Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[dlynne1123]

I was wondering the same thing. If they each have their own batch of eggs do I need to separate them from each other? Or will they mind each others nest? My issue is they always lay in the same nesting box, so the one who gets the other box may be mad, or aloof about the eggs. I'll try that if they start fighting. The bantam has been broody twice, since last summer! This is my first season with this Red Star but I bought her as an adult hen, unknown of her age. She may have raised chicks before?

I'm so excited! I'm relocating most of my flock this weekend so all the room and time can be for these soon to be babies! Can't wait! 21 day hatch time?

Any other details I need to watch out for? Boy is their growling intimidating!

Thanks everyone!

 

[chooniecat]

don't know how to do the quote thing(possibly did it?) anyhoo-suzettes off the eggs currently eating and assume she'll get back on soon. and counted eggs-17(not good?!) can they possibly hatch 17 chix? like i said-computer is constipated half the time and could research the question but since right here....and the box/heatlamp is really for maybe moving chix off temporarily while rest hatch? IF there are ANY hatches. Have only witnessed cats(i do rescue/spays/neuters) on RARE occassion giving birth and one of those rare times was a disaster I COULD have avoided if I had stepped in sooner. WORRY WORRY WORRY. can I call ya'll in the middle of the night if i panic?(just joking!) my poor son is going to have ulcers.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I was wondering the same thing. If they each have their own batch of eggs do I need to separate them from each other? Or will they mind each others nest? My issue is they always lay in the same nesting box, so the one who gets the other box may be mad, or aloof about the eggs. I'll try that if they start fighting. The bantam has been broody twice, since last summer! This is my first season with this Red Star but I bought her as an adult hen, unknown of her age. She may have raised chicks before?

I'm so excited! I'm relocating most of my flock this weekend so all the room and time can be for these soon to be babies! Can't wait! 21 day hatch time?

Any other details I need to watch out for? Boy is their growling intimidating!

Thanks everyone!

My 2 hens that shared a nest box shared the chicks as well, it was very sweet actually, both first time brooders and they did a fantastic job. I'd just leave them for now but if the nest box is not big enough for 2 mama and chicks you may want to have a brood pen set up where they both can be with chicks but have more space. A brood pen can be something as simple as a large dog crate. to making a small area inside the coop fenced off from the rest till all chicks are hatched and mamas are ready to bring them out usually after about 3 days. Just make sure to have food and water close by just for them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

don't know how to do the quote thing(possibly did it?) anyhoo-suzettes off the eggs currently eating and assume she'll get back on soon. and counted eggs-17(not good?!) can they possibly hatch 17 chix? like i said-computer is constipated half the time and could research the question but since right here....and the box/heatlamp is really for maybe moving chix off temporarily while rest hatch? IF there are ANY hatches. Have only witnessed cats(i do rescue/spays/neuters) on RARE occassion giving birth and one of those rare times was a disaster I COULD have avoided if I had stepped in sooner. WORRY WORRY WORRY. can I call ya'll in the middle of the night if i panic?(just joking!) my poor son is going to have ulcers.

First off you Will not have to remove the chicks out from under mama so they rest can hatch, please believe me she can Do a better job than you. Now if you just want to get your hands on some of the chicks then go ahead and take them from her [mean person that you will be] just kidding of course. 17 is alot of chicks what breed is she is she bantam or LF? and just cause she is sitting on 17 eggs doesn't mean 17 will hatch. And if you are out there in the middle of then night in your coop watching for chicks to hatch, you need some serious counseling. Please i am only trying to get you to calm down and let mama and nature take it's course. Like i said be prepared for emergency don't don't create one.

 

[bobbieschicks]

First off you Will not have to remove the chicks out from under mama so they rest can hatch, please believe me she can Do a better job than you. Now if you just want to get your hands on some of the chicks then go ahead and take them from her [mean person that you will be] just kidding of course. 17 is alot of chicks what breed is she is she bantam or LF? and just cause she is sitting on 17 eggs doesn't mean 17 will hatch. And if you are out there in the middle of then night in your coop watching for chicks to hatch, you need some serious counseling. Please i am only trying to get you to calm down and let mama and nature take it's course. Like i said be prepared for emergency don't don't create one. 

xs2. Enjoy your new fuzzy butts and watch how your broody take care of them.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

(I've mostly posted at the Washingtonian's board lately).

