Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[igorsMistress]

We give most of our hens one or two eggs the day before they are due so the feel and hear the chicks, but I have a couple of hens who are great mothers but have crushed hatching eggs, so they get chicks as soon as they are dry and seem very happy with that. We have made screens out of 1/2 inch hardware cloth to block off the nest for the first day, then move them to a floor box once the hen seems happy to be in mommy mode.

Thank you! This was actually my thought as well. I appreciate your response!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

@Lady of McCamley
You will need a diagram scorecard like baseball coaches use to keep track of your coop!

No kidding.

The plot thickens yet today.

I moved the banty eggs that are about 10 days developed and put them under banty Rosie....she has been solid for about 4 days and experienced. She should do fine if the heat doesn't get to her (it's supposed to be 100 this week :/

Poor momma #3 chose to set up residence outside the coop last night in the wood pile with black babe. NOT a good idea with coons and rats and cats abounding. Soooo, I picked up babe (lucky first try) and gave that babe to momma #2 in the side coop with the other babes. MUCH safer. I put Momma #3 in main coop last night. Then Momma #3 hunted and looked for babe in the woodpile today when she came out. Broke my heart, but I have no desire to replay last night as I was really lucky to get babe and momma out of that woodpile. She'll get babe back in about a week when they all can come out...if she still remembers.

Momma #4 got new eggs. Another couple Barney breedbacks and another CL, which I don't think is fertile, but we'll see. I'm in a bit of a bind as Momma #1 is in the broody hutch with first 2 babes, and I don't really think I want to put Barney the roo in that run with momma and babes below (my ONLY CL-B pullet!), broody hen above, and the CL purebred hen for a hoped rendezvous. I could disturb too much, though it might work just fine. I'm mostly concerned with Momma #1 not handling the rooster inside the small run upsetting the other broody upstairs. I really, really, want those bantam Cochin Barnevelder chicks to hatch.

So I may content my self with Barney breedbacks under Momma #4.

Yes...I think I need a score card...and really careful egg marking. I'm beginning to forget whose hatching what when....though my candeling skills are improving

You have been an inspiration to me over the years....I'm finally doing a decent job of coop brooding and chick swapping.

LofMc

 

[Molpet]

Yes...I think I need a score card...and really careful egg marking. I'm beginning to forget whose hatching what when

I have had 19 broodies this year and needed a score card.. I am using this software
I would be totally lost without it
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/free-egg-incubation-software-new-release.1235974/

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Okay funny update.

Momma #2 has been in the left small side coop, closed, with the 4 babes, remember? (Two of the babes were actually hatched by Momma #3 in the main coop, but I took the first one as it hatched 2 days earlier than the second black babe...in the heat it needed water and care while Momma #3 was still hatching the black babe (who I didn't think was going to hatch). I then took the black babe, who had been in the main coop with Momma #3 for several days, foraging food and water I set there, as Momma #3 had led black babe into the yard and tried to sleep in the wood pile that night...not a safe place).

So Momma #2 has been cooped up, literallly, with 4 babes for about 1 1/2 weeks. Today being a beautiful day, and the littlest a week old and strong enough, I opened that coop up after closing all the run gates and blocking the larger birds. I wanted to give Momma #2 a break and time in the run with babes. That ramp can be tricky for the less bright, so I also set up a dog crate below in the run planning, if necessary, to use a gated system for awhile.

Well....Momma #3 has taken the loss of her babe fairly well...although she looked for it several days in the wood pile where she left it and still clucks for her chick. I thought she was over it as she has been running with the flock all day this last week.

Somehow, of all the 4 babes, this little black chick was the ONLY one to venture down the ramp into the run. When I looked up, it had squeezed through a small hole (I was actually looking for the wedge I use to stop up the gap in the gate bottom), and was chirping madly in the main yard.

Momma #3 and black chick quickly reunited and are now foraging together in the yard.

The other 3 babes stayed with Momma #2 in the coop, who didn't look as eager to venture out as I thought. So, I closed up that side coop again and re-opened the run so Momma #3 can get to the waterer and feed I have set low in that run for the chicks in those coops.

Hopefully Momma #3 will take up residence in the dog crate I set up in the run, but I saw her eyeing the wood pile today with chick in tow.

I may have to call Chick Services again tonight for poor housing choices by her.

News at 11.

Lofmc

 

[Faraday40]

i'm still trying to manage the backyard broody fever here. Many of the hens that hatched back in May are trying to go for a 2nd round.

