Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobcart]

BarnGoddess01 & Stonykill,

Thanks for the feedback. I'm much relieved as I had heard it's only about 14 hours. I do have another broody that I have been unable to break, so if I need her, I'm sure she would be thrilled to help. More pics coming.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
beautiful chicks and mama! Broody chicks at least in my experience never are as touchy feely as hand raised incubated chicks. THIS IS A GOOD THING! Chickens aren't supposed to be held. I really feel it messes with their insticts on survival.
With this said, 80% of my large flock of Sumatra's are from broody's. As they get older, they do come to me for food when they see me. They are more skidish. This is a good thing. The roosters follow me, but won't get too close. The hens get closer. My favorite blue "mama" (who currently is raising her 2nd brood of the year) will walk right up to me. Walk in my workshop and yell at me for food. I can kneel right next to her to talk to her, but can't touch her. Now by comparison my incubated and fenced in Sumatra's. I handle 9 of the 22 daily. Those 9 let me pick them up. The girls I have to put on roost nearly every night (Sumatra's prefer the outdoors to a coop). Some of the boys will complain, but I can pick them all up without getting bit or pecked, or even the attempt of either. These birds will never freerange. Never. They would not survive.
So, in my experience, no the broody chicks will never be cuddly chickens. As nature intended it.

When I say "touchy feely" I don't mean picking them up. I have 2 out of 30 birds (most from the incubator) at this point that actually want to be picked up and of those, 1 is questionable - he would prefer NOT to be picked up but he tolerates it admirably. (Although my broody raised bantam frizzle is looking like she may be a "pick me up" bird too. Size may have something to do with that.) Apparently, the way it works with chickens is they can walk on me but it's on their terms. And like stonykill, with my broody, the one that appears to be male at this early stage is the most standoffish. He is definitely a "don't touch me please" kind of guy but if you have treats, I'll let you come near me. As long as they don't freak when I move, I figure that's a friendly bird and I'm happy!!!

I'm not a cuddly human so I'm quite content with non-cuddly chickens. Friendly, yes, but "cuddly" - not so much.

I totally agree that skidish is a good thing when the birds free-range.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
beautiful chicks and mama! Broody chicks at least in my experience never are as touchy feely as hand raised incubated chicks. THIS IS A GOOD THING! Chickens aren't supposed to be held. I really feel it messes with their insticts on survival.
With this said, 80% of my large flock of Sumatra's are from broody's. As they get older, they do come to me for food when they see me. They are more skidish. This is a good thing. The roosters follow me, but won't get too close. The hens get closer. My favorite blue "mama" (who currently is raising her 2nd brood of the year) will walk right up to me. Walk in my workshop and yell at me for food. I can kneel right next to her to talk to her, but can't touch her. Now by comparison my incubated and fenced in Sumatra's. I handle 9 of the 22 daily. Those 9 let me pick them up. The girls I have to put on roost nearly every night (Sumatra's prefer the outdoors to a coop). Some of the boys will complain, but I can pick them all up without getting bit or pecked, or even the attempt of either. These birds will never freerange. Never. They would not survive.
So, in my experience, no the broody chicks will never be cuddly chickens. As nature intended it.

Very good observation Stony, I want Sumatras in the worst way. But I want to be able to free range them. I dont handle my birds much at all unless there is a problem. I wont have a broody to raise them up at first. So I guess my first batch of eggs will be the "Stay at homes" next year.

 

[stonykill]

well put and summed up Barngoddess.

Perchiegirl, if you get your eggs from a hen born from a broody, there is a good chance that a hen from them will go broody, and your cycle will begin.

Now the other 11 of the 22 incubated Sumatra's I don't handle them. They MIGHT be ok to free range. But I'm going to integrate them into the penned ones. To give the boys more girls. And have at least a few Sumatra's in a controlled environment. The only Sumatra's I can sell are penned. The freerange/FERREL ones, can't catch them!

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Oiy, I went out there and checked on my broodies. I had put 4 EE eggs under them hoping it'd break their broodiness when they hatched.

Looks like 1 got pecked to death...

I was dead in shell...

And the other two aren't pipped yet.

And I was really hoping this was the end of broody land. I am starting to get really worried about my girls, they are getting thin and not laying.

 

[Niss]

Another chick milestone--the two from my first broody hatch roosted up off the floor tonight

I enjoyed the observations on skiddish chickens. Most of my birds are happy to come close, as long as it does not look like I'm even THINKING about touching them. At times I wondered if I am doing something wrong, but I could get use to saying I am doing it right On a related note, most of the hens will not come in at night...I am starting not to worry so much everynight. Do you think as it gets colder they will move back inside?

 

[stonykill]

Quote:
put them inside. Once chickens get used to not being penned, they WILL prefer it. I have MANY Sumatra's who WILL NOT go in a pen. They roost in a tree in blinding blizzards, tropical storms, and nice weather. Put then inside if you have to physically do it themselves. Otherwise they WILL stay outdoors every night.

 

[Jloeffler]

Quote:
It's a wonder we don't run into each other in the hall going into all these rooms to talk..

I'm sorry, do I know you??

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

T-Minus one day to hatch...
I am trying not to stalk AliceAnn, as she seems so zen and peaceful, nearly asleep, in fact, but it is hard.
It is also stormy out, and my fair-weather flock is inside the coop, so it is none too peaceful in there for her (brings to mind a college dorm room on a rainy Saturday).

I have managed to make it all 20 days without disturbing her any more than necessary, but now I just want to camp out and stare at her

.
Is there any reason I should be there for hatching? I mean, right now, it seems the most useful thing I can do is stay the H out of the way!
I don't want any of my nervous/excited/busy energy getting on Alice, when she is in such a silent and blissed-out repose.

At the moment, my plan is to plug my brain into some (100% free) classic literature on the iPod, and "forget all about" a Mamma hen and some eggs, which, by now, must be positively vibrating!!! (I know I am).

If there is some reason I should be present at the Hatch, please let me know. Otherwise I am going to leave Nature to the task, and pretend to get some sleep.
Thanks again, as always!

 

[heatherkh]

Alice, once I saw that one chick had hatched, I just kept a loose eye on things to make sure none of the other hens were bothering her (our other hens went a little cray-cray when the hatch started) and that none of the wee ones inadvertently tumbled out of the nesting box. Our momma is a BA as well and she isn FANtastic. Babies can fly up to the roost and laying boxes now, so she's sleeping with them in the nest they were born in tonight. I can't believe how fast they develop!

I'm so excited for you!!