Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[ll]

I read about stapling up that orange plastic winter fence stuff, I was thinking stapling deer netting up would do the trick too?
A fence or cage around her nest box is a good idea - unless the chicks can fit through the bars.
I wouldn't let the babies freerange when you aren't there, especially the first time. They'll patiently wait until you get home.
Maybe kick all your other hens out for the morning/afternoon?
Good luck!

Broody Jewels is doing fine... to bad the egg are due to hatch on a Thursday... school day . And Friday is a school day too.. I'm freaking out. I guess I can let them out to free range.. but no one would be home so I'm afraid they would go somewhere dangerous. On school days I usually keep them in the coop/run but I don't want the other chickens to get curious... Plus if she leaves the nest to go to the run, other chickens will sit on them and lay an egg.. and I do NOT want those eggs to crack because one of my chickens lay an egg on top of them... maybe I'll put a little cage around her nest box... this is the first time I've hatched chicks in the coop... last July they hatched in our shed (very safe, undisturbed). Gulp... any ideas?

 

[Chicken Frenzie]

Yeah... I'd convince my mom to let me stay home, but I'm in honors math and it's the first week of school...
I'll put a little box thing around her.

 

[Johnn]

My Duck hen Lilly will be on her 18th day tomorrow. I am ready for ducklings!!!

ducklings take 28 days to hatch dont they??

 

[aoxa]

ducklings take 28 days to hatch dont they??

Depends on the breed. Muscovy ducks take 35 days Most take 28.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

I need some advice here....my Polish broody has hatched about 17 chicks in the last week. Lost a couple at the beginning and a few more as there got to be more chicks the pipped ones I think were getting pecked and stepped. One for sure I found had not absorbed the yolk, I cleaned up it's feet which had yolk and shaving stuck to it and tucked it back under mom but it didn't make it. She still have 7 eggs and is pretty committed to them still but is getting out and letting the chicks wander around so I stopped putting a little bowl of water and food in the box because it's so tight in there.....I found a chick dead last night and thought maybe it was because maybe it was unable to get out of the box (there's a pretty good hop to get out but the others were doing it with ease) and didn't have food and water all day. This morning everyone was fine but I just went out to check on them and mom and most of the chicks were out and there was another dead one towards the back of the box.

So she now has only 9 (another EE broody has 4 of the Polish eggs). They're in a box that's about 12"x16" and the space outside the box is about 4'x4'. Do you think they're getting squished. There's no apparent reason on these chicks. They were all bopping around, vents are clear, eyes looked good...and now they're dead.

I pulled two of the remaining 7 eggs and I see one is pipped. Should I give it to the EE broody who only has 4 chicks with 2 more to hatch? Here's the issue with that one....she's in a box about the same size but it's about 2' off the ground and her older chicks are getting active. When I went up this morning one was down below.....all the other chickens and the roo were on the FAR end of the run to give her space so they're not going to hurt them but I was hoping her other two eggs would hatch today and then I'd move her and her crew to my grow out pen.

Should I move the pipped egg to the EE? Is my Polish too crowded?

 

[aoxa]

I need some advice here....my Polish broody has hatched about 17 chicks in the last week. Lost a couple at the beginning and a few more as there got to be more chicks the pipped ones I think were getting pecked and stepped. One for sure I found had not absorbed the yolk, I cleaned up it's feet which had yolk and shaving stuck to it and tucked it back under mom but it didn't make it. She still have 7 eggs and is pretty committed to them still but is getting out and letting the chicks wander around so I stopped putting a little bowl of water and food in the box because it's so tight in there.....I found a chick dead last night and thought maybe it was because maybe it was unable to get out of the box (there's a pretty good hop to get out but the others were doing it with ease) and didn't have food and water all day. This morning everyone was fine but I just went out to check on them and mom and most of the chicks were out and there was another dead one towards the back of the box.

So she now has only 9 (another EE broody has 4 of the Polish eggs). They're in a box that's about 12"x16" and the space outside the box is about 4'x4'. Do you think they're getting squished. There's no apparent reason on these chicks. They were all bopping around, vents are clear, eyes looked good...and now they're dead.

I pulled two of the remaining 7 eggs and I see one is pipped. Should I give it to the EE broody who only has 4 chicks with 2 more to hatch? Here's the issue with that one....she's in a box about the same size but it's about 2' off the ground and her older chicks are getting active. When I went up this morning one was down below.....all the other chickens and the roo were on the FAR end of the run to give her space so they're not going to hurt them but I was hoping her other two eggs would hatch today and then I'd move her and her crew to my grow out pen.

Should I move the pipped egg to the EE? Is my Polish too crowded?

I try to move them out of a box because I have found some squished. You would see it look squished though. They look like pancakes

Have you watched the mother? Polish are not known for their mothering instincts. Is there any chance she is the cause of this? My polish hen is not the brightest. She moves around a lot when laying an egg, so I can only imagine how she would be with babies to keep warm. Polish might struggle to keep that many warm though. How big is she?

 

[3 NH reds]

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Broody Jewels is doing fine... to bad the egg are due to hatch on a Thursday... school day . And Friday is a school day too.. I'm freaking out. I guess I can let them out to free range.. but no one would be home so I'm afraid they would go somewhere dangerous. On school days I usually keep them in the coop/run but I don't want the other chickens to get curious... Plus if she leaves the nest to go to the run, other chickens will sit on them and lay an egg.. and I do NOT want those eggs to crack because one of my chickens lay an egg on top of them... maybe I'll put a little cage around her nest box... this is the first time I've hatched chicks in the coop... last July they hatched in our shed (very safe, undisturbed). Gulp... any ideas?





Know anyone who has a large metal dog crate? I used one to separate month+ turkey from the new batch. Short time frame apart but the size difference was incredible and they had one polt they beat up pretty bad.. Dog crate worked and now all turkey get along.

 

[Kagu]

So I came home to my broodies egs FILTHY. Covered in poo, straw, and I think yolk. Looked like another hen used the broodies box (I don't have a sepereate area, shes just in a nestbox) and pooped in it, and I think crakced one of the eggs or one layed that day. I cleaned out the box and put her back, but since all the eggs were dry they still have bits of poo, straw, and some yolk on them. What should I do???

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote:
Thank you for responding. Yes, I had two squished like that. These were not flat like that. Well, it went OK today, at least everyone else is accounted for. I candled and pulled 3 of the seven left but dang this girl can bite! I had a glove on and she drew blood in 4 spots on my arm! She's pretty rough when she moves the eggs and chicks under her and when one is ready to hatch she frantically starts plucking her belly feathers so I'm thinking they got in the way. The egg that pipped still hasn't gotten any further then this morning and she's on and off them all day so I'll probably pull them all tomorrow unless I can see movement (forgot my glasses when I went out tonight).

My other EE broody that's in the box that's up around 2' took all her babies out today! She had two eggs left, one was clear but the other still had a chick so I put her and the four chicks back up and left her with the egg.

I think they're all ready to start moving around more so these eggs have tonight to hatch. I still have one more broody who's egg should start hatching this weekend so I could give them to her but I'd hate to see her abandoned those eggs if these hatch and there's too much time between them.

Geez, I said I wanted "A" broody, these three make 5 this year!

 

[wildriverswolf90]

Well my buff orp Autumn is broody for the 3rd time this year . I put 10 eggs under her last friday, 8 bbs silkies and 2 easter eggers! One egg was crushed by my queen hen, who is very upset that Autumn wouldn't get out of her favorite box. And tonight I candled them and threw one dud out, the others are showing good veins! :yess