Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Johnn]

picture heavy...






This is Big Red or Mama Red as I've been calling her and her 4 fuzzy butts

Aww they are soo nice!, I hope my orpington can make it to be a mam

 

[stonykill]

Aww they are soo nice!, I hope my orpington can make it to be a mam

thanks! I'm so used to 4 lb mama hens that these pictures crack me up. Mama looks so huge. Well she is a 8 to 9 lb girl! She is big!

 

[Johnn]

Haha my orpington is big to, shes the biggest hen ive ever had, the cockerel dosen't even try mate her anymore because she just walks with him on her back! shes like twice the size of him!

 

[Miss Lydia]

these guys also seemed to be posing. Yes it is 2 different black Sumatra Roo's. They look nearly identical.


and my baby ducks With Patrick and Penelope. Darn they grow fast! 6 weeks old on Monday.

What can I say, they are gorgeous.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Haha my orpington is big to, shes the biggest hen ive ever had, the cockerel dosen't even try mate her anymore because she just walks with him on her back! shes like twice the size of him!

I saw this pic. in my mind and it just struck me funny.

 

[myby]

My two hens are broody again. I have for the first one 7eggs and for the second one 3. I move the first hen out of the coop at the beginning but today, 2 weeks later I saw the rooster enter in that cage and soon a egg was destroyed and it had a baby growing in it. But she is down to 3 eggs! I took one away since she left out of her for the hole night but what happened with 3 eggs? No sign of broken any before. I am going to move my hen to the coop where the other hen is about a week broody this night. But this night I am going to also move the rooster to a cage so that he does not do this number again. Any advice? I read about covering her with a towel.

 

[LilyD]

Have to post final results. My lost hen that came back now has 8 new babies out of 14 eggs. More tried to hatch but I think they got cold because she had her hands full with the first 8 so they didn't hatch all the way. They are absolutely gorgeous Cochin/Brahma cross babies.



My other three hens hatched out a total of 7 eggs between them and are also doing well. The two Brahma Mamas are working together to keep their babies in line. Nice to see them getting along even if it will only probable last for a bit lol.

 

[stonykill]

What can I say, they are gorgeous.

thanks Miss L. The 2 boys are 2 born from broody's last summer. And of course Miss Penelope and her happy family are just oh so adorable. Mama Red in a previous pic is such a good mama. We are quite proud of her.

 

[stonykill]

I saw this pic. in my mind and it just struck me funny.

I caught the tail end of a similar circumstance here. The black Sumatra Roo in the back (the blur in the back) mounted the Jersey Giant/RIR mix on the right running away in the pic. The blue Sumatra roo (less blurry in the front) jumped on both of their backs and in the pic is telling the Black Roo that these girls are his! The black Sumatra roo is easily 1/2 the size of the Jersey Giant/RIR mutt girl.

 

[Eddy Chicken]

Ah! A place to post.

My 7 month old Buff Orpington started setting on a clutch of eggs on 6-18-2012 (Monday.)

The eggs she was on were a week old out in the 70-90 degree coop so I slipped those out, marked and gave her the next days lay from my other hens.
Turned out the eggs I took away were just fine and all had a single tiny red vein/string running through them.
Oh well, she has 7 fresh ones.

Papa is a Dark Brahma.
The other hens are Dark, Buff, LIght, Brahma's, Buff Orpington, and RIR's.

On day 2 she left the nest for 20 minutes, ate, drank, relieved herself, and took a big ole' dust bath.
She's done the same thing once each day now but stayed out an hour today.

Sometimes the other hens try and slip another egg in her clutch but I remove them when she leaves.

Rooster Roo


Mama