Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Johnn]

so does anyone else have any broodies now??

 

[stonykill]

so does anyone else have any broodies now??

yup. My best broody Sumatra Mama has a new brood of 2 week old chicks. Her 3rd brood of the year.


here they are at day 1

 

[Johnn]

yup. My best broody Sumatra Mama has a new brood of 2 week old chicks. Her 3rd brood of the year.


here they are at day 1

They are cute!, i really need to look into this breed of hen, they look like they would suit me, are they quite flighty and like to free range??

 

[stonykill]

They are cute!, i really need to look into this breed of hen, they look like they would suit me, are they quite flighty and like to free range??

thanks! Some are flighty but most aren't. Depends on the hen. But even my flightiest Sumatra is mellow compared to my white leghorns.

Free range, they LIVE to free range. Out foraging all day long

 

[Johnn]

thanks! Some are flighty but most aren't. Depends on the hen. But even my flightiest Sumatra is mellow compared to my white leghorns.

Free range, they LIVE to free range. Out foraging all day long

ooo mebys they would suit me, i just wanted flight incase a predetor came, and i would love ones that like to free range, i have a huge field and some of the hens just waste it, they hardly go anywere!!

 

[Lacy Blues]

I did have a broody. Her eggs were due today, actually tonight. However, one hatched the night before last, one pipped and died and the third one that was left of 6 died quite a while ago.

She did not accept the baby that did hatch so we had an orphan in the house. Thankfully, I found someone who had freshly hatched chicks within the last couple days so I went and got 3 silkie crosses. I know... silkies? I'm hoping they're all girls. Two blues and one black. I think the black is a silkie cross, not sure but it sure is tiny! Very very cute!

 

[stonykill]

ooo mebys they would suit me, i just wanted flight incase a predetor came, and i would love ones that like to free range, i have a huge field and some of the hens just waste it, they hardly go anywere!!

ohh flight! I thought you meant flighty as in skiddish. Sumatra's are known as the best flying chickens. They can fly 15 feet straight up, fly a few hundred yards at a time either low to the ground or over rooftops. Quite impressive really. I have one girl who used to fly out of the coop every morning right over my head, circle around the house, over the roof and land in the duck pen as she knew there was always food there.

 

[aoxa]

Hehehehe..

Saw this on FB tonight. Thought this crowd would relate.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Oh no, you can still pat her - especially if she likes it. I just wouldn't be lifting her off the nest from about Day 17 until hatch. Until Day 17 you can remove her from the nest and put her out to eat & drink if she's not getting up on her own. That would give you an opportunity to remove any additional eggs that are laid in the nest with her. Also if you can't tell her eggs from any of the others you can mark her eggs with a permanent marker or pencil to tell them from the newly laid ones.

As far as separating chicks after they are born - momma does a great job of teaching the kids and integrating them into the flock so I haven't found a need to do that even though I initially thought I would have to. Each time the broodies have stepped up and protected their babies from any curious or aggressive chickens. I have found that brooding them separately is harder to introduce the chicks into the flock and it takes longer too. Letting the broody do it requires little to no intervention on my part and they get moved into the pecking order easier.

For example my Smokey's first clutch was 2 wellies and 1 AM. They were just a day old and I opened their side of the coop to let her take them out when she wanted to. The alpha roo, a White Leghorn, hopped inside the coop and looked like he was just looking around when he suddenly snatched up one of the chicks and flung it by the back of its neck to the ground. Thankfully it wasn't hurt. But my docile tiny Smokey flew into a rage and attacked the roo & all the pullets standing nearby. After that I knew that Smokey would not have a problem defending her babies.

I was worried that my silkie Topsy wouldn't be able to take care of her babies around all the others because the others are large fowl. But, nope, she's raised two clutches and is on her third right now. She's a great defender of them and teaches them how to avoid the pecking order squabbles.

The momma leaves the chicks usually (there are of course exceptions) around their 4th to 5th week and they are on their own after that. But they would have formed bonds with other chicks and will be able to keep themselves warm by then too.

Thank you so much for the help, very informative. My broody is only on day 5 so i can still check under and pat her, great. She used to get up of the nest for a feed and stretch every afternoon but has stopped doing that so ill have to lift her up and check for others eggs. The eggs have already been marked before i put them under with a non-toxic marker. Bad news though, one of the White Leghorn eggs was in the nesting box right next to my broody's nest, i got there to late, it wasn't warm but i still popped it back under the hen just in case, but there is no possible way it could have gotten in there unless one other hens physically picked it up and put it in there but last i checked chickens dont have hands??? O.K so my eggs should hatch on a Sunday where i can be there for the full day to just keep an eye on things and see whether mother hen can stand up for her new babies. I already like the sound of smokey, post a picture up of her and your Silkie. One day 17 should/can i close her of so that non of the other hens can get in her nest box at the crucial time of the incubating and hatching.

 

[aoxa]

Thank you so much for the help, very informative. My broody is only on day 5 so i can still check under and pat her, great. She used to get up of the nest for a feed and stretch every afternoon but has stopped doing that so ill have to lift her up and check for others eggs. The eggs have already been marked before i put them under with a non-toxic marker. Bad news though, one of the White Leghorn eggs was in the nesting box right next to my broody's nest, i got there to late, it wasn't warm but i still popped it back under the hen just in case, but there is no possible way it could have gotten in there unless one other hens physically picked it up and put it in there but last i checked chickens dont have hands??? O.K so my eggs should hatch on a Sunday where i can be there for the full day to just keep an eye on things and see whether mother hen can stand up for her new babies. I already like the sound of smokey, post a picture up of her and your Silkie. One day 17 should/can i close her of so that non of the other hens can get in her nest box at the crucial time of the incubating and hatching.

They can move eggs... Saw this video here that proves it Also noticed the same thing happen with my hens. Especially when the nesting boxes were at ground level like the ones in the video.