I've had nine SSH eggs under a big old Australorp hen for 23 days now; I tried to candle a couple of eggs yesterday using the sun-peephole method but I have never been able to see anything in an egg, ever, starting back when I was a little kid and we bought uncandled eggs cheap and Mom candled them to sell in our store and tried to teach me the skill, back in the fifties. It's a shameful admission, I know. I last tried with a bunch of EE eggs I incubator-hatched last fall: couldn't see anything, ever, and ended up with 14 chicks.

How long do I wait to replace the eggs or try to break her brood? They should be fertile- all the ones I break to cook have well-marked bullseyes and the hens have dirty foot-prints all over their pretty backs- but I don't know for sure that she didn't take too much time off the nest early on. Now she won't leave the nest at all! She's raised at least one hatching before, according to the fellow BYCer I got her from.

 

[Breshcandra]

(I've mostly posted at the Washingtonian's board lately).
I've had nine SSH eggs under a big old Australorp hen for 23 days now; I tried to candle a couple of eggs yesterday using the sun-peephole method but I have never been able to see anything in an egg, ever, starting back when I was a little kid and we bought uncandled eggs cheap and Mom candled them to sell in our store and tried to teach me the skill, back in the fifties. It's a shameful admission, I know. I last tried with a bunch of EE eggs I incubator-hatched last fall: couldn't see anything, ever, and ended up with 14 chicks.
How long do I wait to replace the eggs or try to break her brood? They should be fertile- all the ones I break to cook have well-marked bullseyes and the hens have dirty foot-prints all over their pretty backs- but I don't know for sure that she didn't take too much time off the nest early on. Now she won't leave the nest at all! She's raised at least one hatching before, according to the fellow BYCer I got her from.

If you are sure its been 23 days I would choose one and carefully make a small hole in the big end. And see what you find. If she didn't sit for awhile during the beginning the chicks might have started developing later. I would wait a couple more days. My first broody hatch the chick hatched a good 4 days late.

 

[bobbieschicks]

(I've mostly posted at the Washingtonian's board lately).dd
I've had nine SSH eggs under a big old Australorp hen for 23 days now; I tried to candle a couple of eggs yesterday using the sun-peephole method but I have never been able to see anything in an egg, ever, starting back when I was a little kid and we bought uncandled eggs cheap and Mom candled them to sell in our store and tried to teach me the skill, back in the fifties. It's a shameful admission, I know. I last tried with a bunch of EE eggs I incubator-hatched last fall: couldn't see anything, ever, and ended up with 14 chicks.
How long do I wait to replace the eggs or try to break her brood? They should be fertile- all the ones I break to cook have well-marked bullseyes and the hens have dirty foot-prints all over their pretty backs- but I don't know for sure that she didn't take too much time off the nest early on. Now she won't leave the nest at all! She's raised at least one hatching before, according to the fellow BYCer I got her from.

I would wait at least until day 25. Then you may want to try candling again. If the eggs are unfertile or not developing you should be able to see the light glowing throughout the egg. If they are fertile and developing you should only see a 3/4 (or more) dark egg and the air sac. But I wouldn't go cracking them open until I tried looking into one or did a float test.

 

[Tripp16]

Well what a scare I got! I locked everyone out of the house today after laying hours and left. Come back home and see everyone is inside including the Broody hating rooster!!!

I ran in, Henrietta was happily on her nest and the rooster was well, doing what roosters do....

She literally has not been off her nest in two days! I did make her get up yesterday to see if she would poop but she crawled right back on the nest. She has food and water she can eat out of her but where is all this going?! I check her all the time to make sure she isnt pooping on the eggs.. (Weirdo I know)

But Im not going to make her when all she does is walk around clucking for 5 minutes then is right back on those eggs.

She is WAY more serious then my bantam was. My bantam Gracie was serious but she got up everyday even on day 20 but Henrietta is flat as a pancake on those eggs.

It took her a month to decide to go broody so Im not breaking her now...