Cookie (bantam orp) adopted some chicks about 3 weeks ago.

Smudge (LF orp) went broody just as some eggs were about to hatch. I tried to let her adopt them, but it didn't work. I ended up giving them to Cookie.

Cookie now has some 3 wk olds AND many 1 week old chicks.

My son's Spitzhauben eggs are due to hatch on Mon, so Smudge will get those.



....Now the silkie is starting to act broody. Will it ever end?


Trouble (the Sebright) is one of the few mamas that hasn't abandoned her chicks. Her baby Orpingtons are 2x her size. Jewel (an Orp) is also staying with her big baby turkeys. Both hens are back to laying, but still spending most of the day with their giant chicks.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

News at 11 (actually the 10 o-clock report)....

So, momma did try to settle in the wood pile again, but I was watching before twilight settled so we could intervene.

With my husband's help, we relocated momma back into the run. It was not necessary to call Chick Services to take the babe into foster care this time as momma was willing to follow her chick when we carried it back into the run.

Momma desperately tried to get chick up the steep ramp to the main coop (we don't really have a chick ramp yet as we've not been hatching in the main coop)...however babe was not making it.

Momma settled in the run but not in the dog crate.

Oh well. At least they are safe tonight. I may have hubby rig up something for chick tomorrow. I like @fisherlady little chicken wire on grape stakes idea for quick easy chick ramps.

Rosie sets.

Blue Marans sets.

More news in future reports.

LofMc

 

[fisherlady]

@Lady of McCamley

LOL on the baby drama but love that mama #3 stepped up and took back her broody duties

If mama does like a ground dog crate maybe smaller one like a cat carrier sized? Some hens just have weird ideas about nesting sites and will ignore wonderful clean and roomy boxes but crawl into laundry hampers left on their side (trust me on that one! ). We now place 2 or 3 boxes of different types and sizes around the run and coops to provide picky hens more choices... not that it always works, but all we silly humans can do is try.

 

[PortlandHen]

I forgot to share an update on the chick I helped hatch. It's doing just fine! It's the smallest of all of them and is the most clumsy.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

And now some photos. All moms are sisters. All moms are daughters of a VERY broody Isbar-Marans olive egger (that brooded my first batch of Barnevelder breed backs in April...oh and ETA is my black chick in the avatar). These are her daughters from the Barnevelder rooster. (I can look at my flock and know any black birds came from this Isbar pairing). Her daughters have proven to be very, very broody as well. And no, I cannot tell the sisters apart.

Momma 1 is the first broody that hatched 2 F1 Cream Legbar-Barnevelder olive egger crosses. Pretty sure I have 1 boy and 1 girl from down coloring (really had hoped that very small whisp of white on head wasn't really barring...but I think it is). Mom and babes are doing well in the designated broody hutch and grow out run.

Momma 2 hatched in the side coop and has been foster on and off to the mom who hatched in the main coop. She has settled with 2 F1 Cream Legbar-Barnevelder olive egger crosses and what I believe (hope, hope, hope) is an F3 Barnevelder breed back. I have been getting some really nice Barnevelder double lace patterns on F2 breed backs and have great hopes for F3.

Momma 3 hatched 2 chicks in the main coop, but due to poor timing, poor location, and some bad nesting choices, has had her chicks removed....the black chick is the one that escaped foster care and ran home to momma. I've given them clemency and have arranged that momma can keep the baby. I've used the fact that babe can't/won't go into the main coop to open an outside door on the far side of that coop allowing the big birds to pass through the coop to the outside run while momma stays with babe in the inside covered run. We'll see how that works.
Black babe is, I think, an F3 Isbar-Marans/Barnevelder/Barnevelder.

 

[Faraday40]

DS's spitzes have all hatched. The last one had a little membrane stuck on the head, so it has an adorable mohawk. (They do get crests around 2 weeks old, but this was just a little bonus cuteness.)

.... and here's the "happy" mama:

Who doesn't love the broody stink eye?

Along with DS's spitzes, we hatched a few Easter-orps.

DD's silkie started laying again after being broody. She happened to be with DD's bantam cockerel (who had just discovered the joys of mating).
We slipped the egg into the incubator & here's what we got:

Can't wait to see how she/he looks all dried & fluffy.

It's an unexpected color, b/c both parents are light.
Mom: splash silkie

Dad: light colored silkied serama