Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Molpet]

So, what can I do for a broody hen who has chicks that won't leave? Her "babies" hatched Sept 15th. I thought it was cute when they sat with her as she started laying a couple weeks ago. Now the silkie mama's going broody AGAIN, but this time her pullet and cockerel seramas are sitting in the nest with her. I wouldn't mind the extra spread but they're pooping in the nest. Normally, the chicks would be sold by now, but we're in single digit temps. Who would want to buy a useless serama chicken in mid winter?

I have a hen who's pair of 14 wks cockerels just left her side new years Eve..
I have a turkey that hatched a pullet in August that are still together. Should be interesting when one goes broody.

 

[nchls school]

About all you can do is separate them; it's what I do. I've found that having young poultry near brooding poultry results in poor or no hatch. I've a hen who left her eggs to "care" for chicks that are between 6 and 8 weeks old, because they kept sleeping in her nest. This morning the hen came off the nest when the youngsters left. Which is fine by me; the hen had dummy eggs and I didn't have fresh eggs to give her.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Wow, it's been awhile since anyone has posted on this thread.

Okay...I'll get something going. I've got 3...count them 3....ladies brooding. I didn't set much last year (except for a sneak clutch that hatched during a heatwave...I've no idea how the hen did it as we were 108degrees...she kept them all alive).

Barred Broody, Bar (don't laugh, I've had too many chickens over the years and not enough names anymore, and can't tell birds apart in my identical mothers/daughters LOL): Due tomorrow April 18, 10 eggs...8 of which are my aging 5 year old Cream Legbar (Creme, pronounced like the french creme), bred back to her grandson to get 3/4 to 7/8 Cream Legbars to keep my tourquoise egg line going since her daughters got taken by hawks/coons this winter. Bar also has 3 of my dark brown eggs...taken from....

Brownie, from my Barnevelder line, who started the brown eggs, but quit, so I moved them to Bar. But..then Brownie got serious about setting, so she has another 4 of darker brown eggs (think clay pot), due in a week.

Then my Cochin-Barnie mix, Cochine, went broody, and what the heck, I set 1 more blue, 1 more brown, and 6 olive eggs, due in two weeks.

So that's 18?

I have 16 chickens....I have room for another 6 to 8 hens after several aged hens passed and predator loss. So here's the math, 18 eggs with 75% hatch rate (pretty average as some not fertile...but I must admit I get closer to 80 to 90%)...so 12 hatch....50% hens....I should get those 6 to 8 hens right?

Hubby is laughing telling me I'll get 18 roosters. Could with the Creme....she's given me solid roosters from her hatches the last 3...count them...3 times.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Cream Legbar and Barnie hens. I need more tourquoise and clay pot eggs.

LofMc

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get someone go broody. None so far though :/

 

[nchls school]

Wow, it's been awhile since anyone has posted on this thread.

Yes, it certainly has.

Okay...I'll get something going. I've got 3...count them 3....ladies brooding. I didn't set much last year (except for a sneak clutch that hatched during a heatwave...I've no idea how the hen did it as we were 108degrees...she kept them all alive).

Only three?? This will take some thought; two serama brooding, serama eggs under one and coturnix quail eggs under the other; cochin brooding sultan/phoenix cross eggs; muscovy brooding her own; wild turkey brooding 9 of her own and 4 domestic turkey eggs; two phoenix, one on her own and one on serama; cross hen on call duck eggs; phoenx on call eggs; two call ducks on their own; and two pairs of pigeons brooding.

Three hens have chicks/ducklings already; and the pigeons have squabs too.

Barred Broody, Bar (don't laugh, I've had too many chickens over the years and not enough names anymore, and can't tell birds apart in my identical mothers/daughters LOL): Due tomorrow April 18, 10 eggs...8 of which are my aging 5 year old Cream Legbar (Creme, pronounced like the french creme), bred back to her grandson to get 3/4 to 7/8 Cream Legbars to keep my tourquoise egg line going since her daughters got taken by hawks/coons this winter. Bar also has 3 of my dark brown eggs...taken from....

Sounds pretty neat. I've eggs hatching in the incubator-call ducks, wild turkeys, and domestic turkeys. Sultan/phoenix will be hatching soon.

