big congrats!

Thank you!

 

[h2oratt]

We had something burrow under the pen my Broody is in last night. They got in her cat litter box and took an egg broke it got it outside the box. The half a shell was left outside the box. I am assuming we need to move her to a more protected place. I am planning on doing it tonight. I will then inspect the rest of her eggs. I am assuming it was a rat. I wish I had a camera out there so I could see what happened.

 

[h2oratt]

We had something burrow under the pen my Brody is in last night. They got in her cat litter box where her nest is and took an egg broke it got it outside the box. The half a shell was left outside the box. I am assuming we need to move her to a more protected place. I am planning on doing it tonight. I will then inspect the rest of her eggs. I am assuming it was a rat. I wish I had a camera out there so I could see what happened.

Any advice?

 

[Curnow]

Looks like we may have 2 more broody Cuckoo Marans! Yay! If they are, I am hoping to put them in a partitioned portion of our small coop that is now housing the last broody and her chicks and the store bought chicks. I plan to integrate those two mini flocks together in about a week. The chicks are different ages, so will see how it goes. The broody has 9 chicks that will be 4 weeks old, and the 11 purchased chicks will be 7 weeks old. They have been in house and yard separated by chicken wire, and by that time they will have been housed that way for 3 weeks.

I can easily put the 2 new broody hens in one side and leave the wire up, but am wondering what you all think of just putting them in the house where the other broody and chicks are without separating them.

Their run is within our large run, so they are all near the existing older larger flock. All of our Cuckoo Marans are quiet and gentle birds...so far!

What do you think? Separate newly broody hens from the young mini flock...or chance it without separation chicken wire?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Looks like we may have 2 more broody Cuckoo Marans! Yay! If they are, I am hoping to put them in a partitioned portion of our small coop that is now housing the last broody and her chicks and the store bought chicks. I plan to integrate those two mini flocks together in about a week. The chicks are different ages, so will see how it goes. The broody has 9 chicks that will be 4 weeks old, and the 11 purchased chicks will be 7 weeks old. They have been in house and yard separated by chicken wire, and by that time they will have been housed that way for 3 weeks.

I can easily put the 2 new broody hens in one side and leave the wire up, but am wondering what you all think of just putting them in the house where the other broody and chicks are without separating them.

Their run is within our large run, so they are all near the existing older larger flock. All of our Cuckoo Marans are quiet and gentle birds...so far!

What do you think? Separate newly broody hens from the young mini flock...or chance it without separation chicken wire?

All my broody hens are put in private pens---alone---so I do not have problems.

As far as chicks integrating I would wait till I took the hen away from the chicks, then integrate them with the older chicks. Good Luck.

 

[lwiese58]

Looks like we may have 2 more broody Cuckoo Marans! Yay! If they are, I am hoping to put them in a partitioned portion of our small coop that is now housing the last broody and her chicks and the store bought chicks. I plan to integrate those two mini flocks together in about a week. The chicks are different ages, so will see how it goes. The broody has 9 chicks that will be 4 weeks old, and the 11 purchased chicks will be 7 weeks old. They have been in house and yard separated by chicken wire, and by that time they will have been housed that way for 3 weeks.

I can easily put the 2 new broody hens in one side and leave the wire up, but am wondering what you all think of just putting them in the house where the other broody and chicks are without separating them.

Their run is within our large run, so they are all near the existing older larger flock. All of our Cuckoo Marans are quiet and gentle birds...so far!

What do you think? Separate newly broody hens from the young mini flock...or chance it without separation chicken wire?

Would it be possible for you to post any pictures of your setup. I am intrigued by your description. (I would also love to see your

Looks like we may have 2 more broody Cuckoo Marans! Yay! If they are, I am hoping to put them in a partitioned portion of our small coop that is now housing the last broody and her chicks and the store bought chicks. I plan to integrate those two mini flocks together in about a week. The chicks are different ages, so will see how it goes. The broody has 9 chicks that will be 4 weeks old, and the 11 purchased chicks will be 7 weeks old. They have been in house and yard separated by chicken wire, and by that time they will have been housed that way for 3 weeks.

I can easily put the 2 new broody hens in one side and leave the wire up, but am wondering what you all think of just putting them in the house where the other broody and chicks are without separating them.

Their run is within our large run, so they are all near the existing older larger flock. All of our Cuckoo Marans are quiet and gentle birds...so far!

What do you think? Separate newly broody hens from the young mini flock...or chance it without separation chicken wire?

Would it be possible for you to post any pictures of your setup. I am intrigued by your description. (plus I would love to see your chickens!)