Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[oregonkat]

I know that somewhere in this tome is buried the answer to my question but I dont have the time to search so I am hoping some of you will respond. I have a BCM hen sitting on just purchased BCM eggs. 13 to be exact. I have left her in her nesting box with the other hens coming and going. I would like to leave her there so the hatch occurs with the rest of the hens and my roo present. Is this a disaster waiting to happen? Should I sequester her and the eggs in a separate but included enclosure? My hens have had no experience with chicks but I would like to think that the mother and the roo would keep any funny business from any other hens to a minimum. Any opinions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[homestead 101]

I need some help, my broody hen has lice and hatch day is in three days. Should I take chicks away if she still has them then or will they not catch them

 

[sjturner79]

I know that somewhere in this tome is buried the answer to my question but I dont have the time to search so I am hoping some of you will respond.  I have a BCM hen sitting on just purchased BCM eggs. 13 to be exact.  I have left her in her nesting box with the other hens coming and going.  I would like to leave her there so the hatch occurs with the rest of the hens and my roo present.  Is this a disaster waiting to happen?  Should I sequester her and the eggs in a separate but included enclosure?  My hens have had no experience with chicks but I would like to think that the mother and the roo would keep any funny business from any other hens to a minimum.  Any opinions would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

It is more common that the flock will leave the broody alone, but sometimes you will get birds that will attack chicks, sometimes even the broody. It's all up to how valuable the chicks are to you

 

[sjturner79]

I need some help, my broody hen has lice and hatch day is in three days. Should I take chicks away if she still has them then or will they not catch them

At this point you would be best of either treating the lice with with something you can use without disturbing her, or waiting 2 weeks and treat the hen and chicks. There's no point in seperating the chicks as there will already be lice eggs on the chicks eggs so they will get the lice anyway.

 

[tobit]

I need some help, my broody hen has lice and hatch day is in three days. Should I take chicks away if she still has them then or will they not catch them

sjturner79 is right, the chicks that will have the lice as soon as they hatch anyway, so the question is when do you treat for lice. I've read about people in your exact situation replacing the nest with new nesting material and dusting the broody with DE, but I personally wouldn't want to take the risk of breaking the broody or upsetting her - causing her to leave the nest for a while, so if it were me I'd just treat the chicks/broody a week or 2 after they hatched out

 

[tobit]

I'm thinking of letting one of our hens (we constantly have broody bantams its a nightmare!!) hatch out some more chicks in august, and was wondering what bedding everyone uses, and what the pros and cons are? I've used straw in the past but I'm not really sure why!

 

[Johnn]

So after my bad news yesterday, I have some good news!!! So Josie the Indian runner went missing like a month ago. It was a day after I found Jemima the head duck had been killed in another field. So I thought Josie had been killed too. I searched every day for two weeks straight and there was no sign of her. Then a few days ago I can across a very broody Josie playing in the mud, so I followed her and found she had been sitting on a nest of 13 eggs! I was like "oh great" and candled them. I could see that they were very full and alive so I couldn't bring myself to smash them. Well today, she has 3 babies (so far). The little yellow one was struggling to hatch before I went to work yesterday so I helped it a bit and just left it in hope it would manage. The second looks like their dad daffy already! Surprised they were fertile to be honest as Josie is a big Indian runner and daffy is just a little call duck, so will be interesting to see how they turn out!

 

[sjturner79]

I'm thinking of letting one of our hens (we constantly have broody bantams its a nightmare!!) hatch out some more chicks in august, and was wondering what bedding everyone uses, and what the pros and cons are? I've used straw in the past but I'm not really sure why!

I use shellgrit because it's good for them to eat, doesn't suffer from damp and moulds to shap fairly well for them. If I can't get shellgrit when I need it I found clay cat litter also works really well.
I avoid straw, haw or wood type nesting material as it goes bad easy if it gets damp, and can cause problems for the chicks and mum if they eat it.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I'm thinking of letting one of our hens (we constantly have broody bantams its a nightmare!!) hatch out some more chicks in august, and was wondering what bedding everyone uses, and what the pros and cons are? I've used straw in the past but I'm not really sure why!

I use a soft hay and I hatch ALOT of broody hens. 72 in the last year alone. It never gets wet because all the nest are sheltered. Broody hens do not have to be a nightmare----that's your choice. If I am not going to allow the broody to set ASAP---I am not going to allow her to set there for weeks and weeks so
I break them for Health reasons as well as getting her back laying. A simple elevated wire bottom cage works great for me----not only do I set a lot---I have to break a lot because if all the main broody pens are filled and I do not want to set something else up---I break them-----hurts nothing-----no throwing them off the nest does not usually work quick and I never like the idea of cold water bath----so I never tried it. Good Luck

 

[tobit]

Thanks for the input guys! I imagine shellgrit or cat litter clay to be hard and not particularly comfortable? good point by PD-Riverman, people have said that hay gets mouldy, but if it stays dry (broodies should be in dry places) that shouldn't be a problem?

I wonder what wild chickens would use as nests, dry grass and leaves maybe? But in contrast to our hens, these nests would be on soil and not a wooden floor, I'd have thought the soil would contain a lot more moisture than wood/concrete