Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[PouleChick]

 

[fisherlady]

She probably has the egg forward to allow more room for the chicks. Probably time for a back up plan if the eggs are still viable. Your other silkie would probably be happy to sit on them, but be very careful about the chicks staying under her when hatched. Hens often need a few days to shift from sitting mode to hatching mode to mother mode. A hen who has only been sitti g a few days may not be ready to switch modes yet and will still try to sit tight on her eggs...that is fine when incubating but can suffocate or crush a newly hatched chick who needs a bit of space. And the hen may view the chick as an invader in the nest and attack it if she doesn't adjust to it being 'her chick'. So another hen makes a great incubator but you will need to get the chick moved to the other broody if any sign of trouble.
Some hens switch modes easily as soon as they hear the chicks, those hens are a blessing to have in the coop and may be you will be lucky and find your hen is such a treasure!

If I set in the evening I count days in the evening...
And yes, I believe the European silkies tend to be bigger than the American versions. Seems people over here aren't happy if they arent turning things into either 'teacup' or 'huge' versions of originals, often with exaggerated features.

 

[PouleChick]

Thanks for all that info fisherlady

If I set in the evening I count days in the evening...

That is what I'm going to do in the future too - I think it will cause far less stress!
So update:
I went down to check on her and she was off the nest again. I decided to collect the eggs up and candle them - couldn't see anything indicating life. We decided to try to float test to see what that said:

Couldn't work out what it meant
We decided that there was no life at all in any of them so opened them one by one to see this in all 4:

So she knew what she was doing when she got off yesterday and I should have believed her . So the ones that didn't make it are the Orpington, the Australorp, an Araucana, and the 4th I'm not sure - either the surprise or the Bresse). I'm thrilled as while it's sad they weren't fertile as I thought they all would be I'm so pleased that of 5 fertile ones I have 4 live chicks

Thanks so much for all your help everyone at getting us to this stage

 

[fisherlady]

Sorry they weren't fertile, but glad you got 4/5 From the others, now she can get out and about with the other ones without worry.

 

[beckycrouch5115]

I am so glad I found this thread!!! I love the idea of letting these chickens hatch their own eggs. I have a broody leghorn sitting on 4 eggs right now. Today is day 18 so I of course am tickled pink to see how she does!! I have never had a broody hen before and sure didn't think I would have a broody leghorn!! I also did some research and brought some baby chicks that I thought may go broody in the future, since I have enjoyed this process so much!! I got some buff orphingtons!!

 

[Faraday40]

To all those moms out there.....
Happy Mother's Day!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Two of my bantam Cochin hens are broody! One got serious pretty quickly. The other took a couple of weeks switching nests until she finally settled in. Yesterday was the first day we let them keep eggs.

They each have 3 eggs. I didn't want to do too many eggs while they figure things out .

 

[KittyCat13]

Does anyone have any tips for moving broody hens who really don't want to be moved? I have a broody silver Dorking and light Sussex who are sharing 4 eggs and squished into a nest box together. I've set a dog crate up in a quiet shed and tried moving them at night onto some rubber eggs but both have not settled and just want to be back in their nest box!

The eggs have got a week to go and look to be fertile. I do have an incubator, but it's on day 7 with some brahma eggs in, so moving these 4 eggs in isn't ideal, so any tips for moving a broody greatly appreciated!

 

[Faraday40]

I've moved my hens after they've bonded to the eggs. I do it at night & have the cage (large dog crate) all set up before starting. After I move the hen & place her on the eggs, I cover the whole cage with a big blanket that 1st night to keep her on the eggs. The next day the blanket stays on to keep it dark. The 2nd night, I remove the blanket so when she wakes up in the morning, she kind of feels like she's been there the whole time.

 

[PouleChick]

Little update on my broody 2 silkie hen - she has been fabulous and not moved like the other but she is so docile that she has also not even tried to peck me, allows me to handle her etc. The down side of that was she let Hermoine and the chicks get on and they broke 2 of her eggs early on (I then locked her up totally). Today we are day 12 and I candled her 7 eggs and they all look good