Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[laughingull]

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Sorry- so tough to wonder "what if I just checked a little bit earlier" - The same thing just happened to me with my quail chick. Poor adorable little thing. But life is dangerous for little feathered ones and I guess that is why birds lay so many eggs.

 

[stonykill]

laughing gull, If it were me, I'd get her a few chicks. Where we live, the minimum chicks that we can purchase at a feed store is 6. If you can buy less, get her two or three at least. Good luck....I really hope your hatch pulls through. I would buy the EE's just for the colored eggs.....

 

[wezl]

I ended up holding the baby for awhile and gave it back. The other chicks are fine with the smaller one. They've seen each other all the time, just haven't been together. The mother is fairly tame, but I don't want the baby to be wild. The baby is almost 3 weeks old. Should I just let them go out with the grown chickens, if that's what she wants? She left the baby several times today to run off with the other chickens. None of my hand-raised chicks are wild, and I don't want this one to be. The biological mother is one of my house-chickens. How do you get your chicks friendly?

 

[Terri O]

Chicklitt and Laughingull--sorry to hear about your babies! I hate finding dead ones...maybe they weren't perfect though and that's why they died?
My broody with the "stink-eye" is doing great today! I couldnt believe there were 7 pages since I posted yesterday! I really have no idea what kind of hen she is...just that all the eggs are from various hens in the coop. I was going to pick them up when she started sitting on them but not real tight. She must have been on then enough though! She ended up with 12 or 13 babies. Kept getting a different number every time I counted

. There were 3 eggs left that were bad. (really stinky!!!)

So my broody that hatched hers a few days before Easter has definitely abandoned the babies! They have been sleeping in a chicky heap together in the coop for 4 nights now. I got to wondering where the Mom went...you guessed it! She is back up in the ceiling panels of the coop on more eggs! I guess she figured that the other hens would watch her babies! So different from the one last year that kept hers with her until they were the same size as her! So this hen was on about 40 eggs!!! I was wondering where all my eggs had gone! I took 20 and set two more broodies that just wont quit and left the rest with her...It will be interesting to see what she hatches!

In other news I think my guineas are ready to sit too! I am excited about having guinea babies! The hen should hatch her guineas the same time the guinea does..then I will try to put them together with the hen because they are much better mothers.

Too many babies to count methinks! The geese havent even started hatching yet! Good night! Terri O

 

[Fuffy]

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OMG! I'd be soooo tempted to have 2 of each ...just in case of mishaps, you understand

 

[DAFox]

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In my experience, the more protective the broody, the wilder the chicks.
I take chicks away from Mom when they are fully feathered. Then I start the taming process.
For me, that means, squatting down and putting food really close to me. After a few days of that, then, I start petting. Those that tolerate getting pet get to eat first.
Dale-Ann

 

[stonykill]

well my 3rd broody Sumatra this year seems to have her wings full

. I don't mean literally.... but the 1st born is being a pain in her butt.....trying to investigate. And she JUST hatched one an hour ago. I have no idea how many she has, but there is a decent amount of peeping. By tomorrow she will strut them out for me to see and take pics of. She may even give me a little peek later. I won't force it.

See I take the oposite approach of many here. I let mama do her thing. I try not to bug her. I let her raise them, her way. Being they say chickens are decendents of dinosaurs, I think they know how to be chickens better than I do.

. Not that there is anything wrong with the other way, but I know mama knows how to be a chicken better than I do.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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Lets hope mama will stay till tomorrow,

It'll going to be so much fun to watch her with her new babies no matter how she gets them.. I'd coose EE or BO's but what ever you decide they'll be great. looking forward to hearing, oh yea at least 2or3. thats plenty of room for the amt. of chcikens you have.

TerriO, I have a couple of mamas that have pretty much stopped mothering during the day, but still get with their chicks at night, it's so funny to see mama sitting on the perch with her chicks under her and on top.

But I have 1 my frizzle bantam that still has her 2 with her and they will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, she is so tiny they are catching up to her fast.
can you believe next week dawng you'll have chicks? 3 weeks goes by fast.
stony I never take chciks from mama either, I agree with you, she can do a much better job than I, after they are weaned I start making friends, the way to a chickens heart is deff. through it's stomach

and if I need to handle them at all I just wait till they go to roost then pick them up. some I never get to cuddle but I do have some that I can. Happy Hatching. To You All, and looking forward to pics...

 

[kingdr85]

They hatched, they hatched, they hatched!!!!

My silkie hen hatched 2 chicks out of six eggs (the other four eggs were too pourous and did not developed). The eggs are not hers (I do not have a rooster), the eggs came from a near by farm that has a cluster of chicken breeds so who knows what I got. One of the chicks is kind of cinammon colored (kind of blue laced coloring) and the other one is black with a big white/yellow DOT on the head. They are beautiful!

I'll post some pictures later......my kids are so eggcited.

The hen is being a great mom and she lets me do whatever I want with her and the chicks. I can pretty much put my hand right underneath and pull the chick and she has no problem with me doing so.

 

[stonykill]

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congrats!