Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

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Excellent news!!!!!

She obviously thinks she can cover 12+ eggs! I'm curious to hear what the experts have to say.

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Good luck with your hatch
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Should I candle now or give then all a few more days so it will be easier to see what is going on?
 
I believe Saturday that she first stayed out over night.

I just took her food and water, and she has kicked out 4, leaving 12
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You should be able to see something by now. How dark are the shells? The lighter the shell color the clearer you can see. Good luck! Are we hoping for all 12 to be good or would you prefer less??
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I hope none of you mind my taking the hen in "broody hen hatch-a-long" so loosely.
I candeled tonight. Of the 4 that were rolled out 3 were duds. I candled some from the outside and removed another 4, leaving her with 9...I think she must have learned chicken math!
 
Chicks~ One week + 3 days old:

Sooo, AliceAnn has the peeps out free ranging with the flock, today.
Like all loose, in the pasture...exposed....
She had them out, in the run, on Day 2. This gave me nightmares, but all went well, and she kept them in the coop for the next 4 days after, so I relaxed.
Then, yesterday, she had them outside, on the upper pasture , but quite close to the run door, and not for very long.
Today, she fled the run along with the rest of the flock (they yearn to be free, despite "bearing confinement well"), the peeps in tow.
They have been out there all afternoon.
It is so hard to let her raise them, after having raised her in a brooder, with a heat lamp, and a thermometer, at 95 degrees for the first week, subtracting 5 degrees a week, in a perfectly hygienic environment, for 6 full weeks before letting them out into their enclosed coop, where I still continued to leave my bedroom window open so I could hear if they "were in trouble".

She has them out in 55 degree weather, eating bugs and dirt, with no human protection whatever (but that I am still listening with bionic Mother Hearing), and they are the happiest, strongest, fastest little self-sufficient peeps I ever saw.
I am a firm believer in doing it Nature's Way, and I have really applied myself to leaving Her the "H" alone....
I know it is the rightest thing in the world to do...but oh how it tests my Faith!!!

...I know, Stony, et al...chickens know how to be chickens better than we do.
My mantra, as I sip tea, pray, and try not to stalk them...
 
Rachel'sFlock :

Chicks~ One week + 3 days old:

Sooo, AliceAnn has the peeps out free ranging with the flock, today.
Like all loose, in the pasture...exposed....
She had them out, in the run, on Day 2. This gave me nightmares, but all went well, and she kept them in the coop for the next 4 days after, so I relaxed.
Then, yesterday, she had them outside, on the upper pasture , but quite close to the run door, and not for very long.
Today, she fled the run along with the rest of the flock (they yearn to be free, despite "bearing confinement well"), the peeps in tow.
They have been out there all afternoon.
It is so hard to let her raise them, after having raised her in a brooder, with a heat lamp, and a thermometer, at 95 degrees for the first week, subtracting 5 degrees a week, in a perfectly hygienic environment, for 6 full weeks before letting them out into their enclosed coop, where I still continued to leave my bedroom window open so I could hear if they "were in trouble".

She has them out in 55 degree weather, eating bugs and dirt, with no human protection whatever (but that I am still listening with bionic Mother Hearing), and they are the happiest, strongest, fastest little self-sufficient peeps I ever saw.
I am a firm believer in doing it Nature's Way, and I have really applied myself to leaving Her the "H" alone....
I know it is the rightest thing in the world to do...but oh how it tests my Faith!!!

...I know, Stony, et al...chickens know how to be chickens better than we do.
My mantra, as I sip tea, pray, and try not to stalk them...

Just wait 'til ya get to 6 weeks!!!!!
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Congratulations!

(I still stalk them but they are doing JUST fine without me .... <sigh>)​
 

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