Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[perchie.girl]

Awww all growed up....

deb

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[effie]

Not only is she pretty but she has been laying eggs since she turned 4 months old!!!!!! I t makes me happy to seeher in the laying boxes--two other BO christmas babies are laying too--my first Bo's didn't lay until almost 6 months but these gurls are busy!! I wonder if it is because they have about 17 ol mid wife hens that are laying machines to teach them the tricks!!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Today I let all of the chickens out to roam the backyard for the first time in about a month (we were reseeding the lawn, in hopes of getting grass to grow). I was a bit worried, since the 4 girls who stayed in the run all seemed to gang up on Gloria and I had to go back to work after lunch so I couldn't be there to referee. But Gloria has definitely held her own, and when I got back from work all 5 of her chicks were alive and well (although one had somehow become lost in the big chicken run). We caught up the chick that had managed to get itself separated from the rest of the brood and I went to put it back in the tractor with Gloria. I'm glad the little one didn't take any longer to decide to jump out of my hands, because as soon as she saw me holding her chick and reaching into the tractor she puffed up and made a run at me!

On a separate note, my approximately one year old Ameraucana Lucille has decided to go broody on me. I had thought she had just been hiding from the other chickens in the coop and nest boxes because she is the lowest on the pecking order and was kind of Gloria's buddy before she moved to the broody pen. The other morning last week when all the others were out in the run and I opened the nest box looking for her, she jumped out of that box as fast as lightening when I reached for her with my hand. Then yesterday my husband tells me he thinks she's decided to go broody too because she was in the box and fluffed and growled at him when he reached under her to get the eggs. I had noticed the night before she was sleeping in the nest box, but I figured that it was just because she was hiding from the others. This afternoon, she was still in the nest box and when I went to reach in she did not run away but instead puffed herself up as big as she could. Yep, definitely broody. I'm tempted to buy a few hatching eggs to stick under her, but I have no where to move her to since Gloria and her chicks are still in the broody pen. And while there was never a doubt in my mind that Gloria was more than capable of defending her chicks from the rest of the flock, I'm not so sure that Lucille is that capable. Hmmm...what to do, what to do?

 

[AinaWGSD]

Ok I posted at christmas some new babies that hatched from my broody BO mamma. I also had another broody mamma hatch some out in FEB. I posted some pics of the first hatch babies and there was one in particular that looked like she was gonna be real pretty. I have a BO roo with mostly BO hens with a couple Barred rock hens thrown in there. So when both hens went broody i just gathered up eggs and sat under them. Well, when the BO roo mixed with the BR hens I got some pretty chickens but an anomally that I want to test. The girls from the mixed mom and dad look like little partridges while the boys are always gray--both batches that way---i want to hatch a third batch to see what they do. LOL Anyway, some ask me to post some pics of what she looks like and I have to say she is the prettiest hen in the house--we call her aptly "pretty girl".
Here she is



here is one of the roos I got-they both looked the same from different hatches.


and got this girl from the second batch--she isn't marked as pretty as the first girl but still nice.

the first girl I posted looked like this when she was young

thought I would post --it is kinda cool to see that they grow up to look like sometimes.....

Very cool! You seem to have two types of sex-linkage going for you here! First, a non-barred rooster over a barred hen should produce black sex-links. Theoretically, the female chicks should all be solid black with varying degrees of orangish leakage in the hackles and the males should all be barred. But it looks like you also have gold/silver sex-links in this case...a gold based male (in this case your buff has to be carrying the gold gene) over a silver based hen (in this case your hen is based on silver) will produce gold hens and silver males with gold leakage. So what you have here is a non-barred gold hen, and a barred silver rooster with gold leakage! Judging from the partial penciling on the hens, your buff may well also be carrying the partridge gene in addition to the gold gene. Buff is such a weird color genetically, it can have so many different genes involved that aren't apparent just from looking at a good solid buff bird.

 

[myby]

Ok, so I'm getting ready for my first broody hatch attempt! I have two broodies right now, a Red Star and and Bantam Cochin. Will they share the eggs? Or should I pick one of the two? I noticed them both sitting on fresh eggs last week, together on the same nest! And gettign along. Also, I am cutting down my flock to be ready for some chicks, any suggestions? I can separate if needed, but not sure which broody to pick if I need to separate. Up until now I've had two nesting boxes and 8 birds. All have laid in the same box despite having extra boxes. What is safe to mark my purchased eggs with so I can identify and pull out fresh, unfertilized eggs still. (I have no roosters) Hoping to get them next week so I want to be prepared and keep my girls broody before then.

