Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Johnn]

there is something im worried about my Ancona bantam oeflay is tiny and im scared of when the Orp and Maran are big and mate her they will break her back!she is the one at the back in the mud..

 

[stonykill]

a couple of the new fuzzy butts from the other RIR broody. I think I've seen at least 5 different ones. But not sure. She is still sitting tight. She will be out and about tomorrow so I can get a head count

 

[TheRookie]

there is something im worried about my Ancona bantam oeflay is tiny and im scared of when the Orp and Maran are big and mate her they will break her back!she is the one at the back in the mud..

I have a tiny tiny OEG hen and my RIR roo is easily three times her size and 4 or 5 times her weight. They mate just fine, Ive never had a problem with them being together.

 

[Johnn]

I have a tiny tiny OEG hen and my RIR roo is easily three times her size and 4 or 5 times her weight. They mate just fine, Ive never had a problem with them being together.

oh good!

 

[Johnn]

Not sure if yous can remember me saying about my friends chick taking a while to hatch and when it did it was deformed, well anyways my friend has just rang me in tears. She went up to the broodys to shut them in and the chick hasn't been doing well and she was holding it and it had its eyes shut then it took a big gasp and died

 

[Miss Lydia]

a couple of the new fuzzy butts from the other RIR broody. I think I've seen at least 5 different ones. But not sure. She is still sitting tight. She will be out and about tomorrow so I can get a head count

Congrats stony, cuties

 

[Miss Lydia]

Not sure if yous can remember me saying about my friends chick taking a while to hatch and when it did it was deformed, well anyways my friend has just rang me in tears. She went up to the broodys to shut them in and the chick hasn't been doing well and she was holding it and it had its eyes shut then it took a big gasp and died

Probably for the best even though it still sad.

 

[SmittenChicken]

Hi all,
I'm so glad to have this thread, lots of great information here.

My Black Star hen (Kung Pao) went broody earlier this week, and she seems to be serious about it so I'm going to let her give motherhood a try (we lost 9 of 12 chickens, including the rooster, to a fox a couple months ago.) Despite being a production breed, I think KP's got strong mothering instincts -- I've often seen her catching insects for the other two hens and calling them over, mother hen style. So I'm hoping she doesn't change her mind, because I think she'll do a great job.

I ordered her a dozen hatching eggs yesterday, and last night moved her (and her golf balls) from the nesting boxes to a small room within the coop. I originally put her in a cardboard box with a big hole cut in the front, then closed the flaps above her. She settled right in and seemed happy as a clam overnight and most of today, but I eventually decided it would be a good idea to pull her out to make sure she would actually climb back into that box on her own. I pulled her out so she could eat and take care of business (and was proud to see she's got a full-on broody bald spot now), and sure enough when I went to check on her 1/2 hour later she was all settled in on the dirt floor in the corner of her room instead of the box.

So, I moved her golf balls to a much shallower box, got her up again (I'm lucky she's a really gentle bird, she was obviously not happy) and put that box in the corner where she'd just been sitting. She settled on the golf balls pretty quickly and is now back in her broody trance. Now that I've got her settled I'm planning to just leave her alone so she doesn't get discouraged.

I'm wondering the best way to give her the hatching eggs once they arrive. I'm thinking it's probably best to switch out the golf balls overnight when she can't see, but I've never had a broody before so I want to make sure that's really the best plan. When I've presented her with more golf balls she rolls them underneath right away, so I think I may even be able to give them to her during the day. Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks!

 

[bobbieschicks]

Hi all,
I'm so glad to have this thread, lots of great information here.

My Black Star hen (Kung Pao) went broody earlier this week, and she seems to be serious about it so I'm going to let her give motherhood a try (we lost 9 of 12 chickens, including the rooster, to a fox a couple months ago.) Despite being a production breed, I think KP's got strong mothering instincts -- I've often seen her catching insects for the other two hens and calling them over, mother hen style. So I'm hoping she doesn't change her mind, because I think she'll do a great job.

I ordered her a dozen hatching eggs yesterday, and last night moved her (and her golf balls) from the nesting boxes to a small room within the coop. I originally put her in a cardboard box with a big hole cut in the front, then closed the flaps above her. She settled right in and seemed happy as a clam overnight and most of today, but I eventually decided it would be a good idea to pull her out to make sure she would actually climb back into that box on her own. I pulled her out so she could eat and take care of business (and was proud to see she's got a full-on broody bald spot now), and sure enough when I went to check on her 1/2 hour later she was all settled in on the dirt floor in the corner of her room instead of the box.

So, I moved her golf balls to a much shallower box, got her up again (I'm lucky she's a really gentle bird, she was obviously not happy) and put that box in the corner where she'd just been sitting. She settled on the golf balls pretty quickly and is now back in her broody trance. Now that I've got her settled I'm planning to just leave her alone so she doesn't get discouraged.

I'm wondering the best way to give her the hatching eggs once they arrive. I'm thinking it's probably best to switch out the golf balls overnight when she can't see, but I've never had a broody before so I want to make sure that's really the best plan. When I've presented her with more golf balls she rolls them underneath right away, so I think I may even be able to give them to her during the day. Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks!

I've had success both by either removing the girls to go get food/water and swapping the eggs while they're off the nest AND from removing the eggs where they were sitting there and letting them scoot the new eggs under themselves one by one. It just depends on how many I have to swap out which method works the best at the time. And I don't bother to do either at night as my broodies love getting eggs to sit on.

 

[Johnn]

Hi all,
I'm so glad to have this thread, lots of great information here.

My Black Star hen (Kung Pao) went broody earlier this week, and she seems to be serious about it so I'm going to let her give motherhood a try (we lost 9 of 12 chickens, including the rooster, to a fox a couple months ago.) Despite being a production breed, I think KP's got strong mothering instincts -- I've often seen her catching insects for the other two hens and calling them over, mother hen style. So I'm hoping she doesn't change her mind, because I think she'll do a great job.

I ordered her a dozen hatching eggs yesterday, and last night moved her (and her golf balls) from the nesting boxes to a small room within the coop. I originally put her in a cardboard box with a big hole cut in the front, then closed the flaps above her. She settled right in and seemed happy as a clam overnight and most of today, but I eventually decided it would be a good idea to pull her out to make sure she would actually climb back into that box on her own. I pulled her out so she could eat and take care of business (and was proud to see she's got a full-on broody bald spot now), and sure enough when I went to check on her 1/2 hour later she was all settled in on the dirt floor in the corner of her room instead of the box.

So, I moved her golf balls to a much shallower box, got her up again (I'm lucky she's a really gentle bird, she was obviously not happy) and put that box in the corner where she'd just been sitting. She settled on the golf balls pretty quickly and is now back in her broody trance. Now that I've got her settled I'm planning to just leave her alone so she doesn't get discouraged.

I'm wondering the best way to give her the hatching eggs once they arrive. I'm thinking it's probably best to switch out the golf balls overnight when she can't see, but I've never had a broody before so I want to make sure that's really the best plan. When I've presented her with more golf balls she rolls them underneath right away, so I think I may even be able to give them to her during the day. Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks!

first of all leave the eggs point down in the box for 24 hrs when they arrive. Second, my hen came out to eat and when she wa sout i replaced her eggs with fertile ones with no problems. I don't think it matters when swapping eggs if they see, but others may think different.