Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Johnn]

i will rather get a broody and a layer of a hen with her chicks

 

[bwindell]

I am so glad to have found this thread! It has been so helpful and informative!

I'm a newbie chicken raiser. We got 30 RIR chicks in February of this year and they have been so much fun to raise. We have lost a few along the way, but presently have 24 pullets and 3 roosters. I so much wanted to be able to raise our own chicks to replenish the flock, but after reading up on the subject, found that RIR was one of the breeds that has had broodiness almost bred out of them. I was so disappointed! So you can imagine how surprised and happy I was when one of my hens went broody!!

We had built a wire cage when we got our keets, so they could be introduced to the flock without being pecked on. It was still in the chicken coop, and has made an excellent area for us to segregate our hen from the flock. We blocked the ends off so it gives her a little more privacy, and she has been an attentive brooder since we moved her in. She presently is sitting on 9 eggs, which should be starting to hatch on Labor Day. I can hardly wait!! I am counting down the days and keeping my fingers crossed that they are mostly pullets as the roos will have to be culled and I don't know if I can bring myself to do that.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Congrats on your broody! Apparently nature finds a way even when breeders attempt to breed this trait out.
It is my understanding that a 50/50 ratio of pullets and cockerals can be expected in hatches, and this has been my experience as well.
I will keep my fingers crossed for you. You certainly got lucky with the ratio in your 30! Last year I got 8 straight run and 5 were roos. I did get my flock Father from that batch, tho, and he is a beauty.
Maybe you can find someone else to take the extra roos.
I process my own, and it is a chore,and one I never feel great about, but I take comfort from the fact I have given them a good life, and a humane end. They also taste amazing, just for the record. It can be very rewarding to know exactly how your meat lived, what it ate and how it died.
Best of luck with your first clutch. It is so exciting!!!!

 

[Johnn]

Im so bad!, im only supposed to have 6 hens and rocky and i have 15 and rock soon!, i think i will only get a hen and a chick off them people if the hen has only one chick thats a girl or it is bringing them up with another hen so she can just leave them with the other hen and bring one with her, If not i will get a hen on eggs and a layer

 

[bobbieschicks]

Topsy on the roost with the 2 week olds.





You can almost make out the white and black blob of chicks under Topsy on the roost tonight - she bravely took her two week olds up there. When I left she was enduring pecks from the older pullets like a champion. Praying she is wise and can keep those babies safe up there.

 

[Johnn]

Topsy on the roost with the 2 week olds.





You can almost make out the white and black blob of chicks under Topsy on the roost tonight - she bravely took her two week olds up there. When I left she was enduring pecks from the older pullets like a champion. Praying she is wise and can keep those babies safe up there.

my orp hasn't even took her 7 week olds up yet!

 

[ll]

How high off the floor is the roosting bar? How did she get them up there?

Topsy on the roost with the 2 week olds.





You can almost make out the white and black blob of chicks under Topsy on the roost tonight - she bravely took her two week olds up there. When I left she was enduring pecks from the older pullets like a champion. Praying she is wise and can keep those babies safe up there.

 

[bobbieschicks]

How high off the floor is the roosting bar? How did she get them up there?

My roost is 3 horizontal 2x4 boards over a sweet PDZ filled manure board and it's about two feet off the coop floor. There's a ladder that goes up to it, but I have seen Topsy fly up to the manure board then hop up the extra few inches onto the roost boards.

She probably walked them up the ramp. They could have flown up, but I doubt it. I've watched them fly up into broody side of the coop from the ground outside and that's about 15" up.

It was pretty cute to see her standing there with the babies peeking out. I wish I could have gotten a better pic.

Smokey is wisely still on the ground level with her two babies.

Here's a pic of the area before I added the ladder.

Here's the area with the ladder.

It looks slightly different nowdays with painted ladder and 1 more roost 2x4.

 

[Johnn]

 

[ll]

Thanks for posting a picture Bobbie! Nice roost set-up.