Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[sandracollins]

My B.O. is still sitting tight on my 15 call duck eggs and they all seem to be doing fine. Candled them today there dosent seem to be much room left in the eggs and they still have a while to go ,May 3rd is day 26 ,I think I will be sleeping in the hen house all next week

.I now have two call ducks that seem to be broody but they sit all day on the egg and then come out in the evening so the eggs are probably useless by now

for next week

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm sure you'll do whats best for your girls, I had to run a fan in the coops last summer it was so hot here. we put in an extra window this year so hoping I won't have to do that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

with you sandra,

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Quote:
That's great

Are you going to let your BO raise them also?

 

[ldrwnorman47]

Today is Day 19 for my 18 eggs under my BO Broody "Fluffy Butt".
My last hatch i never heard peeps in the eggs, i never listened.
This time i want to try to listen. How soon should I be able to hear them?

Thanks

Congrats to all the new Easter mommas !~

 

[Miss Lydia]

day before and day of. when i first heard the peeping I almost dropped the egg I was so surprised.
Saturdays hatch out for the first time,

Sunday morning hatch, just barely see little one peeking over bottom of nest box..
forgot to say I have some due to hatch on the 28th and listened today but couldn't hear anything. let us know when they hatch..

 

[sandracollins]

Yes I am going to let the B.O raise them and hope she dosent loose the plot when they go swimming !!!!!!!!! and i have another hen with 8 call duck eggs under her as well ,I candled them tonight and all 8 are fertile so I reckon I am going to be a nervous wreck by the end of this

 

[stonykill]

my Broody Soap opera update. I now have 3 official Broodys. The Black Sumatra who has been Sitting on Mama S's (Blue Sumatra) eggs.... she is now nesting on 9 Sumatra eggs. Safely on the front porch, under Mama S's nest. And of course the new mom, black broody aka Mama B is happily raising her 4 chicks in the shed. 2 days in a row she has taken them out for a stroll.

Little blue, the tiny, young Blue Sumatra..... uggg. I found her on her unsafe nest twice today. Both times I was INCHES from grabbing her and she bolted, screeching at me. And both times she ran up to the 1 month old Sumatra pen, and watched the babies for a good 10 minutes. I just saw her go off with the other boys and girls to bed. I'll make sure she is there when I lock down for the night. Otherwise....I'll be going to her nest with a flashlight to try to catch her.

Brooding is in the air!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like a soap opera stony, it's hard to keep up with it isn't it.

I have 2 still sitting and today one of the hens decides she is going to take her sisters 2 new chicks and give her sister her eggs, well I really didn't know who was who, when i went into the coop, they were fighting over the chicks so I got one of them and put her back on her eggs, or so I thought. I decided that it would be best to move hen and eggs to our small coop where she will stay till hatch, but after I got her all settled in she start squacking to be the band, so I got her put her back into the coop and took the other hen off the chicks, took that hen out on the eggs in the small coop, [are you confused yet] lol well she starts squacking so let her out and she goes back into coop but goes and gets in nest box she was in with eggs so she didn't want chicks this time just nest box back, after I put her back in small coop she settled right down and haven't heard a peep out of her since. I am exhausted just telling this. yep it's a soap opera and 3 ring circus rolled into one.

 

[stonykill]

lol Lydia. They are a riot. My newest black Sumatra broody.... she is a spunky one. She sat all day. On 2 golfballs and a few eggs from today. Well, I wanted to give her more eggs. I reach SLOWLY into the nest with an egg, several inches from her....she pecks me. I put the egg down, grab another etc until all 6 eggs are in the nest. I got pecked 6 times and the eggs still weren't under her. I watched her from a distance, and one by one, she put the eggs under herself. Funny girls! She was more than happy to have the eggs, just not by MY hands.