THE MOTHER'S DAY HATCH-A-LONG!!!! The last day to join in and set eggs with us is April 28th.

[MrsMoonCat]

I have several broody stinkeye shots, but chose the one above because of where she is:


I thought I had a missing hen. When I went to get fresh shavings I found a surprise with several eggs under her. I am still curious how she got the bag open as I use clips to keep them closed. Don't know what she did with the clip. Probably trying to get it to hatch too. (Needless to say, I won't be using those shavings any time soon.)

 

[stargazerlabs]

I am in, This will be Great. I also have puppies due on the 15th! I will post pictures of the eggs later.

 

[TheOutcast]

Count me in! I am doing an old fashioned broody hatch and need all the help I can get. I have a lot of questions!
1. How long does a hatch take?
2. How long do the chicks have to stay with the hen after they hatch? (I am hatching them to give them away)
3. If I am not getting the eggs for a week, will then hen stay broody until I set the eggs under her?
4. Is there anything important I should know before setting eggs? I know NOTHING about this!

 

[Hazelrah]

very cute and she sure knew where to hide eggs from you !

I have several broody stinkeye shots, but chose the one above because of where she is:


I thought I had a missing hen. When I went to get fresh shavings I found a surprise with several eggs under her. I am still curious how she got the bag open as I use clips to keep them closed. Don't know what she did with the clip. Probably trying to get it to hatch too. (Needless to say, I won't be using those shavings any time soon.)

 

[Hazelrah]

here's my 24 future cute fuzzy chicks

 

[TheOutcast]

sorry to bug you all, I have another question. What is the mortality rate in an old fashioned broody hatch?

 

[lcammack]

I would like to join. I didn't know their was a hatch-a-long. My daughters and I just set our very first batch of eggs last Saturday (4-21-12). We have 24 mixed eggs which are RIR and SLW hens with BCM rooster, and 17 barnyard mix and 1 mystery duck egg for a total of 42. We bought a Hovabator 1588 and it just seems to simple thus far. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop so to say. Maybe I have read to many horror stories of things going wrong. We are so excited for this project, I hope it all goes well. Our humidity has been around 46%-50% is this acceptable for days 1-18? With this being our first try I read as much as I could and kind of took all the advice and averaged it out. There are so many different ways people incubate!

 

[tinychicky]

Sure I'll join! I'll have to set my serama eggs on the 28th though! I have wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucana eggs coming soon too Happy hatching, peeps

 

[java girl 2]

Count me in! I am doing an old fashioned broody hatch and need all the help I can get. I have a lot of questions!
1. How long does a hatch take?
2. How long do the chicks have to stay with the hen after they hatch? (I am hatching them to give them away)
3. If I am not getting the eggs for a week, will then hen stay broody until I set the eggs under her?
4. Is there anything important I should know before setting eggs? I know NOTHING about this!

# 1. the hatch takes 21 days for chicken eggs. # 2. the chicks can stay with the mother hen for as long or as short as you want, they don't need to stay with her if you have a heat lamp to put them under. # 3. as long as she has something to sit on, like golf balls, plastic eggs or even your eggs. anything round will keep her there! # 4. if you keep the chicks with the mother hen for a time, then they need to have chick starter feed. up until the chicks hatch the mother can have what ever feed she eat.

sorry to bug you all, I have another question. What is the mortality rate in an old fashioned broody hatch?

too many ifs to say!

 

[Arielle]

I thought I had a missing hen. When I went to get fresh shavings I found a surprise with several eggs under her. I am still curious how she got the bag open as I use clips to keep them closed. Don't know what she did with the clip. Probably trying to get it to hatch too. (Needless to say, I won't be using those shavings any time soon.)

Last fall I thought I had lost a broody--no, she was in a rarely used horse stall!! Cute pic of her in the shavings giving you the stink eye!!