Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[bobbieschicks]

Well - I much prefer to have broodies in the spring! That way I can hang outside and watch them with their babies and not freeze my butt off - lol! It's in the lower 50Fs but it might as well be 20F since I can't warm up! Funny how 50F in the spring feels so warm and 50F in the autumn sends a chill to my bones.

I know Stony and AoxA will laugh at me - but I am from the south after all

 

[Miss Lydia]

Topsy has her babies on the coop floor eating and drinking. I think she was happy to be down - she left an enormous present on the floor for me. Gasp!

Then when everyone else came in to check out the chicks - Topsy sat on top of the food bowl so the babies could keep eating. haha!

So cute.

 

[Pozees]

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

LOL good one!

 

[Johnn]

My sister offered to take me to my hens about 20 mins ago, i wasn't going to go because it was dark so then i thaught well if a fox is in the shed killing them all i would regret not going, so off i went and she dropped me off with the dog. I then went down with a torch and everyone was ok, i shined the torch in my face so they knew it was me and wouldn't freak out, but they would have known it was me because i was talking to them, so anyways, i stroked all the friendly ones then closed the shed door and went to the little shed my orp and chicks were in, i put my arm in the pop hole and went to stroke the orp and just as i was about to touche her she bit me!, like really hard aswell leaving a red mark, shes so mean!!, After that i left and when i was walking up the field with the dog i heard something in the wreshes so i said to my dog "psss get it" so off he went and he was running through the wreshes checking all around the field but nothing was there, it made me feel better because there wasnt a fox there when i was leaving.

 

[aoxa]

Well - I much prefer to have broodies in the spring!  That way I can hang outside and watch them with their babies and not freeze my butt off - lol!  It's in the lower 50Fs but it might as well be 20F since I can't warm up!  Funny how 50F in the spring feels so warm and 50F in the autumn sends a chill to my bones.

I know Stony and AoxA will laugh at me - but I am from the south after all

It's 52 here right now. I'm cold today as well. It's all about acclimation!

Wearing my jacket inside. If I'm not active, I get cold easily. Just do some chores and then sit down and watch them

 

[cluckcluckluke]

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.

There is no way my hens could have done what has happened in my situation. I will post up some pictures of my nest box set up, just to show you how skillful they would have to be to do that.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

also after i took the pics, crows started chasing it, is that normal??

That's great if you have a flock of crows about, its similar to my situation. I have a small family flock of magpies that have a nest in a huge gum tree about 100metres away from my chicken run, any hawk eagle etc that come in a half kilometer+ radius of my chicken run or the magpies nest gets absolutely hammered y about 5-6 magpies (very protective), the eagle will only hang about for 1 minute or less before it gives up and flies away, poor eagle, happy hens. If you have crows i would be thanking then some how, i reward our local magpies at least twice a week with cheese or bread (they fly onto our verandah and we can feed them out of hands) just to say thank you. I haven't seen an eagle or hawk around here for a couple of months at least thanks to the magpies.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Hahaha! Sneaky chickens! Yes they can move eggs from place to place. I had put ping pong balls in my nests to entice everyone to lay and when Smokey went broody last time she gathered them from each nest and put them in with her. I wouldn't have known how she did it if I hadn't watched her drop one and then pick it back up. She tucked it under her wing and hopped with it. I was impressed.

I wouldn't count on hatch date - Topsy's chicks were due yesterday but 2 of them hatched a day earlier. So the time frame of Day 17 to Day 25 is what we usually say for hatching. Hope they do hatch while you are there - but it's sometimes better if they hatch when you're not there, especially if you're like me and can't wait to see the babies! You don't want to take her off the nest or lift her up during that time as it can interfere with humidity and temps that she's regulating. You may be able to hear some of the chicks chirping in the shells. I could hear them and it was about 3 days before I saw them. So don't panic if they don't come out right away when you hear the chirps.

I wouldn't bother to close her off. Topsy had her last clutch on the floor of the coop and I worried about the same thing - but this time she's in the nest box and her 10 week old chick keeps getting in the box with them. So far the babies are fine. Of course I also believe in the "whatever happens happens" mindset and I don't interfere with hatching chicks. I suppose if I had spent hundreds of dollars on these eggs and they were my breeder flock I may approach it differently. But since this is just my backyard flock of egg layers - I let what happens happen.

Can't wait to see your pics!

Here's Smokey's last clutch of 2 marans. This was her 3rd hatch in 2012.




Here's a couple chicks showing from Topsy's current clutch of 4. This is Topsy's 3rd clutch this year.

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.

There is no way my hens could have done what has happened in my situation. I will post up some pictures of my nest box set up, just to show you how skillful they would have to be to do that.

bobbieschicks- WOW your broody smokey is so gorgeous ans so are Topsy's chicks.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

There is no way my hens could have done what has happened in my situation. I will post up some pictures of my nest box set up, just to show you how skillful they would have to be to do that.

bobbieschicks- WOW your broody smokey is so gorgeous ans so are Topsy's chicks.

O.K aoxa and bobbieschicks heres what happened this morning the morning after the escape egg-

, I'm pretty annoyed/sad at the moment, i went down this morning to check on my broody and only found 8 eggs under her when i originally had 11??? The only thing i can think of is one of the other hens has gone in there and broken some and then the broody and the other hen have eaten them, my hens love eggs, but they dont peck them open on purpose. So now I've put her into lock down by closing of the whole nesting area with some water and food, so none of the other hens can get in, they will just have to lay in the buckets of straw i have left out for them. If there are any other suggestions you have on what has gone down here I'm all ears.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Might you have rats or snakes? I lost several eggs from underneath a broody too! She started with 6. Come hatch day, only one hatched and that was the only egg in the nest. She was in her own pen too. I know she didn't eat them and I know we had a snake in the barn. I let it stay so it would eat the mice but I think it helped itself to a few warm eggs for a midnight snack!