Brownie, from my Barnevelder line, who started the brown eggs, but quit, so I moved them to Bar. But..then Brownie got serious about setting, so she has another 4 of darker brown eggs (think clay pot), due in a week.

Then my Cochin-Barnie mix, Cochine, went broody, and what the heck, I set 1 more blue, 1 more brown, and 6 olive eggs, due in two weeks.

So that's 18?

I have 16 chickens....I have room for another 6 to 8 hens after several aged hens passed and predator loss. So here's the math, 18 eggs with 75% hatch rate (pretty average as some not fertile...but I must admit I get closer to 80 to 90%)...so 12 hatch....50% hens....I should get those 6 to 8 hens right?

I gave up trying to do chicken math!

Hubby is laughing telling me I'll get 18 roosters. Could with the Creme....she's given me solid roosters from her hatches the last 3...count them...3 times.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Cream Legbar and Barnie hens. I need more tourquoise and clay pot eggs.

Good luck to both of us. I will likely regret hatching so much. I've been hearing from people that they are leery of buying poultry with all the health issues, both human and bird, that are going around. But it's spring...

LofMc

 

[fisherlady]

Hello @Lady of McCamley and @nchls school it is great to see you both! I too have fallen off on my posting but my broodies continue to go strong. Currently have a trio which hatched on 4/15, a quad of hens from 3/30 and a couple of others from past 2 months who are still carting around older chicks. My oldest hen is still taking care of a youngster that we grafted to her when it was 3 weeks old and it's actual broody Mom went flaky and abandoned it. Janeway wasn't broody at the time but over last nearly 9 years has raised countless clutches of her own and taken in other chicks to raise with her current chicks so we figured it was worth trying to see if she would go broody from a cold start... and she did. By 2nd day she was acting like a normal broody and 5 weeks later is still taking care of it.
Hoping you all have great hatches and not too many roosters in the mix!

 

[nchls school]

Hello @Lady of McCamley and @nchls school it is great to see you both! I too have fallen off on my posting but my broodies continue to go strong. Currently have a trio which hatched on 4/15, a quad of hens from 3/30 and a couple of others from past 2 months who are still carting around older chicks. My oldest hen is still taking care of a youngster that we grafted to her when it was 3 weeks old and it's actual broody Mom went flaky and abandoned it. Janeway wasn't broody at the time but over last nearly 9 years has raised countless clutches of her own and taken in other chicks to raise with her current chicks so we figured it was worth trying to see if she would go broody from a cold start... and she did. By 2nd day she was acting like a normal broody and 5 weeks later is still taking care of it.
Hoping you all have great hatches and not too many roosters in the mix!

 

[Ursuline Chick]

As some of you know, I "lost" a bantam hen over a month ago. A couple of weeks ago in the middle of the night, I heard peeps. I went outside in my nightgown with a flashlight and baseball cap (in case I found chicks. Sure enough there was my bantam hen (we had checked under the house numerous times when she first disappeared). I crawled under the house only to find the missing hen, 15 live chicks and 1 dud egg.
So now I have gone from 10 chickens to 25 chickens. Good luck to everyone else with their hatches. By the way, this is what I refer to as chicken math. 1 hen + 1 rooster = 25 chickens.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

@nchls school and @fisherlady
Good to hear from both of you and that you are still poultry strong.
Yes...I know it is only 3 hens...but I'll take them. I lost a really good bantam broody to something, and several others to hawks. I was panicked nobody would go broody as it took until April...and then 3 of them obliged.

Great to hear about your stories...

and @Ursuline Chick the chicken math. Yes, it does catch up doesn't it.

LofMc

 

[nchls school]

@nchls school and @fisherlady
Good to hear from both of you and that you are still poultry strong.
Yes...I know it is only 3 hens...but I'll take them. I lost a really good bantam broody to something, and several others to hawks. I was panicked nobody would go broody as it took until April...and then 3 of them obliged.

Great to hear about your stories...

and @Ursuline Chick the chicken math. Yes, it does catch up doesn't it.

LofMc

Good to hear from you too. My latest babies.