The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Whoops]

6 Hatched so far..... 4 more are pipped and ready to zip. 1 died in its shell (So saddening)... 4 more were set a day later so those will probably be later tonight or tomorrow (im assuming... but not counting them till they hatch) The one with the umbilical issue fixed itself (it dried up and fell off, thank you for your guidance in that matter). I had to put a small "Fence" in my incubator as the hatching chicks were rolling my HAL eggs for me... which is fine but one of them nearly bulldozed the eggs out when I went to transfer the dry ones to the Brooder!!! I hatched a little tank!!!! haha!

Aweeee Baby Chicks are so CUTE!!! <3

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[quailtrail]

♡

baby chicks!!!

Lock down for my pre-HAL. Sooo nervous! !!

Spent my day researching different breeds trying to decide what else I want to focus on amd breed in Maine. Jeepers this stuff is so addicting! !!!

 

[bantambury]

I leave my broodies in the coop they live in. I let them sit where they choose to sit. Then, when the chicks hatch, I move her that night with her babies to a private area of the coop. It's still within sight of the rest of the flock, but I can close it off for a week and let the babies get on their feet well. Then when they are all strong and eating/drinking well, I let them out with the flock. I too have had chicks killed in nest box fights, etc, and I've found this method works well for me.

so where exactly do you put them? in the coop? I have a little place where we created a 'shelter' out of old pallets and we put wire around it....this is an old pic but we took the wire down but we still have it.

here is the coop......there is not too much room to block anything off.....we had tried before taking a section of the coop blocked off but somehow the unwanted chickens still managed to get into the broody's side of the coop.....

here is the shelter. im just worried they would get caught or hurt by the other chickens on the outside....and by being in the dirt if it rains....


could I keep her in there and then put some sort of trashcan with shavings in there on its side as a coop? what im worries is the babies getting stick or getting out of the chicken wire or something coming and eating them at night.

 

[Eggsalad]

question for ya......are these girls quarantined from other flock members or no? if not do they live with a few other hens and a rooster?

my hen is broody again and I want to set eggs under her soon......the last time I hatched with a broody I left her in my coop with all the other australorps she lived with.....then once the chicks hatched the other birds attacked the chicks including the mom......I don't know why.

I want to beable to leave my broody in her coop with 2 other girls and a roo.

I built a maternity ward in one corner of the coop, each in a separate floor nest box so they cannot see each other unless up to eat, drink or tend business. Only one scrabble when I first moved them to the new nests, cost two eggs and a belly bath for one hen. She didn't seem to mind. I refer to them as good broody & bad broody, the both seem to be great. The third has her own little spot. I used a plywood footer and chicken wire ( footer so chicks can't get through). The area has its own cleanout door and pop door. I am in the process of building a separate pen off that door. They will be in this area till old enough I guess. The girls are still interactive with the rest of the flock vocally and can view the roosts from their nests, so not totally secluded. The boys come by and sit outside the footer now and then, kinda humming to the girls. I just found another hatch a long thread for broody hens, WOW!!! what great information, follow back this thread in hatch-a-long. Good luck !

 

[lsmith]

I just wanted to share my ladies' first trip outside. Lovin the cute pics.

 

[Scrambles55]

@bantambury .... I am worried about mine also. I have a broody in the coop. It is a very small coop. I left her in the nest because, I was afraid that if I moved her to the dog crate.. she would want to go back to the coop and leave or hurt the eggs. My plan is to move her to the dog crate on the night the chicks hatch. The dog crate is in a fully enclosed pen and she and her chicks would be able to see what goes on with the rest of the hens (3). I will then put up poultry fencing around the crate so that the chicks can roam a little. When they are about 2 weeks old I am going to prop open a spot for them to get out and mingle with the girls.

praying to the Chicken Gods

 

[Scrambles55]

I just wanted to share my ladies' first trip outside. Lovin the cute pics.

Adorable!!!

 

[SoManyHats]

What would you do?

It looks like I have a broody! It would be her first time being broody, so I don't know how reliable she will be. But, she has been on the nest for hours, and is growling at us and the other chickens. I don't know how many eggs she's sitting on (I'll be going back out to check with gloves on in case she decides to bite). But as far as I know our rooster isn't doing his thing yet, so those eggs won't be fertile. However, as I mentioned yesterday, I am down to two viable eggs out of 30, and my temps will not stay stable for more than 24 hours.

If you were me, would you give the two viable eggs to the broody and see how she does? It would be an expensive test, but at this point I'm not really confident in my incubator either.

 

[Happy Chooks]

What would you do?

It looks like I have a broody! It would be her first time being broody, so I don't know how reliable she will be. But, she has been on the nest for hours, and is growling at us and the other chickens. I don't know how many eggs she's sitting on (I'll be going back out to check with gloves on in case she decides to bite). But as far as I know our rooster isn't doing his thing yet, so those eggs won't be fertile. However, as I mentioned yesterday, I am down to two viable eggs out of 30, and my temps will not stay stable for more than 24 hours.

If you were me, would you give the two viable eggs to the broody and see how she does? It would be an expensive test, but at this point I'm not really confident in my incubator either.

Make sure she stays on the nest for 2 nights before doing anything. If you can't keep your incubator temperature steady, then give her the eggs.

 

[Happy Chooks]

bantambury - with a small coop, you can't really section off an area. I have a storage shelf in my coop. Feed is stored on top of the shelf, and the broody area is under the shelf.