Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[michaelinnc84]

I have yet to find any of my muscovy eggs since winter... but I only have one hen. I am trying to wait patiently... LOL

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have yet to find any of my muscovy eggs since winter... but I only have one hen. I am trying to wait patiently... LOL

Michael even if she starts laying doesn't mean she'll go broody right off the bat. But I want mine to wait until March hoping the weather will be better by then. Only had 1 duck egg today, My young drake who thinks he is the Ladies Man goes into the coop and messes with them when they are trying to lay so I had to close the pop door hole up tighter to try to keep him out. I forgot what it was like to have a drake running on nothing but testostrone. lol My oldest drake is going on 9 and my gander is going on 5 so they have slowed down a little. lol

 

[Chicken Chat]

I have another broody sitting on an egg. I had two broodies in the fall raise 3 chicks and I hadn't planned on hatching this year but one of my silkies, who has never been a mom, decide she wanted a baby. She had been broody for about a month and wasn't sitting on anything, so for a couple of days I didn't bother to check under her. Well, she was hiding an egg under there. She was so diligent that I decided to let her keep her egg and have a go at it. If it hatches, I think it will be around the 25th.

 

[michaelinnc84]

Ok, I really got to work on my patients. Plus I am having to slow down some of my breeding on my chickens because I have almost 30 now! Check out my updated flock list in my signature.

PS: How long do they lay during the year? Until what month? Also do you know how long muscovies live and keep breeding?

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[stonykill]

Ok, I really got to work on my patients. Plus I am having to slow down some of my breeding on my chickens because I have almost 30 now! Check out my updated flock list in my signature.

PS: How long do they lay during the year? Until what month? Also do you know how long muscovies live and keep breeding?

only almost 30?

I just gave the chickens a treat and counted 64.

I know they weren't all there. And I have 11 ducks.

getting ready to load the bator as well. But at least 12 sumatra's that hatch are already sold.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have another broody sitting on an egg. I had two broodies in the fall raise 3 chicks and I hadn't planned on hatching this year but one of my silkies, who has never been a mom, decide she wanted a baby. She had been broody for about a month and wasn't sitting on anything, so for a couple of days I didn't bother to check under her. Well, she was hiding an egg under there. She was so diligent that I decided to let her keep her egg and have a go at it. If it hatches, I think it will be around the 25th.

Hope it hatches after she has been so faithful to sit. don't forget pics.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok, I really got to work on my patients. Plus I am having to slow down some of my breeding on my chickens because I have almost 30 now! Check out my updated flock list in my signature.

PS: How long do they lay during the year? Until what month? Also do you know how long muscovies live and keep breeding?

Thats a nice round number michael, right now I am still at 14 but so looking forward to broody season.

 

[PoppiesChicks]

I have 2 broody silkies. They have been broody for a week. Can I put some EE/maran eggs under them now? Or will they stop being broody too soon to hatch now that they are a week into it? I would love to get olive eggers. Also, if they hatch how long should I keep them away from the rest of the flock? Mine are free range so I would hate to keep them locked up. Thanks for your help!

 

[bobbieschicks]

I will try to keep a long story as short as I can. I am a novice with three production chickens that were doing fine. Built them a new 4x6 coop in the summer. On an impulse I added a bantam silver lace wyandotte. Not a great layer. One of the hens decided to start picking on the other two. Was about ready to get rid of the bantam and then she started laying an egg a day for a couple of weeks. Of course I removed them. Then I noticed she was always in the nest box on top of the golf ball. We thought she was her usual unsocialable self. Then my father in law said he was broody, so I ordered 4 fertilized eggs. A few days before they arrived I moved her to a small coop in the garage with a new nest box and her golf ball. It is very cold here in Wisconsin. The eggs came and we placed them under her. She sat on them for three days and then I noticed she was down in the lower part of the coop and the eggs were cold. I moved her back up to the nest and blocked off the small area she is in so she has access to food and water. Any chance the eggs are still okay? Would you expect them to get off the nest so long the eggs get old??

This is my1st time with a broody, so I don't have a lot of experience. But if the eggs are cold, it sounds like she abandoned the nest. The reading I've done says they can abandon the nest if they are moved once they start to set. So the moving could have triggered her to stop setting. Then again she could have been sitting on those golf balls longer then you realized and maybe her body figured she wasn't going to hatch anything and she stopped being broody? My only current broody is a 27 week old EE pullet who is on Day 18 of her clutch and I don't see the eggs developing the same rate as incubated eggs so I doubt she will hatch out anything. But I do know that she will only leave them briefly and that the eggs don't cool off much when she's left them to eat, drink & poop. You can try to incubate the eggs, they may still be okay if it hasn't been past 10 days. We hatched out 2 chicks from our now deceased pullet and those eggs sat on the kitchen countertop for a week unturned.

 

[bobbieschicks]

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Sorry, I saw this after I responded to the other post. Yes, they do have a sort of timer. That's where we get the 21 days for chicks thing. But it's not precise so if she is not sitting on fertile eggs she may break earlier. Yes, wait and try again. If she went broody once, she'll probably try again. Now you know what to look for. Also the advice I got was if they sleep in the nest for two nights without going back to the roost, they are probably broody. Put test eggs under her to see if she stays there and mark them so you can remove any new ones getting laid by other hens. I only have two layers, one white ad one green, so I didn't do that step. Hope it goes better next time!