Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Curnow]

Is she an experienced momma? If not, then I always error on the side of fewer. (and I generally try not to use a first time momma with purchased eggs).

28 is a lot even for an experienced momma, but full size hens with plenty of fluff have hatched and brooded that many...but it is honestly really pushing the upper bounds.

Normally, with a larger hen, 20 is the upper limit.

If you've purchased eggs, I always put my focus on those and give them the best chance of success. You don't want to risk purchased chicks for barnyard ones, if that makes a difference to you.

Wait and see what hatches, but I'd leave momma with the ones she's hatched and simply brood the ones in the incubator artificially....if those purchased chicks are a special deal.

Unless the purchased chicks are a really big deal. Then I'd take those and put them in artificial brooding and let momma have all of the barnyard ones....unless you've got an experienced momma and a good grow out set up that prevents stupid chick loss and/or loss from predators and/or loss from foot traffic from the flock or squirmishes therein.

LofMc

EDITED TO ADD: incubator chicks don't always graft easily with momma and the hatched chicks, which is another thing to keep in mind. Being underneath a hen, while hatching, with mum clucking encouragement, begins the bonding between chick and momma. The incubator chicks can be seen as an invader if the hen is not the tolerant type. And/or the incubator chicks often don't see the big dark scary hen as warmth and comfort. So grafting fosters can be a bit tricky depending upon chicks and hen.

Thanks for the quick reply! No, unfortunately she is not an experienced mother. This will be her first brood. I fully expected my Cuckoo Marans to go broody (AGAIN) but they haven't yet this spring. They have been excellent mothers in the past, handling large broods. She is very attentive of the eggs so far, and drew blood on me when I disturbed her to candle..LOL! Bite and twist! Ouch!

She has 4 of the purchased special eggs. I have 7 in the incubator.

I was just hoping she would do most of the work! Ugh. I can brood them If I have to. Maybe I'll just try to slip her a few more. I have plenty of room and sectioned off yard within my main yard for hens with chicks. They're safe and enclosed, but within confines of the main flock for gradual familiarity. It has worked awesome in the past.

The barnyard mix eggs are to be my replacement higher production eggers. Red Sex Link hens X Spitzhauben rooster (Molly) & Red Sex Link hens X Easter Egger/Spitzhauben (Wiley) rooster. I have been very pleased with the crosses from Molly the Spitzhauben rooster so far.

 

[NysiaAnera]

I went out today and Brahma #1 was off her nest. Had I a flashlight, I would have taken a quick moment to candle the eggs. Perhaps I will hang one on the wall in the shed for when opportunities arise. Looking in I did not see any pips. Later in the day there was half an egg shell in the nest. I stood there for quite a while talking myself out of lifting her up to see if there was actually a chick, or if the egg just got broke. Lol Day 20 just began 3.5 hours ago, so there is still a couple days to go.

 

[fisherlady]

Day 21.

Rosie is sitting on one egg that had a pip this morning and I hear tweets and peeps this evening.

Hopefully tomorrow morning will show success with 3 Cream Legbars...and I'm rooting for hens! (Though I might consider keeping a CL roo...don't let Barney know yet!)

I'll know tomorrow.

LofMc

i hope they hatch well, and for hens...unless 1 rooster for a Barney backup.

 

[Faraday40]

I also have a dilemma. I purchased 12 different colors of English Orpington eggs for my broody hen. The seller sent 18! WOW! Hoping for the best possible odds for the Orpington eggs to hatch, I purchased an incubator. Well, chicken math got the best of me when I got the incubator home....I added more of my own eggs. We are at day 17 for broody and incubator eggs. Nine are under the hen (all viable at last check) and 19 viable in the incubator. I thought my fertility was low, so I was not planning on that many in the end. Guess I was wrong!

My plan was to move the incubator chicks in with the broody to adopt (hopefully) as they are all due at the same time. So potentially there could be 28 chicks IF they all make it through hatch. Do you think the hen can handle all of them? She is a cross between my Light Brahma hen & Appenzeller Spitzhauben rooster. She is fairly large, but not huge like her Brahma mother.
Our temps overnight have been in 50s - 60s.....she has her own coop/house about 8 x 8 fully enclosed and fairly draft free.

Opinions please....can she handle 20+ chicks?

That's a good problem to have & I did the same thing to our hen. Ours is a bantam, and she hatched one egg. I slipped the incubator eggs under her as they hatched. I set up a BIG brooder & just put her inside it with all 21 chicks. They have a supplemental "heating pad broody." Of course, our hen is experienced, so I never worried about her rejecting them. I just knew that she had to think that they're all hers.


