Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Tripp16]

I feel for you Scarlet! I am going through the exact same thing. My broody gave up three and left one under her. I am getting really discouraged.

I put three 2 week old chicks with her, but if not I would have been so sad for her. All that work wasted!

Well I got impatient and went out lifted momma up and picked up a brown RIR egg to see if I could hear peeping/ sratching well to my surprise there was pip!! I could the chick in there pecking so I hope it gets out ok. The membrane looked a bit white hopefully he will make it out ok. Ill keep everyone updated as the day goes on.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I feel for you Scarlet! I am going through the exact same thing. My broody gave up three and left one under her. I am getting really discouraged.

I put three 2 week old chicks with her, but if not I would have been so sad for her. All that work wasted!

you know at day 20 -21 she can hear that chick peeping and pipping so maybe your giving up too quick, why not candle then you'll know for sure and she can get on with life with her adopted chicks which are adorable by the way. any way she'll be a happy mama and this year is early so you can always let her try again...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well I got impatient and went out lifted momma up and picked up a brown RIR egg to see if I could hear peeping/ sratching well to my surprise there was pip!! I could the chick in there pecking so I hope it gets out ok. The membrane looked a bit white hopefully he will make it out ok. Ill keep everyone updated as the day goes on.

 

[aoxa]

you know at day 20 -21 she can hear that chick peeping and pipping so maybe your giving up too quick, why not candle then you'll know for sure and she can get on with life with her adopted chicks which are adorable by the way. any way she'll be a happy mama and this year is early so you can always let her try again...

The ones that quit on her were definitely dead. Looks like they had a bit of room left to grow. The one I did open had a lot of yolk still not absorbed. My hens are healthy, and happy, so I know it's not their fault. IT has to be that whole mishap with the egg breaking and me not knowing enough to leave it alone. I actually put them under water warmer than the eggs. That was at week one, and they still developed to at least day 19-20. Live and learn I guess :/ On another note, I have a buff orpington that has decided she will hatch a golf ball. I don't have time for her to hatch, as I'm moving my flock April 14th (or the weekend after). I will be getting an incubator as backup, because when I lift her off the nest to do her nasty broody poop, she stays out for over an hour before going back in. I don't know how reliable she would be. Though she is MASSIVE and would cover 300 eggs I'm sure We make fun of her.. We keep saying she is nagging on her man to bring her a cheeseburger.

ETA: Oh and I candled last night. This one is really full, has not internally pipped, but I thought I saw movement. I can't be sure though. I am scared to take it out and candle it. I just lift her up a tad and candle it quickly under her. She does not get angry at me. I have a very nice broody :/

 

[perchie.girl]

Sheesh it looks like they went back to HTML. So confusing. but Welcome from San Diego. I went to your pix at photobucket before you edited to ad the link at BYC. Wow is that an Eglu? If its a small blue green egg ist probably an Easter Egger. deb

Just found this thread! We've hatched eggs successfully under broody hens twice. First time was with a group of three hens, two new hampshire reds and a light sussex. The sussex was broody so we got some eggs and put four under her and four in an incubator. We did have an incident involving our dogs where two incubator chicks died. But the sussex (Snowy) hatched two of her eggs; two barred bantams, which we kept. One was female (Emma) and is still in the flock today, and the other was a weird mix between male and female (Scruffy), but he broke his leg and died. The incubator chicks turned into a female indian game (Dinosaur) which we still have in our flock, and a silkie (named Silkie lol). We were delighted with the silkie, but unfortunately it died caught in some wire (now fixed). We bought another silkie chick and called it Silkie (again) and she's still with us today. While the sussex was sitting on the eggs and raising the chicks, she was in a pen, inside the run- away from the other two.

This group lived happily together, one of the new hampshire reds died of old age or sickness or something, I don't remember. So our flock was: a silkie, a new hampton red, a light sussex, an indian game, and a barred bantam. Passing a chicken breeder farm, we picked up a gorgeous black rock, named Roc (after the giant bird monster). That was all about 1-2 years ago. Our silkie was broody so we jumped in and got six or so fertile eggs of random breeds. And today, the first chick hatched! We had some issues with the silkie leaving them (she had been broody before we put them in), the eggs being left cold for a day, but then the indian game stepped in and sat on them. The first chick is in the picture below, along with my (most of the chickens are my sister's) beautiful black rock.

Oh and we did leave the hen in with the others this time. Other chickens did shove the silkie around a bit while laying their eggs, but we took them out. The fertile eggs were marked with a dot of nail varnish (I think?).

<a href="http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_4462.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/IMG_4462.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_4459.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/IMG_4459.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_2079.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/IMG_2079.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
And the proud mom all fluffed up defensively, she pecks anyone who comes near her >>>
<a href="http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_4458.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac44/fmb94w/IMG_4458.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>



Anyone know what breed of chicken the chick is? It had a pale blue-green eggs, quite small egg, and its body was pale yellow, with brown/black freckles on the neck and a bright yellow head.
Edit: I don't think the pics worked... Check out this thread for chick pictures https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/640411/first-chick

 

[stonykill]

my best broody "mama" spent 4.5 hours on the nest today. It won't be long now!

 

[indi]

One broody mama hen, Mellow 12 days to go

 

[bobbieschicks]

So adorable - love the peek out from momma's wing pictures!

My broody didn't actually hatch out any eggs yet (so sad!) but we gave her three of the calmest of our 2 week old chicks. They are mottled houdan, and she loves them. Here are some pictures of Janet being mom for the first time. She is still sitting on that one lone egg, though I have very low expectations.

What's that think on mommy's head?

Wow, I know.. A lot of pictures.. I can't get enough of Janet's mothering skills. I am kind of anxious for Janet to decide what she is going to do with the egg. She did push the dead ones out, so either this one is still alive, or she hasn't given up on it yet. Once she decides, I am going to let her take the little ones outside for the first time. It's going to be very nice this week, so it will be the perfect first outing!

 

[bobbieschicks]

Yeah! See - now leave it alone so it can hatch and momma will take care of it.

Well I got impatient and went out lifted momma up and picked up a brown RIR egg to see if I could hear peeping/ sratching well to my surprise there was pip!! I could the chick in there pecking so I hope it gets out ok. The membrane looked a bit white hopefully he will make it out ok. Ill keep everyone updated as the day goes on.

 

[Miss Lydia]

my best broody "mama" spent 4.5 hours on the nest today. It won't be long now!