Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Mtn Margie]

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Mine won't touch the layer's when she's broody. I give her something special every day. But she doesn't eat much:
Dried mealworms
Scrambled egg
porridge
peas
sweetcorn
peas n corn from the freezer
rice with mealworm sprinkles
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
dandelion leaves
lettuce
mixed wild bird food
bean sprouts

There should be something in there that will tempt her. She needs to keep her strength up!

They don't like the extra calcium in layer when they aren't laying. It's almost instinctive.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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Sorry stony for your loss, I am beginning to understand why mama killed her one chick after the one I rescued was in such poor shape and died too, They sure know more than we do. There had to be something wrong with them both. I hope the rest of your hatch goes without problems..

 

[stonykill]

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Sorry stony for your loss, I am beginning to understand why mama killed her one chick after the one I rescued was in such poor shape and died too, They sure know more than we do. There had to be something wrong with them both. I hope the rest of your hatch goes without problems..

she killed it in the same manner that you described ......

I have a theory..... Broody's do better in the spring or fall when the weather is cooler. I think the hot weather is like us incubating at too high a temp, and they, like us, suffer more losses.

Now my other broody on day 18 is nestled in a little cool nest on only 2 eggs. So I'll see what the comparison is....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Finally got to take a picture of Miss Lydia and her chicks. they are 9 days old today.

 

[stonykill]

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what a beautiful Mama!

 

[Sudsy Chick]

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she is beautiful!!!

and adorable babies too!

 

[farmerChef]

well, only 3/13 poults hatched. And one died, so now I only have 2. Checked the unhatched eggs, and found 2 internally pipped, 2 died before absorbing yolk, and the rest died around day 24-26. Only had 4 eggs under the broody, and none of those hatched. I had no temp spikes (that I know of). They where shipped eggs, but they where in the best shipped eggs i've gotten (none cracked, few loose air cells).

 

[Mrs. Mucket]

What are the common reasons for broody eggs not hatching (except for fertility

)? I have one faithful banty Silkie on her second nest of what I thought would be fertile eggs, with no hatch again. Last time one egg was missing with just a bit of shell and yolky substance. I don't know if she ate the egg and shell or if a chick hatched and she ate it. I haven't candled any of the eggs but will when I take her off these ones. Of course I only give her 2-3 eggs at a time so it's not a lot for measuring sucess.

 

[NellaBean]

Broody number 1

Brooder number 2

Broody number 3

Broody number 4, 5 and 6

Kill me now! LOL.

The sister of the above barred cochin was also broody recently but her kids were old enough to be taken away (all 13 of them, geez)....

Must be something in the water around here.......

 

[Tiss]

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Thank you for sharing! Isn't she just the prettiest, proudest mama!