Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
if they are mixed in together , the food in the coop is layer crumbles, and everyone eats it.

Layer crumbles are fine for little guys? They don't need starter?

I beg to differ on the feed. I have always heard that layer was not good for the chicks way too much calcium, now stony finds it's okay so i would make your decision on what you have researched and feed accordinly. I feed starter grower to all my birds when i have chicks, the adults love it and then i put out oyster shell for my hens that are laying. So it's your call. we all probably could really get you mixed up on this one.

forgot to mention, I use Flock Raiser from purina and mix the starter grower in with that.

 

[stonykill]

Quote:
if they are mixed in together , the food in the coop is layer crumbles, and everyone eats it.

Layer crumbles are fine for little guys? They don't need starter?

sorry, I meant they all eat the same thing, chick starter. My brain must be on shutdown mode

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Layer crumbles are fine for little guys? They don't need starter?

sorry, I meant they all eat the same thing, chick starter. My brain must be on shutdown mode

sorry stony I jumped in ahead of you. you can

if you want too.

 

[stonykill]

Quote:
sorry, I meant they all eat the same thing, chick starter. My brain must be on shutdown mode

sorry stony I jumped in ahead of you. you can

if you want too.

not at all, that needed correcting.

What I do is buy game bird /chick starter crumbles from the local Blue seal feed. And everyone eats it. I think it is 23 or 24 % protein, so it is great for everyone. Once all the little ones are grown, and it's late fall, and there are no more broody's, I'll switch back to layer crumbles and save the $1 a bag.

 

[glenstorm]

Hi Everyone,

I am sad to report that my first attempt at hatching has failed. Some of you may recall that I started with 7 eggs purchased on ebay. Only one egg hatched and the chick died today. I found it limp under the momma.

I am kicking myself because I was a little apprehensive at first about letting momma keep the chick. She seemed a little rough with it, but they seemed to have worked things out and were doing better. I don't if she trampled the chick or what happened. It's very disappointing. I'll try again next spring I suppose. I don't have a rooster so fertile eggs aren't readily available.

Thanks for all your support. Especially Miss Lydia. I wouldn't have even attempted this without knowing the forum was here to help when I needed it.

 

[Chicklette 1]

Quote:
So sorry for your disappointing first experience. This spring I had my first two hatches and I only got 1 chick from each hatch. There is so much that can go wrong.......especially if it is our first hatch and the broody's first hatch. Your broody may go broody again yet this summer and you will have an opportunity to try again. I know I'll be much more aware of things next Spring if I hatch some more.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

My Wyandotte went broody and hatched 4 babies, they are about 3 weeks old now and I wanted to ask about what age does she stop caring for them, she isn't sleeping with them anymore at night as of about 2 nights ago...

 

[Fuffy]

Quote:
Lovely momma and babies! Are they wyandottes, too?

In general I would say around the 6 to 8 week mark. She will want to get away from them, and will start laying again.

 

[sassypants'mama]

We had a Rhode Island Red that went broody at 9mos and has just begun letting go of the babies at 11wks old. She still keeps a watchful eye and will call to them throughout the day. It was frustrating that she was broody so early and so determined. We tried several different methods to curb her "desire" without success. She faithfully sat on 4 eggs we bought from a local farm and hatched 3 of them The 4th didn't make it out of the egg, as it was too big and we were not home when it happened.

 

[joysgirl]

I had two hens go broody on me at about the same time and since i didn't have a rooster I left their eggs under them. (They were both bantams and the one golden sebright and the other a black cochin.) Then since I had eggs in my incubator I pulled some out and put them under them. They didn't set the whole 21 days I don't believe as the eggs from the incubator were farther along then they were. So the hens hatched their eggs, but weren't very protective. These are first time mommas so don't know if that is why they are like that. It was the funniest thing as I could put eggs under her and take them out and neither of them cared. From hens we had before you wanted gloves on as they like to peck so hard. Anyways I didn't feel like messing with two unprotective clucks so put all the chicks under the one momma ( black cochin) and she has been doing really well with them though one chick did go missing. Now I have been letting here wander with the rest of the chickens and they have been doing great. Was thinking having more chickens around might take all the attention off of the chicks. I had a cat and dog wandering the fence line often enough. Momma still isn't protective like I have known them to be....is it just because of her being a first timer or just the way she is? I was also wondering if it could be because they didn't set the whole 3 weeks and that's why they don't have the whole instinct but I doubt that is why?? Any ideas?? Haven't had a cluck for quite a few years as I have been buying chicks from a hatchery and then I bought an incubator.