Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[stonykill]

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I don't know what the longest time is, but I had one pip, and 12 hours later finally hatch. She was really weak after that, but is perfectly healthy now!

Thanks for your response. I guess I will have to wait until morning now. Hopefully it was not an accidental little hole in the egg put there by mama's nail or something!

how did you make out?

 

[Domestic_goddess]

I put 5 eggs under my Broody buff orpington yesterday, had to move her into her own pen today...she keeps getting bothered by other hens. I'm so nervous as this is my first hen I've allowed to keep her eggs

 

[Miss Lydia]

My brahma hen hatched 2 today and 1 to go, they were playing musical hens today , the brahmas that aren't sitting were getting into the nest boxes with the ones that are and making them move out so they could move in. So I hung an old sheet up like a curtain in front of the girls that are broody so they could have some privacy and hopefully keep the bullies out. we'll see how it goes tomorrow. The babies hatched today didn't know who was who there for a while, I was worried they were going to be trampled with all the moving about.

 

[Jabbok]

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I was surprised at my hen, but she did well with her eggs! I had to put mine in her own cage away from the others. She would fuss at me, but would only eat out of my hand and drink water from a dropper. I got mine up every other day for a stretch and she'd go dust, stretch, eat a little and sometimes drink thencome back to sit. 15-30 minutes off the eggs. 4 out of my 5 eggs hatched. For some reason my 5th egg stopped growing and my hen quit sitting on it.

My hen is also a fine mama!

Her chicks are about a week old now. They are totally cute!

Anyway, good luck!

 

[jnkir7]

i have a cochin /silkie mix shes beautiful, and a great mom she even takes care of the other chicks after there mom kicks them out, she lets them sleep with her and her chicks, anyway she just went broody and is setting twelve little bitty eggs some hers and some are silky eggs, the daddy is a white silkie. janie

 

[smallfry]

I haven't been on here in quite some time...btw I missed everyone and the informative help I always seem to need. New problem now, I have been letting my chickens free range and they all (three) decided that one nest was enough so they were all laying in the same nest. Not a problem per se but when I was gone to a horse show over the weekend the eggs didn't get gathered and now one of my girls decided to go broody. Still not a problem...I am thrilled. But, the nest is not in the best of places and we are expecting terrible storms this Thursday. Question: what should I do, if anything, to make her safer and more comfortable. I don't want to interrupt her important work but I am afraid if she isn't covered or something she will decide it isn't worth it.

If anyone can help me soon I will be grateful.

 

[McGoo]

I've got a question for all of you broody experts... looking for your advice....

I have a few standard broody hens that I've had great success with - BO's mostly, however I now seem to have an old gal that is sitting on one lonely egg. Is this kind typical of an older hen who lays less... maybe grandmotherly kinda? She's a dominque and her own eggs are few and far between... though still arriving. Hate to put any good eggs under her in case she doesn't set well.
Appreciate your thoughts/ideas.

 

[Miss Lydia]

small fry do you have a dog crate that you could move her and nest into then put her into the coop or another area where she would be safe from the elements and predators, you might have to keep her locked up for a few days till she gets acclimated to her new nesting place. you could also try covering the crate so she feels protected from the rest of the flock.

 

[smallfry]

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Thanks, I do have a wire cage that doesn't have a bottom to that I built last year to use as a playpen for chicks when it was warm enough to go outside and play in the yard. I thought about setting this over top of her and the nest and then supplying food and water and some sort of shelter. That way I wouldn't have to move the nest and upset her. Our coop is made from an old creep feeder for calves and then they just free range, they aren't in a pen. They pretty much have the run of the place. In fact I had the back door open today and had to shoo the duck out twice! I think he is lonely...his girl was killed last fall.

 

[mprivett]

ok so 6 babies have hatched out so far!! Hopefully more to come by tomorrow. Had to move Rosemary and her biddies to a dog crate with mini-run attached onto the main run and she did well considering the stress with her newly hatched chicks. Settled into her new nest well and the little ones immediately ran underneath her feathers and snuggled in for the night. We decided to go ahead and move her because literally seconds before she had just had a HUGE nasty projectile runny poop spray out the back of her

(it smelled horribly and you could smell it from at least 30 feet away). It was enormous and got all over the nest box. So that made our decision to move her to a nice clean nest in the dog crate an easy one