Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

i am not sure if i could put baby chicks in with my broody hen  who is sitting on a lot of eggs about nine eggs and she is a bantam she can move them by her self and she can keep them all under her and she is only small but i am afraid to put some young day olds in with her or under her i don't want them to die any ideas ??


Are you just considering options if the eggs don't hatch? Because once you put the chicks under her she will most likely abandon her sitting duties shortly after and start tending to the chicks.

She will be fine sitting on the day olds. Slip them in at dark and be sure they are as close to day old as possible. She will most likely accept them as her own but it would be good to check on them first thing in the morning. Time it so you are able to do that.

My Topsy, a small Silkie, did just fine with hatching and mothering her two silkie chicks on her first attempt at being broody. My Smokey, a small Araucana, has hatched both LF and bantam chicks and she did just fine covering them all.

I wouldn't worry about your bantam covering her chicks unless you start putting a bunch of LF chicks under her. It's not so much when they are day olds that you would have problems. It's more when they are three or four weeks old and still trying to get under her for warmth, especially in winter.
 
Eeek!!! I'm SO EXCITED! We weren't sure about the broody's, since they were fighting over eggs, stealing them from each other, and just being 'not-the-best' broody's. If a chick hatched,we didn't know what they'd do, since this is their first time. My mom went out at 2:00 am, nothing. We just went out like 10 minutes ago and my mom was like, "Do you hear that chirping?" It was really loud! It turned out to be a wild bird.... well. I got in there and Houdinni was under Daisy's armpits, she must've liked that... Well, Houdinni forgot about 2 eggs, or maybe not. One of the brown eggs was broken.. in half. One half was by the other two eggs, the other under Houdinni. AHHH!!! YES!!!!! One of the second eggs who piped yesterday had hatched! It looks like a light brahama, yellow with tiny furry legs! Except, they birds are all mixes, and it has a black dot on it's head. We're calling her/him Dot! It looks like she just hatched 30 minutes ago, she wasn't wet, nor dry. She was all cuddled under Daisy, and Daisy was trying to protect her from my hand. Turns out these two can be good mothers :). Houdinni had slided over so the chick could get out (I'm guessing) and after it was out, forgot about the other two eggs. IT was a bantam egg and I think another light brown egg. The bantam egg had a hole about a cm. big, and cracks all around it. The bantam is yellow looking :). They were cold.. .the bantam egg was still moving though. So I'm hoping everything will be alright,and my brother and I are going to check back around 6:30 since a bantam egg looked close to hatching. Sorry, no pictures. It's dark out! :). Maybe next time I check.. it is so cute :). After I put the chick back (my mom and I were holding it for a couple seconds) it immidently tried going into houdinni's back, (SO CUTE!!!) Then I put her under Daisy and she went under her wing, and Daisy purred a nice little sound :). Happy endings... :) Well. Not really. Still have 6 eggs to go! And the bantam egg I kept seeing moving inside the shell hasn't piped. My blue egg did! It's not very far along. Alright... done typing... for now!
 
Eeek!!! I'm SO EXCITED! We weren't sure about the broody's, since they were fighting over eggs, stealing them from each other, and just being 'not-the-best' broody's. If a chick hatched,we didn't know what they'd do, since this is their first time. My mom went out at 2:00 am, nothing. We just went out like 10 minutes ago and my mom was like, "Do you hear that chirping?" It was really loud! It turned out to be a wild bird.... well. I got in there and Houdinni was under Daisy's armpits, she must've liked that... Well, Houdinni forgot about 2 eggs, or maybe not. One of the brown eggs  was broken.. in half. One half was by the other two eggs, the other under Houdinni. AHHH!!! YES!!!!! One of the second eggs who piped yesterday had hatched! It looks like a light brahama, yellow with tiny furry legs! Except, they birds are all mixes, and  it has a black dot on it's head. We're calling her/him Dot! It looks like she just hatched 30 minutes ago, she wasn't wet, nor dry. She was all cuddled under Daisy, and Daisy was trying to protect her from my hand. Turns out these two can be good mothers :). Houdinni had slided over so the chick could get out (I'm guessing) and after it was out, forgot about the other two eggs. IT was a bantam egg and I think another light brown egg. The bantam egg had a hole about a cm. big, and cracks all around it. The bantam is yellow looking :). They were cold.. .the bantam egg was still moving though. So I'm hoping everything will be alright,and my brother and I are going to check back around 6:30 since a bantam egg looked close to hatching. Sorry, no pictures. It's dark out! :).  Maybe next time I check.. it is so cute :). After I put the chick back (my mom and I were  holding it for  a couple seconds) it immidently tried going into houdinni's back, (SO CUTE!!!) Then I put her under Daisy and she went under her wing, and Daisy purred a nice little sound :). Happy endings... :) Well. Not really. Still have 6 eggs to go! And the bantam egg I kept seeing moving inside the shell hasn't piped. My blue egg did! It's not very far along. Alright... done typing... for now!


I never tire of the miracle of birth and watching a chick hatch is exciting. Congrats on the new fuzzy butts!
 
Another chick hatched! It was the bantam. I saw it hatch! The broody's are scaring me a little... They both are pecking at the chicks, and pecking at the eggs. They're also fighting over the chicks / eggs... I just don't want anyone to get hurt. While the chick was hatching, both broody's were cooing and trying to get to the chick, but I was holding it :). It was so cool.. the chick is yellow. Maybe more distinct things will be apparent next time I check. I have pictures :). Just have to find where I left that camera...
 
Last edited:
Another chick hatched! It was the bantam. I saw it hatch! The broody's are scaring me. They both are pecking at the chicks, and pecking at the eggs. /They're also fighting over the chicks / eggs... I just don't want anyone to get hurt. While the chickwas hatching, both broody's were cooing and trying to get to the chick, but I was holding it :). It was so cool.. the chick is yellow. Maybe more distinct things will be apparent next time I check. I have picutures :). Just have to find where I left that camera...


Cool. But you may want to leave the chicks to hatch until it's over so you don't stress out the broodies too much. :)
Can't wait to see the after pics.
 
Adorable
love.gif


The egg when I found it...




Dot & Daisy (she was actually being a good mom here!)




Dot



Enjoy :).
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom