Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobbieschicks]

I guess I'm wondering why it matters which broody raises the chicks as long as at least one of them is doing the job? Maybe the communal broody pen with all chicks together would work - I guess it depends on your flock and whether those two pullets get along. The babies will go to whomever takes care of them and make that chicken the one they follow. I think the only way to force the broody to keep their own chicks is to separate them for awhile. Maybe put them in separate pen area for a couple of days with their individual chicks so they imprint somehow. Sorry - hope someone with experience can chime in.

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

 

[karlamaria]

Quote:
can you switch out that box for a plastic one? I mean its just common sense to not let her and the baby go into a wet bed. I would take a plastic tub thats clean, put your bedding in it and set her on it. a wet bed could mean a dead chick, and a sick mama.

 

[countrygirl911]

can you switch out that box for a plastic one? I mean its just common sense to not let her and the baby go into a wet bed. I would take a plastic tub thats clean, put your bedding in it and set her on it. a wet bed could mean a dead chick, and a sick mama.

the box is plastic nice and clean and dry she took them out to peck around and babies could not get back up the ramp so she layed on the ground with them finally we were able to help them back up the ramp and into the box today i am taking our dog kennel placing it in the cornor of the coop with hay in it and placing both broodies and babies in it that way it makes it easier for the chicks to get in and out and so they can sare one box and maybe stop fighing over who raises the chicks

 

[MamaRoo]

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

No, no, that will never work. What you need to do is head to the store and get you some more babies to put under broody 1. If broody 2 takes these as well, you just keep adding more chicks until everyone is satisfied.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Quote:

No, no, that will never work. What you need to do is head to the store and get you some more babies to put under broody 1. If broody 2 takes these as well, you just keep adding more chicks until everyone is satisfied.

Haha! Now that is some good advice

 

[Glasshen]

Sounds like you are headed in the right direction. I really liked the get more chicks until everyone is happy, though.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Haha! Now that is some good advice

I like that too, chicken math in all it's splender!!

 

[Zootopia]

Chick stealing is often a matter of who is the hen higher in the pecking order. As long as they are not actively fighting over the chicks, I'd just leave them be. The chicks will be taken care of and that's really the point

 

[countrygirl911]

the chicks i used were the ones i hatched in incubator everyone around me only has older bigger chicks to sell including the feed store and TSC i got home and found one little chick out of the coop and run for some reason so i picked it up and placed it under broody 2 could not find broody 1 then i started looking she has found a dark hole to get in and under with her babies when hubby is home tonight we will move them to the coop that is empty and put the tarp over the roof so the chick does not get out again the empty coop has smalle holes in the wire on the run so they can not get out

 

[SamJacobbe]

Day 8 and counting!!

I recently had my hen set again, third time this year. She's a bantam Mille Fleur d'Uccle, and a super protective momma. She wouldn't start setting until she had eighteen eggs under her!! So now she's sitting under fifteen and about eleven of them show signs, but a few of them were layed later and just started to show signs. Day eight is today and the eggs are all moving so much I fear they'll hatched out too soon lol.

Baby news

I recently had a Silkie that hatched out about nine chicks, three of them passed for unknown reasons, but the other six are doing well. I just have one question, for some reason, the hatches were staggered. It was about one chick a day that hatched, and some are a week old now. We just had one that hatched yesterday morning, he/she's doing fine, but smaller and less feathered than the others. There is also another egg she is setting on, far along, and still alive!! It hasn't hatched yet, and I don't want to kill it if it's been waiting this long, and fought this hard to stay alive. It looks like it'd be on day seventeen or eighteen, maybe farther. I'm worried though, is there something I should be doing. I don't have an incubator as I'm trying to make one, but the first one melting the side where the light was attached and I don't know how to get the heat lower.
Help?