Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[RareBreedFancier]

Quote:
I am looking for ideas for my broody coop to, please share your ideas and pictures.

Well, if you've only got 3 hens your probably not looking for something at big as I'm planning.

I keep ending up back at an A-frame, I'm thinking 4' wide, 8' long sides. I can get 1/2" x 1/2" wire 4' wide and marine ply in 2' x 4' sheets.

I plan to make them devidable so I can have 2 broodies in one giving both a 2' x 8' area so they can stay in there while the chicks grow. I also want to be able to use the pens as breeding pens for trios or quads of large standard chickens so they need to be a fair size.

 

[blueseal]

Quote:
Absolutely candle!!!! You just never know!!!!

i never candle i just wait until day 21 and see what hatches. i will wait it out till this weekend and see if they hatch. today is day 22. the broody hen is a smallish easter egger so maybe she isnt getting the eggs warm enough. the eggs arent cold . i have 2 roosters in the flock so i figured atleast a few would be fertile. my oldest roo has produced chicks before. my youngest roo is only 9 months old i asume he is old enough to produce. wait and see i guess.

well its official none of my eggs were fertile . i checked tonight and she had pushed one egg out from under her so i cracked it open and it was rotten and smelly. so i decided to check the rest and they were all smelly and rotten. no fertile ones this time. try again in the spring. now to get her back to normal with the flock ought to be fun.

 

[coyotesmommy]

Quote:
i never candle i just wait until day 21 and see what hatches. i will wait it out till this weekend and see if they hatch. today is day 22. the broody hen is a smallish easter egger so maybe she isnt getting the eggs warm enough. the eggs arent cold . i have 2 roosters in the flock so i figured atleast a few would be fertile. my oldest roo has produced chicks before. my youngest roo is only 9 months old i asume he is old enough to produce. wait and see i guess.

well its official none of my eggs were fertile . i checked tonight and she had pushed one egg out from under her so i cracked it open and it was rotten and smelly. so i decided to check the rest and they were all smelly and rotten. no fertile ones this time. try again in the spring. now to get her back to normal with the flock ought to be fun.

Ahhhh nooo. Bummer sorry. Good attitude. Better luck next time. I got some fertilized eggs from cowgirl and I had nevered candled before but it was obvious between my chicken unfertilized eggs and the fertilized ones

 

[artsyrobin]

ok, i have one pip and chirping at me under flo, and one of the ones i put under cindylou looks like this.... not a pip? hubby thinks rotten?

 

[dkcrumly]

Quote:
that looks like a pip in the center. If you tap lightly on it do you hear any peeping from the chick?

kristen

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Can you candle Robin? that would tell you most likely. Congrats on the pip too, we'll be waiting to hear.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
i never candle i just wait until day 21 and see what hatches. i will wait it out till this weekend and see if they hatch. today is day 22. the broody hen is a smallish easter egger so maybe she isnt getting the eggs warm enough. the eggs arent cold . i have 2 roosters in the flock so i figured atleast a few would be fertile. my oldest roo has produced chicks before. my youngest roo is only 9 months old i asume he is old enough to produce. wait and see i guess.

well its official none of my eggs were fertile . i checked tonight and she had pushed one egg out from under her so i cracked it open and it was rotten and smelly. so i decided to check the rest and they were all smelly and rotten. no fertile ones this time. try again in the spring. now to get her back to normal with the flock ought to be fun.

I'm sorry to hear that blue, I had the same thing happen back in the summer, felt so bad for my broody That I let her sit again right away on Bantam eggs she hatched out 3 sweet chicks, think you could find fertile eggs?

 

[artsyrobin]

no sound yet, tomorow is 21 days, can't see any movement from that one, there are a couple like that, nothing that definite to tell, where the one under flo is talking to me....

there are 3 others under her, and another 2 under Cindy

they were shipped the saturday before thanksgiving, then sat in the postoffice over thanksgiving and got here friday(6 days from Florida)- our mailman is good though, handcarried it to the door

 

[stonykill]

Quote:
holey crap! how many broody's do you have? Please take a pic of your broody set up. Are they in with general population or quarantined?
I only have 1 broody and 2 other hens I dont know how elaborate I should get.

#'s 15 and 16 are do shortly. These are free range Sumatra's. No broody setup. Mama's are in a safe location indoors (1 in my workshop, one in my former storage shed, now home to many Sumatra's). They are just general population mama's. They bring their little ones out amung the other hens and roosters without issues...ever.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I am looking for ideas for my broody coop to, please share your ideas and pictures.

Since you have such a small flock why not just leave her and eggs inside coop, I for one think it's easier to intergrate the chicks into the flock when they are with them from hatch to own their own.