Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

We'll no matter where they lay at least you have some girls sitting so heres hoping they all hatch..

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh my gosh not long now, keep us updated!!!

 

[artsyrobin]

cindylou has a pip!!! woohoo!! waiting on her other two... this one will be a BO/EE....

 

[Miss Lydia]

let us know when you see chick...

 

[lswatson111304]

how do you know if you have pips? Are you looking? Are you aloud to look under them or do you have to leave them alone like an incubator? LOL Or do you just hear peeping? Because I have chicks in the house and I'll probably NOT be able to hear...

 

[pixie546]

All right!! I was at work and was having trouble typing my post on my phone- the cursor kept disappearing!!! So anyway, those blue eggs, the ones that got cold, they hatched! I'm so thrilled!

I was so worried cause not only were they cold, one got smeared with a big broody poop, which is why I think she left them. I had used a wet cloth to clean it then was worried about bacteria, etc... getting all up in there. Phew!!

They are little brown chipmunk babies, with little baby tufted ears! Sooo cute! They look positively teeny next to the week old chicks! Mama was up off the nest and moving around the coop today! It's cold and rainy and gross here so it was impossible to get a good picture of all 4 of them together, so I did my best!



This last is not the best picture, but they were running to get under mama.. You can see the size difference! Of cousre they all stood nice and still in the dark part of the coop! Happy hatching, I'll be watching!!

 

[artsyrobin]

you'll see a tiny little crack... the chick will work his way around the bigger end, it takes awhile, and sometimes you will hear the chick cheeping...the best thing is leave them alone, as tempting as it is ...

 

[pixie546]

how do you know if you have pips? Are you looking? Are you aloud to look under them or do you have to leave them alone like an incubator? LOL Or do you just hear peeping? Because I have chicks in the house and I'll probably NOT be able to hear...

You can see a little hole in the shell, or hear peeping, and sometime if you candle after the internal pip you can see the little chickies head in the aircell! And hear it sing! It's not loud so you have to get pretty close. When I was checking my blue eggs I picked it up and saw the pip, and then held it to my ear and heard the baby! I was handling them more then nomal cause I was so worried that the chilling off had killed them. I at first thought mama stepped on it, I couldn't believe it was alive!!!.

In an incubator it's most likely best to just leave them be. I was glued to the little window in mine, and saw pips when the eggs were hatching. Most times you can see them! Good luck!!

 

[lswatson111304]

OH yeah, I know how to see a pip, but this is my first broody hatch and I'm used to going into lockdown with the incubator and not touching anything so the humidity is ok. so I didn't know if the broody is ok to be off the nest to look for pips.

 

[silkie4]

First broody hen also, actually first time attempting hatch at all. Question: Is it normal for the broody hen to loose feathers on the underbelly while sitting on the egg?