Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

lol, doing great. Still super busy in the shop building furniture. The band played out last weekend. Remodeling a room. Doesn't leave much net time. My beautiful wife is getting herself prepared for her new self employment journey. She finally realized I was right. Being your own boss is the best!
Then chasing chickens out of my workshop keeps my pretty busy as well. Sammy and "mama" were in checking it out today. mama almost got stepped on. She is always right under my feet. Totally trusts me. This is the blue one named mama, not the shop broody. Shop mama is still sitting tight on her eggs.

Hope she hatches all Blues....

 

[HHandbasket]

Welp, we have 3 broody girls now! My bantam brahma/bantam cochin cross has been sitting about 9 days now on a clutch of 6. Another 18 silkie eggs are divided between my American game/EE cross, Olga, and one of my two pure blue/wheaten ameraucana hens, Doris. Olga and Doris also each have one egg of their own that they're sitting on, and they both went broody on the same day.

My Olga goes broody every time the wind blows. Must be the American game in her. She's a good mama, though, and this is her 5th or 6th hatch in a year. Last time, we only let her hatch out one chick (well, we gave her 4 eggs, but we weren't sure on the fertility of those eggs & only one of them even developed).

It's going to be interesting to see if I have a better hatch rate on shipped eggs using a broody than I ever had in the incubator.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Welp, we have 3 broody girls now! My bantam brahma/bantam cochin cross has been sitting about 9 days now on a clutch of 6. Another 18 silkie eggs are divided between my American game/EE cross, Olga, and one of my two pure blue/wheaten ameraucana hens, Doris. Olga and Doris also each have one egg of their own that they're sitting on, and they both went broody on the same day.

My Olga goes broody every time the wind blows. Must be the American game in her. She's a good mama, though, and this is her 5th or 6th hatch in a year. Last time, we only let her hatch out one chick (well, we gave her 4 eggs, but we weren't sure on the fertility of those eggs & only one of them even developed).

It's going to be interesting to see if I have a better hatch rate on shipped eggs using a broody than I ever had in the incubator.

Congrats on the broodys and keep us updated on progress and pics.

 

[RoriStix]

I'm so glad I found this thread! I decided to take the plunge and got some fertile eggs for my little broody silkie to hatch. She has been sitting tight for over a month now. I have been pulling her out of the coop each day to encourage her to eat and drink, but after she does so she's right back in there. Falulah has been so insistent on this that I gave in and got some Serama eggs. I chose those for the simple reason that I was able to get a small batch, and I can tell them apart from the other types of eggs I get in my flock.

The eggs arrived yesterday, and I tucked them under Falulah last night. She shifted about, got the eggs just where she wanted them, and purred away. Today she is hoarding those eggs religiously. The other chickens don't seem inclined to interfere.

Anyway, I intend to put some fencing around Falulah's box when hatching day draws nigh, and then move Mama and any youngsters to a small coop and enclosure that I have around for those "just in case" moments. I don't know if we'll get any chicks, though. Although my local carrier is great about anything to do with the chickens, somebody further back in the line apparently thought that a box marked "hatching eggs- fragile- live embryos" really meant "please use this box for a rousing game of kickball." So, I don't know if there's a prayer of these things hatching, but what the heck. It's a fun little experiment, and if it works out, I might be looking for some Araucana eggs in the spring, providing Falulah or somebody else goes broody again by then.

Well, wish me luck, but either way little Falulah is just thrilled for the time being.

 

[artsyrobin]

don't silkies make funny broodies?? my flo is never happier than when she either is sitting a nest or raising chicks- she has gone broody 3 times since last spring...

 

[RoriStix]

don't silkies make funny broodies?? my flo is never happier than when she either is sitting a nest or raising chicks- she has gone broody 3 times since last spring...

They sure do! Of course, I've never had any other breed go broody for comparison. I think the funniest bit is how she purrs. My guy didn't know much about the broodiness at first. He came in and said, "You'd better check your bird. She's dying or something! She won't move and she growled at me!"

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I have had broody Wyandottes, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers.... so far!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:

any chicks?

 

[artsyrobin]

had a tragedy this morning, apparently our broody EE and a brahama were fighting over the nest, one of the eggs due to hatch wednesday broke, poor little guy had his white fuzz and all.... so i moved her and the rest of the eggs into the bathroom....seems the spare bathroom has been designated the 'broody room'- so she has 4 eggs, 2 look close to pipping.... so much for leaving them with the flock....

 

[New2TheCoop]

I have a question: how long should I leave the chicks with the hen? I have a buff Orpington hen on 12 eggs. When I came home there was a chick under her (it was wet, no fluff). That was at 4, I moved the chick inside around 6. He moved around and would peep when I picked him up, but was otherwise silent. He fluffed out and opened his eyes, but by 7:30 he was dead. I'm wondering if I should let him fluff out under the hen?