Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Molpet]

Thank you all for talking me down from my new broody hen hatching nerves yesterday. We have three new babies today and she is doing just fine as a Mama Hen. Still keeping a close eye on and she is still sitting on 6 eggs.

View attachment 1745822

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yesterday evening, as I was locking up birds, I started to clear the last nesting box of the "dud" eggs. I had had 4 broodies, one which broke, 2 which became nannies, and 1 which was the die-hard setter.

As chicks hatched, I placed the unhatched, but possibly viable eggs, under the steadfast setter thinking it would give her a chance for something for her hard work since I didn't want to start setting more actual chicks. The eggs were aged differently over about a span of 1 1/2 weeks....again as she was the catchall of all the unhatched.

Well, as I said, last night I figured it was time to clear the "duds" before they began to rot as some were overdue by almost 2 weeks. I reached in and as a group pulled eggs out not expecting anything. Then I heard chirping and saw a little chick's beak peaking out of a pipped and zipped hole. Ahhhh, someone had obviously snuck in an egg or one of the sluggish eggs had finally matured.

This morning I have an Easter chick.

Happy Easter.

 

[BullChick]

Yesterday evening, as I was locking up birds, I started to clear the last nesting box of the "dud" eggs. I had had 4 broodies, one which broke, 2 which became nannies, and 1 which was the die-hard setter.

As chicks hatched, I placed the unhatched, but possibly viable eggs, under the steadfast setter thinking it would give her a chance for something for her hard work since I didn't want to start setting more actual chicks. The eggs were aged differently over about a span of 1 1/2 weeks....again as she was the catchall of all the unhatched.

Well, as I said, last night I figured it was time to clear the "duds" before they began to rot as some were overdue by almost 2 weeks. I reached in and as a group pulled eggs out not expecting anything. Then I heard chirping and saw a little chick's beak peaking out of a pipped and zipped hole. Ahhhh, someone had obviously snuck in an egg or one of the sluggish eggs had finally matured.

This morning I have an Easter chick.

Happy Easter.

 

[fisherlady]

Yesterday evening, as I was locking up birds, I started to clear the last nesting box of the "dud" eggs. I had had 4 broodies, one which broke, 2 which became nannies, and 1 which was the die-hard setter.

As chicks hatched, I placed the unhatched, but possibly viable eggs, under the steadfast setter thinking it would give her a chance for something for her hard work since I didn't want to start setting more actual chicks. The eggs were aged differently over about a span of 1 1/2 weeks....again as she was the catchall of all the unhatched.

Well, as I said, last night I figured it was time to clear the "duds" before they began to rot as some were overdue by almost 2 weeks. I reached in and as a group pulled eggs out not expecting anything. Then I heard chirping and saw a little chick's beak peaking out of a pipped and zipped hole. Ahhhh, someone had obviously snuck in an egg or one of the sluggish eggs had finally matured.

This morning I have an Easter chick.

Happy Easter.

What a wonderful Easter blessing! New life in the coop, does not get much better than that! Congratulations on the new addition.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hopefully my Easter chick will be a girl....and I will call her Peeps.

Another was hatching on Easter as well...guess never give up on some of the eggs pushed to the edge of a nest and hatching cooler.

LofMc

 

[Faraday40]

Hopefully my Easter chick will be a girl....and I will call her Peeps.
LofMc

Congrats on the surprise Easter chick.

As for me, the peeps are quieting down. We sold a bunch of chicks today that were basically a "fertility check." The school incubators are on and due to hatch May 1st, so emptying out the brooder now is a good thing. I kept 1 Orpington chick for my broody OEG bantam to raise. Mama's not happy, but now she'll be able to easily handle her last chick. She can return to her mini flock to raise her baby. I learned the hard way never to sell ALL of the chicks out from under a broody. I did that ONCE and caused my poor hen to go into deep depression for 2 months. Keeping 1-3 chicks, allows the hen to naturally finish the process.

My Queen broody supreme (Cookie) is now broody, so she'll get all the chicks from the school hatches. She's an older hen (5yrs) & started laying thin shelled eggs this spring. I'm glad she stopped laying now because she's a far better broody than egg producer. Heck, I'd actually prefer for her to stop laying all together! Those thin shelled eggs worry me too much. i'm concerned about her health as well as the flock becoming egg eaters.

 

[olliek]

almost 3000 pages worth of posts. wow.
First timer here - We had chickens for the last 5 or 6 years. This is the first time I let a broody hen (Blue Cochin) sit on eggs. The Cochin is first time broody. A couple of things that I am unsure about:

• She gets up once or twice a day but when she comes back she has a tendency to go in the wrong nesting box??? She has done it a number of times. I went as far as blocking the other two nesting boxes off on this side.
• How long can she leave the eggs alone?
• Should we be successful - we have hens (and one rooster) we bought from a hatchery. They are vaccinated and hence getting non-medicated food. If we change to starter feed can we still stay with the non-medicated and if so what are risks to the chicks?

Thanks all!

 

[JanetMarie]

@olliek Some of my broody hens have gone in the wrong nest box also. I just keep an eye on the ones who do that and move the eggs under her. Even though I could tell on a few days that the broody has been off the eggs and in the wrong nest box for a few hours, it didn't delay the hatch.

Normally a broody will leave the nest for 1/2 to an hour each day. There are ones also, that I have had to remove from their nest and make them take a break every day.

I use organic grain and make my own chicken and chick food, so it's not medicated and the chicks are okay. The moms take the chicks outside to forage a few days after hatching, where there is plenty of greens and clean ground to roam on.

If yours are in a pen I would think there would be more risk of coccidiosis.

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

First time hatching. Our smallest brahma was broody for three weeks before I gave the poor girl some hatching eggs. They are brahma eggs from our all brahma flock. It is about day 7, can't wait.

 

[Faraday40]

About how long can a hen safely stay broody?

I have a hen that's been broody 2 to 2.5 weeks. I just set some eggs in the incubator today & am thinking of letting her mother them..... if she stays broody long enough. Would being broody for 5-5.5 weeks be seriously detrimental to her health?

OR

I can give her some chicks that are hatching in the preschools now. I gave Cookie (my champion broody) a bunch of incubator chicks, and she readily adopted them. I was thinking of just adding them to Cookie's brooder as the schools return their chicks.

I could easily split the chicks between the two hens, but I'd prefer to have a hen care for the next hatch in 3 weeks.

Advice?