Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Miss Lydia]

Here is a picture of our first chicks! She has 6 but one must be hiding..lol. We had 9 eggs in the clutch, one was not fertile, one was fully developed but did not hatch, and one hatched and she killed for some reason. So 6 is a nice number for her start with. They are SO cute!!

Adorable, congrats!

 

[Haloclimb]

Only just hit the one week mark....why can't time go faster!?
At least some are developing. I'm going to candle all the eggs tonight-I hope they're all doing well! I think we have a blood ring case in one already :/

At the very least, the broody hen has been sitting tight, and only one or two of the other hens has squished by her and laid another egg under her (that I took out)
Lets hope everything goes well and they hatch without hassle!

 

[bobbieschicks]

hi guys i haven't posted on this for a bit this doesn't really have anything to do with hatching but everyone here knows chickens well so i wanted to ask .... i have a pair of old english game bantams/ frizzles ... the roo ignores the hen now and goes after my mille fleurs and my little game bantam hen is lonely and she can't eat because she is so scared of my bigger hens but my mille fleur pair are fine the hen is a little bigger then my game bantam hen but she does well i think it might be cause the roo is not with her to protect her and help her ... and my game bantam roo is more interested in my mille fleur hen and he is making my breeding stock bad so i wont get any pure bred's from my mille fleurs any ideas how i can help her and get him to stop mating with my mille fleur hen

You can separate them. Put him in a pen by himself until heis needed to procreate. He's a rooster, he's not going to stop mating his favorite. She's probably easy for him so he will keep it up. You an try putting some no pecking stuff on her comb so when he mounts and grabs next time he gets an awful taste, that might deter him. But seriously he's going to keep mating the ones he can mate and if she's easy to catch she's going to keep being mated.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Alright! Nothing yet... I was really sad . I was talking to the egg, cupped in my hand, and it wiggled!!! I put it under the broody fast!!! So, if they wiggle.. about how many hours until they hatch? Haha.... my mom thought it was supposed to hatch tomorrow, but I thought today. OH well.....

Any time now. I'd put it under the broody and leave it alone. Hope you wake up to a chick.

 

[karlamaria]

Anyone know where the link is to chick development here ? My clutch is now on day five, night 6 ( put the eggs under her last Sunday evening) I want to know how to again candle and see how there suposed to look during the stages of development . Not sure at wha day to candle etc . Thank you, I can not wait, this is always so exciting, our clutch of 11 ( she ate one ) is a toss up. Got 3 dozen eggs from different farms , there is EE eggs, rhode island reds, light brahma, bared rocks, . Soooo exciting. I'm hoping for bared rock, and for EE's and a light Brahama. Picked out 12 eggs from the three dozen, who knows what I'm going to get lol.

 

[karlamaria]

Here is a picture of our first chicks! She has 6 but one must be hiding..lol. We had 9 eggs in the clutch, one was not fertile, one was fully developed but did not hatch, and one hatched and she killed for some reason. So 6 is a nice number for her start with. They are SO cute!!

Awwwwwww so cute!

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Miss Lydia, congrats! Adorable. I like your nest box, hope you don't mind but I think I will try to copy it.

I have a Pekin Duck that started setting on Aug. 5. I did notice she was more restless than usual, and sure enough last night I hear peeps and tapping! This is my first time and it was super exciting, I could hardly sleep. Will try to give the condensed version here. I still have no complete hatches since I last checked, although I did see feet and it seemed that the egg had totally split but the duckling needed to stretch to get out. Anyway, I'm leaving that alone for now. I just wanted to ask the community if it is normal or common for the hatchlings to be very quiet after the first stage of hatching? (Mama Pekin rejected and kicked out the first egg). Since we are already on Day 33 I really think I should cull the remaing eggs... What's the community's advice there? If none of this hatch survive, can I just give her some new eggs to "adopt"? Finally, does anyone have advice for uploading pics with iPhone? thanks. Good luck with your hatches everyone!

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Oops, I meant bwindell!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Miss Lydia, congrats! Adorable. I like your nest box, hope you don't mind but I think I will try to copy it.
I have a Pekin Duck that started setting on Aug. 5. I did notice she was more restless than usual, and sure enough last night I hear peeps and tapping! This is my first time and it was super exciting, I could hardly sleep. Will try to give the condensed version here. I still have no complete hatches since I last checked, although I did see feet and it seemed that the egg had totally split but the duckling needed to stretch to get out. Anyway, I'm leaving that alone for now. I just wanted to ask the community if it is normal or common for the hatchlings to be very quiet after the first stage of hatching? (Mama Pekin rejected and kicked out the first egg). Since we are already on Day 33 I really think I should cull the remaing eggs... What's the community's advice there? If none of this hatch survive, can I just give her some new eggs to "adopt"? Finally, does anyone have advice for uploading pics with iPhone?

thanks. Good luck with your hatches everyone!

Ducklings can take up to 36 hrs to hatch and they rest in between so if quiet then they are resting, it's hard work you know. Try to let mama take care of everything. Anyone out yet?

 

[SmittenChicken]

Hatch day for our Black Star hen has arrived! So far we have 1 little Speckled Sussex chick running around, plus an EE chick that's totally dry and a Blue Andalusian that's started to pip. I can't actually get a glimpse of most of the eggs, so hopefully there's more going on under there.