Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Atomic Ranch]

She will stop and let the baby under her to get warm - she will take very good care of that baby.

Here's a pic of momma Smokey letting her 3 catch some heat. Can you spot 3 babies?

Lol! Look at that! So awesome... what a beautiful hen too.

You and Miss Lydia are totally right-- they both ventured out into the rest of the territory within a couple of hours. Like a little satellite orbiting mom, baby stayed with her and imitated her. Preen for preen, stretch for stretch, peck for peck. So funny! I was worried because it's an "only chick", but seems fine so far. She retired to the coop early, calling baby up the ramp. Here's a few pics from this afternoon:





Being protective:



And with the rest of the flock:

 

[countrygirl911]

Well day one went good mama hen happy and brought the babies out to walk on the ground in coop babies had hard time getting up ramp to nest box so mama hen layed on the wet floor of coop reason its wet is because of a bad storm came thru and flooded everything when it drys enough will have to go clean it up but she was laying there with babies under her keeping them warm I got video of them earlier and mama hen keeped trying to clean their feet. Now my second broody we tryed to slip chicks under her but all she did was start pecking it so we took it away guess she knows they are not hers but our first broody is just so happy to have babies

 

[Zootopia]

I have 10 guinea eggs under two broodys, I moved both into dog crates a couple of days after they went broody and locked them in to see if they would stick. Since they did I gave them the eggs and I'll wait a couple more days and put the crates back into their coops (They are from 2 different coops). I'll leave the crates shut with food and water for her till a couple of days after the hatch. I don't want the other hens trying to bother/lay in the nest.
My Maran hen hatched a tiny Chick on Easter and it got out of the crate into the coop. When we went out it was milling around with the other hens and Mom didn't seem concerned. We let Mom out and she took the chick out into the run and scratched around with the roo. None of the other chickens seemed to even notice the Chick. The Maran is top hen so that may be why. She actually booted a Welsumer out of the nest at about 10 days and took over. Broke the Welsumer, but I found her fussing in a nest late today, so she may stay since the Maran won't bother her this time.
One thing you should do if you have a broody and can't separate her but have problems with other hens laying in her box. Give her the eggs you want her to hatch and mark them. Then when you gather eggs, remove all the new unmarked egg. That way you don't have the staggered hatch problems. The higher the hen on the pecking order the less likely you are to have problems with others laying on her or in her box.

 

[countrygirl911]

Ok update on second broody after an hr we tried again to place chicks under her she let the chicks under her without pecking them after 10 min dh went to check if they.are ok and not being smothered amd she pecked the crap out of dh hand so we left them out there and went back outan hr later and they were under her still and she was not pecking them but did peck dh again will check on them one more time before bed then again in morning

 

[karlamaria]

Well day one went good mama hen happy and brought the babies out to walk on the ground in coop babies had hard time getting up ramp to nest box so mama hen layed on the wet floor of coop reason its wet is because of a bad storm came thru and flooded everything when it drys enough will have to go clean it up but she was laying there with babies under her keeping them warm I got video of them earlier and mama hen keeped trying to clean their feet. Now my second broody we tryed to slip chicks under her but all she did was start pecking it so we took it away guess she knows they are not hers but our first broody is just so happy to have babies

wet can mean sick chicks, could you not clean little out and add dry ? Being on a wet floor with babies is not a good thing .

 

[Glasshen]

Countrygirl, it sounds like you did great getting the Mamas to accept the chicks! The wet is a concern, could you put something sturdy, like a piece of plywood, or a low plastic container, put some cozy dry bedding material etc in the spot Mama has chosen to get her up off the ground? Probably the least it looks different the better so she doesn't take them to another wet place.

Good luck with all your moms and chicks!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Wow, lots of information here. 862 pages is a bit overwhelming, I will admit I have only gotten up to page 15 so far and I fear it will take me the rest of the weekend to get all the way through the last page. Anyway, I tried starting another thread but didn't get many replies and was redirected here. Is there anything special I have to do when setting shipped eggs under a broody to hatch? I know that for incubators it is recommended to let them sit upright on the counter for 12-24 hours before placing them in the incubator, and placing them in the 'bator in turners or egg cartons and not turning for the first few days to get a better chance at a good hatch rate. But is there anything special like that I would need to do with shipped eggs before placing them under a broody hen? I've seen several people in this thread talk about ordering eggs, so I'm hoping someone with experience can help me out here.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Awh - so cute!

Lol! Look at that! So awesome... what a beautiful hen too.

You and Miss Lydia are totally right-- they both ventured out into the rest of the territory within a couple of hours. Like a little satellite orbiting mom, baby stayed with her and imitated her. Preen for preen, stretch for stretch, peck for peck. So funny! I was worried because it's an "only chick", but seems fine so far. She retired to the coop early, calling baby up the ramp. Here's a few pics from this afternoon:





Being protective:



And with the rest of the flock:

 

[bobbieschicks]

Great! Glad it's going so well.

Ok update on second broody after an hr we tried again to place chicks under her she let the chicks under her without pecking them after 10 min dh went to check if they.are ok and not being smothered amd she pecked the crap out of dh hand so we left them out there and went back outan hr later and they were under her still and she was not pecking them but did peck dh again will check on them one more time before bed then again in morning

 

[bobbieschicks]

Welcome! You can try to read it all - but I can tell you alot of it will be fluff - ie. pictures of broodies with chicks

I used shipped eggs. I had put mine in the bator until Day 14, but you could just put them under her once you get them. Either put them in front of her and let her roll them under which is cool to watch (risky to your hand)- or cup the egg in your hand and put them under her yourself (risky to your hand) - or do what I did which was put them in the nest when she's off eating or drinking - then make sure she gets back on top of them. She'll move them around herself and do all the work. You can candle them on Day 5 to make sure there's development or you can just wait until Day 21.

Personally I candle because I don't want her sitting on nonviable eggs for 21 days - but once I know they are growing I would leave them alone to hatch.

Keep us posted on how it goes and post pics after hatch!

Wow, lots of information here. 862 pages is a bit overwhelming, I will admit I have only gotten up to page 15 so far and I fear it will take me the rest of the weekend to get all the way through the last page. Anyway, I tried starting another thread but didn't get many replies and was redirected here. Is there anything special I have to do when setting shipped eggs under a broody to hatch? I know that for incubators it is recommended to let them sit upright on the counter for 12-24 hours before placing them in the incubator, and placing them in the 'bator in turners or egg cartons and not turning for the first few days to get a better chance at a good hatch rate. But is there anything special like that I would need to do with shipped eggs before placing them under a broody hen? I've seen several people in this thread talk about ordering eggs, so I'm hoping someone with experience can help me out here.