Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

Awh - so cute!

X2 and i love the colored eggs you have in your basket too.

 

[countrygirl911]

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 .

she got back in the box there is no way to dry it out we did get most of the mud up but its still wet

 

[countrygirl911]

Ok got a question everything was good last night when we went to bed 3 chicks under each hen went out there this morning to check on them looked under broody 1 there was only one chicks instead of 3 so we looked franticly for the other 2 then we decided to look under broody 2 she was ticked we were messing with her and there were the other 2 chicks she had 5 under her is this normal we took the two chicks back and put them under the first broody and she seemed happy to have the babies back do i need to give the broody 2 more chicks so she will leave broody 1 babies alone

 

[Tripp16]

My Little Hen Gracie who went broody at the end of February and hatched out 3 chicks let her chicks go out on their own yesterday, she laid an egg and this morning she keeps crawling in the nice cozy nest sitting down on the egg that was laid yesterday and she sat on it last night while she was sleeping in then nest with the chicks! She hasnt even shown them how to roost and shes already laying again and I think shes thinking about sitting!

But I want to know should I not let her? She has been off from sitting on eggs for 4 weeks and thats not counting the time spent sitting on the eggs. She has been out of then nest for 4 weeks per say. Is it healthy to let her sit again? I will take her eggs if it is going to put her in danger. She isnt skinny by any means and didnt lose much weight last time she was broody.

Like I said Im not for sure shes trying to go broody again but she was definetely checking the nest boxes out with the egg in it....

 

[Fuffy]

I leave them to sit for 24 hours at room temperature.
They say it's important to get them out of any plastic wrapping so they can breathe.
In the meantime it's important that the hen is really sitting tight...I don't order the eggs until she has been sitting for a few days.
And I also get her moved while she is still sitting on the falsies, so that when the eggs get there, there are no upsets.
Watch carefully to see if she is getting up and feeding herself. She won't want much but a little bit of food is important. Once you are sure she won't be upset, you can lift her off the nest and shut her out for no more than 10 mins once or twice a day. Make sure you use a timer and don't just guess on that one.
Also you should be aware that your hatch rate will be less than if you leave a hen to sit on her own eggs.
If it is the hen's first time, I would just let her have maybe 6 eggs. Give her more next time.

Think that just about covers everything.

Good luck and do tell us how you get on!

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]

HAHA! Your broody is a chick stealer! I don't have an answer for you since I've only had one broody and she had just 3 chicks to raise. I hope someone with experience in this helps. I guess I wouldn't be so concerned about which broody raises it as long as at least one of them is doing the job.

Ok got a question everything was good last night when we went to bed 3 chicks under each hen went out there this morning to check on them looked under broody 1 there was only one chicks instead of 3 so we looked franticly for the other 2 then we decided to look under broody 2 she was ticked we were messing with her and there were the other 2 chicks she had 5 under her is this normal we took the two chicks back and put them under the first broody and she seemed happy to have the babies back do i need to give the broody 2 more chicks so she will leave broody 1 babies alone

 

[bobbieschicks]

Smokey did the same thing - lately she hangs out in the nest box almost all day to lay her egg. She's acting like she would like to sit again but I keep taking her eggs. When your broody is ready you will know. She will stay in that nest all day and night and you will get your hand taken off if you reach in to take away an egg. But my guess is first she'll teach those babies to roost. Smokey did that too. She took them up on the roost bar around week 4 and they all hung out under her at night. She started to lay again about the same time.

But you can always leave her eggs and see what happens

My Little Hen Gracie who went broody at the end of February and hatched out 3 chicks let her chicks go out on their own yesterday, she laid an egg and this morning she keeps crawling in the nice cozy nest sitting down on the egg that was laid yesterday and she sat on it last night while she was sleeping in then nest with the chicks! She hasnt even shown them how to roost and shes already laying again and I think shes thinking about sitting!

But I want to know should I not let her? She has been off from sitting on eggs for 4 weeks and thats not counting the time spent sitting on the eggs. She has been out of then nest for 4 weeks per say. Is it healthy to let her sit again? I will take her eggs if it is going to put her in danger. She isnt skinny by any means and didnt lose much weight last time she was broody.

Like I said Im not for sure shes trying to go broody again but she was definetely checking the nest boxes out with the egg in it....

 

[countrygirl911]

Ok went out to check on them again i know i should leave them alone this time i found all 6 chicks under broody 2 and broody 1 trying with all her might to get in the same box as broody 2 and the chicks which there is no room for her so i put her back in her box grabed the 3 chicks one went under her one sat on her and the other tryed to go thru the holes of the milkcrate we use as nests and try to get to broody 2 how do i keep the chicks with the right mama broody 1 was so excited after sitting for nearly 4 weeks to get babies now the broody 2 is taking them how can i fix this should i take the dog kennel place hay all in it place it in cornor place the hens in it the babies under them so they are together in the same thing and maybe try giving broody hen 2 more chicks to make sure she has babies under her also when the chicks are alot older and mom sends them out on their own can i move the babies to a new coop say in about 12+ weeks so i can put them in the silkie coop

 

[bobbieschicks]

Aren't the babies under the 1st broody really the ones that the 2nd broody hatched? Maybe she's just stealing back her babies?

Ok went out to check on them again i know i should leave them alone this time i found all 6 chicks under broody 2 and broody 1 trying with all her might to get in the same box as broody 2 and the chicks which there is no room for her so i put her back in her box grabed the 3 chicks one went under her one sat on her and the other tryed to go thru the holes of the milkcrate we use as nests and try to get to broody 2 how do i keep the chicks with the right mama broody 1 was so excited after sitting for nearly 4 weeks to get babies now the broody 2 is taking them how can i fix this should i take the dog kennel place hay all in it place it in cornor place the hens in it the babies under them so they are together in the same thing and maybe try giving broody hen 2 more chicks to make sure she has babies under her also when the chicks are alot older and mom sends them out on their own can i move the babies to a new coop say in about 12+ weeks so i can put them in the silkie coop

 

[countrygirl911]

Aren't the babies under the 1st broody really the ones that the 2nd broody hatched? Maybe she's just stealing back her babies?

neither of the broodies hatched babies all their eggs were rotten, not fertile or exploded so i took some of the silkies i hatched out a week ago in the incubator and placed them under them they took right to the babies now broody 2 is taking broody 1 babies i have no way of seperating them i do have an empty coop but it has a hole in the roof where a tree fell on it i can get DH to put the tarp over the roof and move the first broody and her chicks so she can keep them and keep broody 2 from steeling them