Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

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bobbieschicks said:
Well, now it looks like the roosters are sticking around another week or two because our friend wants to build a coop before taking the roosters. I guess it's a good thing. I didn't like that he didn't provide them with a shelter other then his porch and a fox ate two of the previous roosters we gave him. But at the same time now Smokey and her babies are still in the adjacent coop area and I need that area for the two brooder chicks. I'm praying that Foghorn's attack on the little chick was a fluke and that he won't try it again - but this time I think Smokey will protect her chicks better.

Tomorrow since it's supposed to be a warm and beautiful day, I plan to kick everyone out to "freerange" and take that opportunity to move Smokey & her babies over to the big coop and see what everyone does. I'll put a cat carrier down there with shavings in the bottom for her to stay in if she needs to have a place to hide them. I absolutely have to get those two chicks out of the house brooder and into the coop - the feather dust is driving me crazy! So either Smokey & her babies go in the cat carrier or those two 5 week olds will - either way I am moving chicks tomorrow.
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What breed are your 2 5 week olds? and hopefully Foghorn will be better once they are all together.
 
SO my silkie is sitting on her new eggs. Good thing too as my favorite little girl died today. I guess new life begins at the end of another one.
 
williamsl77 said:
Also for those of you with experience with broodies... I need to move her back to my coop. She has been in my basement for almost 2 weeks at 65 degrees. The coop in New Hampshire gets pretty cold at night. She is also pretty skinny after sitting on these eggs for 3 weeks. Her breast bone is very prominent. She seems like her appetite is picking up and I have been keeping her food dish completely full and giving her treats trying to fatten her up again. I have a crate that I can put her in in the coop with a heat lamp if need be. I have read that I should get her back in there sooner rather than later, so I think I will put her in tomorrow. The high during the day tomorrow is supposed to be 60, though it is supposed to be cold again by the weekend. Anyway... will it be tough for her going back in after spending two weeks in the warmer basement? Wondering thoughts on that.
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I brought 2 broodies into the cellar last sunday. they will be in until it warms up. I have 3 broodies outside with eggs due to hatch this week. they will be staying outside. I have another 2 broodies that I gave eggs to today. I am worried about the girls that are close to hatch outside. Hopefully nobody will get seperated from mom and freeze to death. I personally have had bad luck having girls hatch in general population.
 
Jakrat, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss
hugs.gif
I pray that the silkie's new eggs will hatch you out some beautiful healthy chicks and that your memories of your favorite girl will give you comfort.

Bobbie

JakRat said:
SO my silkie is sitting on her new eggs. Good thing too as my favorite little girl died today. I guess new life begins at the end of another one.
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bobbieschicks said:
Jakrat, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss
hugs.gif
I pray that the silkie's new eggs will hatch you out some beautiful healthy chicks and that your memories of your favorite girl will give you comfort.

Bobbie
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Thank you so much. It is really hard for me because I tried so hard to keep her alive. She started to pass while I was trying to feed her yogurt and water. There is some relief though, she isnt suffering anymore and I actually slept last night.

I feel much more comfortable with my Silkie girl inside now. I can monitor her and she isnt being knocked out of her nest for the other girls to lay their eggs. I can also monitor her food intake better.

On a different topic, I saw somewhere that if you candle your eggs to early you can kill the chick due to it being so sensitive. Is this true?
 
There is always that risk - and also the risk you will drop the egg. Our 1st hatch we candled every single day because we were doing it for a homeschool science project and we didn't really take as much care to handle them gently as I do with my more expensive shipped eggs. But we still ended up with 6 out of 12 shipped eggs hatching and that's about average. Keep the egg with the large end up (air sac up) as you candle and try not to shake it around - that will help.

I usually wait until Day 7 to candle because there is less risk once they've started to grow that big and you can tell better that they are growing. Day 3 is hard to see the growth unless you have white shelled eggs. You know you don't have to candle at all - one time I didn't and I still ended up hatching out about half of the shipped eggs. I just removed any stinkers - and you can tell those right away - there's no mistaking them. They smell almost as bad as a broody's poop! I usually Candle on Day 14 and Day 18 too - because Day 14 tells me they are developing properly and Day 18 tells me how many are viable at lockdown-something you don't need to worry about with the broody.

If you don't have much experience candling, then I would err on the side of saying that they were developing even if they weren't. You will know by Day 25 whether they will hatch. And remember to be patient with them. Sometimes you think there must be nothing going on and then suddenly you'll get a pip. :)


JakRat said:
Thank you so much. It is really hard for me because I tried so hard to keep her alive. She started to pass while I was trying to feed her yogurt and water. There is some relief though, she isnt suffering anymore and I actually slept last night.

I feel much more comfortable with my Silkie girl inside now. I can monitor her and she isnt being knocked out of her nest for the other girls to lay their eggs. I can also monitor her food intake better.

On a different topic, I saw somewhere that if you candle your eggs to early you can kill the chick due to it being so sensitive. Is this true?
Click to expand...
 

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