Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Tiss]

Gwen with the babies.

Red with her 12 eggs.

 

[bburn]

Ole Red is in the ZONE....and Gwen looks quite content.

Have a Partridge Rock sitting on 8 eggs....had to move her into her safe place on about day 7. Was not sure she would settle back down on her eggs but she has and has moved them like she is supposed to.

She does not seem to be eating her feed. We are adding something every other day that she might like. Scrambled eggs and yogurt. We stirred a little poly vi sol into the yogurt yesterday for 'just in case'. She devours anything like that but seems to be avoiding her layer pellets.....only eating a little of them. What else can we feed her? Just want her to stay healthy for her own sake throughout.

Due date July 3 or 4th.

 

[Tiss]

Mine really love rolled oats as a treat. Maybe she would snack on those? Good luck with the hatch. Keep us posted!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
talk about stink eye

sounds wonderful about mama accepting her new brood. That was amazing you were able to find day olds, been long gone here. She sure seems content. and Red wow, she is in the zone for sure. Thanks for the update and pics, and let us know how everyone is doing. Hey my hen sat for 21 days on duds so I put fertile eggs under her and she sat another 21 days. She was determined. I just made sure she had plenty of food and water and of course her favorite mealworms.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
This has been passed around alot but still a very good read. keep us updated on hatch.. http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

 

[yorkchick]

Hello, have read maybe half of the pages of this thread, got a lot of good info. I have a Silver Sebright sitting on 4 hatching eggs right now that I got from a fellow BYC'er, it's day 16 today. Pretty sure one of the eggs is a dud but the other 3 look good. I suppose I will force myself to remove the failed egg today. I know it's nothing but trouble to leave it there if it's no good, but I keep hoping I'm wrong since I've never done this before. But it looks empty when candled and much different than the other eggs. Got to face reality sometime, I suppose.

Edna, my broody, is in a wire dog crate inside the main coop. She's been going broody very regularly as long as she's been laying, and she's two years old now, so I finally broke down and got her a few eggs (no rooster here so our own eggs were not going to do the trick!). Whenever she went broody before, she would randomly choose which nest box to go back to after taking her little "coffee breaks" so when I got her the hatching eggs I knew she had to be confined. She will get up to eat and drink a little in the crate, but won't poo in there (it's fairly large, maybe 3-1/2 by 2-1/2 feet). When I first put her in there I just let her be for a couple days but when there were no huge broody poops at all, I started taking her out for 15 minutes once a day to stretch and do her business.

So I know this question has been discussed at length--do you continue to take them off the eggs the last three days or so? If she was on a regular nest box in the coop, I'd let her make up her own mind. But since she has decided the crate is too small to poop in, is it safe to take her off for just a few minutes? I guess what I'm asking is in the normal run of things, does a broody get off the nest those last few days or does she stick tight and "hold it" till the chicks hatch? What have people observed with their own hens? Or should I just assume that if she gets too desperate, she will go in the crate? Thanks for your help.

 

[yorkchick]

Oh, here's Edna, just getting ready to settle on those precious eggs. Normally she covers them so well you can't see them at all.

 

[hillbillycitygirl]

Edna is so pretty!!

I checked in on my crazy broody this morning, she is all settled in on her new nest...I am going to keep an eye on her for a few more days and then candle the eggs on July 1st.

If they arent fertile and I remove them, will she get over her broodiness or will she just hog some more eggs for herself? I dont actually want any babies right now, thats why Im asking.
Thanks!

 

[stonykill]

Quote:
she is BEAUTIFUL!

I can only say what my Broody's do. They get off the nest everyday UNTIL the hatch starts. I've had them get up on day 21, for just 5 minutes, with an egg pipped. Then they tend to sit tight for the next 48 hours or so as the hatch happens.

 

[yorkchick]

Thanks, hillbillycitygirl and stonykill! I think Edna is most lovely, but I am certainly biased! And thank you stonykill--if your broodies hop off up to day 21 without affecting the hatch I'm sure that's okay. I'll take her out just long enough to do her thing. Even now, sometimes before her 15 minutes are up I'll find she's gone back to one of the regular nest boxes and has started sitting on whatever's there (even though it's usually just wooden eggs LOL), then I put her back in the crate and she cheerfully goes back to work. "If it's egg-shaped, it must need to be sat upon," seems to be her motto. It will make me feel better if nothing else to know she's not going to have to hold her poo (or attempt to) for 3 days!