Any advice welcome! I do not have an incubator and am prepared for worst case scenario but I wanted to try hatching my own, just once! One to keep my broodies happy, and to get some different varieties.

Is there any problem if you tried each hen to have their own eggs? If it was me, I will find eggs so that each become a momma.

 

[effie]

Thank you--I didn't know that but had to think there was something to it. That is why I love this forum-you can learn something every day. I love the girls--they are so pretty--the roos are too.

As far as your broody momma question eveyone should have two coops!!!!

I have my roosts with boards underneath them to catch the poo so I could utilize the space underneath and it made for a nice broody area for mom and babies till they are big enough to fend for themselves.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Technically, with the tractor I do have two "coops." It's just that both of them are in use right now. Hmm, maybe I could use the large dog crate in the garage if I bleached it out really well (and carefully, it's kind of fragile from sitting out in all weather for over a year, but it worked just fine to hold our rooster overnight before we had to get rid of him). She's one of my smallest hens, it wouldn't be too cramped in there with a broody nest, some food and some water. And I do have a chick feeder and waterer that I just happen to not be using as of last weekend when we moved the Easter chicks to a bigger brooder on the back porch....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok I posted at christmas some new babies that hatched from my broody BO mamma. I also had another broody mamma hatch some out in FEB. I posted some pics of the first hatch babies and there was one in particular that looked like she was gonna be real pretty. I have a BO roo with mostly BO hens with a couple Barred rock hens thrown in there. So when both hens went broody i just gathered up eggs and sat under them. Well, when the BO roo mixed with the BR hens I got some pretty chickens but an anomally that I want to test. The girls from the mixed mom and dad look like little partridges while the boys are always gray--both batches that way---i want to hatch a third batch to see what they do. LOL Anyway, some ask me to post some pics of what she looks like and I have to say she is the prettiest hen in the house--we call her aptly "pretty girl".
Here she is



here is one of the roos I got-they both looked the same from different hatches.


and got this girl from the second batch--she isn't marked as pretty as the first girl but still nice.

the first girl I posted looked like this when she was young

thought I would post --it is kinda cool to see that they grow up to look like sometimes.....

Very pretty and interesting that your roos are different color than pullets and from different hatches, let us know what happens next go around. And Congrats.

 

[chooniecat]

Day 18 and am anxious for friday because am setting up box w/heatlamp in case needed for any that might hatch "early". It will be scarey because my computer takes forever to get on here and read your posts and altho i manage to write some it takes forever and am afraid there will be problems and I will have questions and...want to slap me yet? literally have postponed any outside the home area activities(mothers day included) until next week. keep saying I am afraid there won't be ANY hatches and watch all 15(or however many eggs there are) hatch-that would be hysterical. ramble- will TRY to learn up on possible problems prior but have to leave to get things done today(because-of course-the next 4 days are spoken for!).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Day 18 and am anxious for friday because am setting up box w/heatlamp in case needed for any that might hatch "early". It will be scarey because my computer takes forever to get on here and read your posts and altho i manage to write some it takes forever and am afraid there will be problems and I will have questions and...want to slap me yet? literally have postponed any outside the home area activities(mothers day included) until next week. keep saying I am afraid there won't be ANY hatches and watch all 15(or however many eggs there are) hatch-that would be hysterical. ramble- will TRY to learn up on possible problems prior but have to leave to get things done today(because-of course-the next 4 days are spoken for!).

Listen even if you have some hatch early you don't need to take them away from your broody, she will be able to keep the chicks warm along with the eggs. Thats the whole purpose of letting a broody hen do this,so you don't have to do a thing except enjoy. I agree with being ready in case of emergency, but it rarely happens, chickens have been hatching eggs alot longer than us [quote taken from stony]

So try to relax and enjoy this marvelous adventure you are going to be on, you'll love it. PS and try not to intervene your hen will thank you for it and the hatch will go much better. Keep us updated..