Here she was covering all 21 chicks on hatch day. She clucked away & seemed very pleased with herself.


One week later: The chicks prefer to be under mama. She learned to position herself next to the heating pad, so that gives her spread an extra 2.5 sq feet.

They are now 3 weeks. We sold some extras & are down to 12 chicks. (Goal is 5 chicks) Now that the number is down, I put them in the chicken tractor each day & return them to the brooder at night

 

[lizzy14]

Well, I was not successful moving my broody hen to a private area. Thankfully, my dad is supportive in enabling my chicken habit, so he installed a partition. The rest of the hens are ****** off at not being able to access their laying area. Mind you, they do have access to actual nest boxes. My broody is in the upturned bucket at the back. I still need to get her water and food in place. She shows zero interest in leaving the nest thus far.

I am hoping the other hens will adjust... Am I an unreasonable bully like they say?

 

[Phantom-Bantam]

So a stupid question alert. My broody is now Day 11 of ours and her first hatch. All seems to be going well we set 10 eggs and discarded 1 dud egg on Day 9 after candling the others seem to be progressing. The weather over the next couple of days is meant to become a bit wintery. Will this harm the eggs? Or will that just keep her snuggled up? Mostly she shows no signs of coming out for food and drink but we have put that next to her, i also have kicked her out of her box for 5 mins at around dusk so she can toilet and have a stretch which has been fine so far. I was worried she would just poo on the eggs. Is that ok?

 

[Faraday40]

So a stupid question alert. My broody is now Day 11 of ours and her first hatch. All seems to be going well we set 10 eggs and discarded 1 dud egg on Day 9 after candling the others seem to be progressing. The weather over the next couple of days is meant to become a bit wintery. Will this harm the eggs? Or will that just keep her snuggled up? Mostly she shows no signs of coming out for food and drink but we have put that next to her, i also have kicked her out of her box for 5 mins at around dusk so she can toilet and have a stretch which has been fine so far. I was worried she would just poo on the eggs. Is that ok?

Sounds like she's doing OK. Broody hens can hatch in all types of weather conditions, so worst case is that the hatch may be delayed slightly.

 

[Faraday40]

Well, I was not successful moving my broody hen to a private area. Thankfully, my dad is supportive in enabling my chicken habit, so he installed a partition. The rest of the hens are ****** off at not being able to access their laying area. Mind you, they do have access to actual nest boxes. My broody is in the upturned bucket at the back. I still need to get her water and food in place. She shows zero interest in leaving the nest thus far.

I am hoping the other hens will adjust... Am I an unreasonable bully like they say?

That looks like a great broody apartment & should make flock integration very easy when the time comes.

I seal off the big nest box closest to the door when a bantam goes broody. (I don't like it when a big hen tries to bully a lower one off the nest to add eggs.) Losing 1 nest box out of 4 is not a big deal, but if I get 2 broodies at the same time, I must use a dog crate.

 

[PD-Riverman]

So a stupid question alert. My broody is now Day 11 of ours and her first hatch. All seems to be going well we set 10 eggs and discarded 1 dud egg on Day 9 after candling the others seem to be progressing. The weather over the next couple of days is meant to become a bit wintery. Will this harm the eggs? Or will that just keep her snuggled up? Mostly she shows no signs of coming out for food and drink but we have put that next to her, i also have kicked her out of her box for 5 mins at around dusk so she can toilet and have a stretch which has been fine so far. I was worried she would just poo on the eggs. Is that ok?

A good Broody is a good Mother-----you can take care of your kids in winter or summer and so will she. I have set hundreds of broody hens and have NEVER took one off the nest----they knew what they were doing before we came alone and will get off when they feel ready----But That's your call----I sure wouldn't----shoot she might have gotten off/on just before you came to her nest??. Mine has food and water close to her nest but not where she can reach it without getting off the nest. Having it at the nest where she can eat without getting off can cause them to stay on the nest longer and will cause most to poop in the nest area-----Serious, stinking poop. So back the food away if to close. Good Luck!

 

[Phantom-Bantam]

Good point, thank you. I am probably worrying too much as its our first time and like a lot of people say it is all a learning curve. Mostly though I haven't interfered with her at all only those few minutes at dusk where they would want to go in anyway. I will stop doing that. I have just read things about them dying on the nest because they wouldnt go and eat etc and don't want her to do that.
Other than my silly worries, I am loving it and can't wait for hatch day!!