Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[stonykill]

I like having the bator just in case something goes wrong with the broody hatching the eggs. After I spend so much on fertile shipped eggs I want to at least get a couple to hatch. But definitely love having a broody take care of everything if at all possible.

same here. Sometimes one more will hatch. Sometimes. I do the same, but the chick goes right back to mom. I'm tired of brooders.

 

[stonykill]

After seeing all your lots posts about protective mothers, mebys my orp isn't actually a good mother, she was more protective over the eggs than the chicks. Like if i picked her chick up she would just run to me then walk away untill i put it down. The first time she got agressive was when melow first left her alone with both when she ripper my skin open and tried flapping at me, but now she just pecks me and runs away if i get the chicks, the only good thing she does is that she wont leave the chicks behind when they all run in a flock to come for food, if she hears the tweet she runs back to get them ... so is she a good mother or not??

she sounds like she is. I really don't like the non protective around you. But other than that she sounds good.

See here is the thing. People try to humanize chickens. They like to think chickens feel the same emotions and have the same needs as people. They don't and shouldn't. It isn't natural for a chicken to be held.

 

[3 NH reds]

I am still baffled I got my eggs in the mail last Friday with a 3 day ship so I think all is well but My broody buff just up and left. She had been on a batch before but they had sat too long over a holiday weekend in the post office so they never hatched. I put my pathetic looking fake eggs under her and took the bad eggs and she was good. Real eggs=walk? So I put in Buffy 1 who is just off chicks and she sits overnight on the new eggs and walks. So in the incubator the eggs go. Put the Buffy's back in the egg coop with the fake eggs. Now my NH Red sits on them and yells if I get close but by noon she gets up and goes out but she does this everyday.I placed the real eggs on their side in the incubator and it has an egg turner, I think that is how some article I saw from an extension board said.to and I have the temp at 102* but I am new to incubators and wish my chickens would go broody again

 

[3 NH reds]

Here are pics of the pathetic fake eggs that the birds love for some reason. The 4 up front like you could not guess, one real just for size comparison

 

[Johnn]

Right i went to the hens before and i couldnt start laughing when i went to the hens before, i have Ancona bantam and she is tiny and the chicks are nearly her size, anyways one of teh chicks flapped at her for a fight so she beat it up and wouldnt stop hurting it and it was peeping so i was going to go get her of it, but then behind me the orpington dashed past me and jamp on top of oeflay and ripperd a clump of feathers out then oeflay squaked and ran away!!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I was tossing cherry tomatoes to my chickens as a treat. At first they looked at them like there was no way they were touching those things. Then the EE/WL mix pullet walked over and pecked one and it was like she flipped their switch. Suddenly they all wanted a tomato.
I guess they watched where I pulled them from because now I see them go into the garden and pick their own tomatoes to eat. Lol!

I know the look! After I broke the tomatoes open an left, they summoned up the courage to take a bite an call the chicks over to attack. I had a few tomatoe plants last year And they managed to peck out every ripe spot as it developed...lotta green to toes with holes in them! I know...fence, I've finally go my garden plots prepared nd next year will grow some stuff...so I know they like to toes pretty well. These chickens can be entertaining. Going to see what happens with watermellon next.

 

[Johnn]

The chicks wernt very keen on the meal worms i give everyone today, they ate a couple but no more even though their mother was calling them over...

 

[aoxa]

  she sounds like she is. I really don't like the non protective around you. But other than that she sounds good. 

     See here is the thing. People try to humanize chickens. They like to think chickens feel the same emotions and have the same needs as people. They don't and shouldn't. It isn't natural for a chicken to be held. 

It's natural for some.

Was sitting out admiring the ducks in the pool when Penny (my RSL) ran as fast as she could and hopped in my lap. She was being chased by a rooster, and saw me as her protector. She did this twice in the same morning before I put her back in her proper pen.

There is nothing wrong with holding a chicken. If it likes to be held. Don't force it, but if she jumps in your lap, you don't have to kick her off.

edited by staff

 

[Johnn]

It's natural for some.
Was sitting out admiring the ducks in the pool when Penny (my RSL) ran as fast as she could and hopped in my lap. She was being chased by a rooster, and saw me as her protector. She did this twice in the same morning before I put her back in her proper pen.
There is nothing wrong with holding a chicken. If it likes to be held. Don't force it, but if she jumps in your lap, you don't have to kick her off.

My new hens (like ones that i put into the flock alone) see me as a protector too, like if they are getting chased they run to me and hide behind me so i stop the hen going past...

 

[Chicken Frenzie]

=). The turken/ee/silkie is so weird is it cute!