Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[suchcutenails]

My babies are a week old today! It's so cold here, but their mama is taking great care of them! She has taught them to go out the door and down the ramp to hang in the run with the big girls!

 

[suchcutenails]

My babies are a week old today! It's so cold here, but their mama is taking great care of them! She has taught them to go out the door and down the ramp to hang in the run with the big girls!

 

[fisherlady]

My babies are a week old today! It's so cold here, but their mama is taking great care of them! She has taught them to go out the door and down the ramp to hang in the run with the big girls!

Adorable picture! Glad to hear she is being a good chicken mama!

 

[curious chickee]

Dang broody, left nest on day 18, found empty nest when feeding, luckily I had incubator going with a brahma hatch due a couple days after. Put eggs in just in case but figured it was a lost cause. Glad I had the incubator. 3 chicks hatched today 2 girls and a boy (black sex-link EE) only one with sprawled legs from the deserted nest.

 

[NysiaAnera]

I guess I should have been on this thread for the past few months! We have 4 broodies right now, and one who just chased away her chicks (at almost 14 weeks!) and started laying again. So, we have three chicks that are 3.5 months old, three at 5 weeks old, nine at 4 weeks old, twelve at 1 week old, and 14 eggs due to hatch in 1.5 weeks! Five of the 1 week olds we have inside. The momma chased away the three black ones, one orange one got into a nest box and was attacked, another was with it but unharmed. The rest are all doing great with their mommas.

 

[sjturner79]

My 2 Broodies are still sitting comfortably together. All 10 of thier eggs show good development when I candled them.
Should have some more chicks in about a week.

 

[NysiaAnera]

I guess I should have been on this thread for the past few months! We have 4 broodies right now, and one who just chased away her chicks (at almost 14 weeks!) and started laying again. So, we have three chicks that are 3.5 months old, three at 5 weeks old, nine at 4 weeks old, twelve at 1 week old, and 14 eggs due to hatch in 1.5 weeks! Five of the 1 week olds we have inside. The momma chased away the three black ones, one orange one got into a nest box and was attacked, another was with it but unharmed. The rest are all doing great with their mommas.

Make that 6 inside now. She chased off another one today, it is darker than the others, and has gotten a little darker each day. I noticed she was not treating it the same as the yellow/orange ones, but she was still letting it under her so I have just been watching. Today it was away from her a lot more, and when I went out for evening feeding and eggs, I found it alone almost frozen to death. So, it is now warm and happy with the others.

 

[fisherlady]

Make that 6 inside now. She chased off another one today, it is darker than the others, and has gotten a little darker each day. I noticed she was not treating it the same as the yellow/orange ones, but she was still letting it under her so I have just been watching. Today it was away from her a lot more, and when I went out for evening feeding and eggs, I found it alone almost frozen to death. So, it is now warm and happy with the others.

Congrats on all of the broodies, good catch on the last rejection...sometimes hens just get odd about chicks.

 

[fisherlady]

My 2 Broodies are still sitting comfortably together. All 10 of thier eggs show good development when I candled them.
Should have some more chicks in about a week.

Co-brooding is great when it works! We have a couple who will set together and more who prefer to set by themselves but once they hatch they then pair up with other broodies to share nests and chick raising duties. We even had one trio who took turns watching the chicks at night in the floor nest, 2 would keep the chicks on the floor and the 3rd hen would go up on the shelf to roost with the flock and in the morning she would come down, gather her chicks from the other two and head out for the day, the next night it would be another of the hens who would do it. We have security cameras in the coop or we probably would have never realized what they were doing.

 

[NysiaAnera]

Congrats on all of the broodies, good catch on the last rejection...sometimes hens just get odd about chicks.

Thanks! I have really had to keep an eye on this momma, and unfortunately we lost 3 chicks, but it would have been 9 if I wasn't out there constantly observing. She is the first prejudice hen I have had. I hope that is not a Brahma trait... my next one is a Brahma as well, and I would prefer not to add to the inside brooder.