Too cold for Broody hens?

[ErikCH]

Hey guys, I have two hens that just went broody on some eggs. The temperature right now is ranging from -1 C to 6 C

Is it too cold to leave them to hatch the eggs?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Please let them hatch away. I had to convert to fahrenheit...you are at 30 degrees to 45ish degrees. I've had my Silkies hatch chicks in freezing ice-snow storms with wind chill in the low teens just fine.

Just be sure of the following:
1. Eggs are on good nesting material that won't scatter away to help keep body warmth. Clutch is well covered by hen.

2. Water doesn't freeze for momma (or babes)

3. Momma can't get pushed off or lose track of where the nest is. Eggs will cool quickly.

4. Once babes are hatched, they cannot strand themselves away from momma through a hole in the wall, crevice, too high ramp...they can be extremely smart...or extremely dumb. A stranded chick in the winter is a cold chick is a dead chick.

Amazingly the chicks hatch just fine in cold. They dry and fluff for 2 days under momma (hence need for good bedding...recommend pine shavings or timothy hay). Then they will run around in their little down jackets using momma for a warming hutch when needed. (Hence they can't get stranded away from momma).

LofMc

 

[ErikCH]

Please let them hatch away. I had to convert to fahrenheit...you are at 30 degrees to 45ish degrees. I've had my Silkies hatch chicks in freezing ice-snow storms with wind chill in the low teens just fine.

Just be sure of the following:
1. Eggs are on good nesting material that won't scatter away to help keep body warmth. Clutch is well covered by hen.

2. Water doesn't freeze for momma (or babes)

3. Momma can't get pushed off or lose track of where the nest is. Eggs will cool quickly.

4. Once babes are hatched, they cannot strand themselves away from momma through a hole in the wall, crevice, too high ramp...they can be extremely smart...or extremely dumb. A stranded chick in the winter is a cold chick is a dead chick.

Amazingly the chicks hatch just fine in cold. They dry and fluff for 2 days under momma (hence need for good bedding...recommend pine shavings or timothy hay). Then they will run around in their little down jackets using momma for a warming hutch when needed. (Hence they can't get stranded away from momma).

LofMc

Ok! Thanks for all the great advice!!

 

[Pickychicks]

Please let them hatch away. I had to convert to fahrenheit...you are at 30 degrees to 45ish degrees. I've had my Silkies hatch chicks in freezing ice-snow storms with wind chill in the low teens just fine.

Just be sure of the following:
1. Eggs are on good nesting material that won't scatter away to help keep body warmth. Clutch is well covered by hen.

2. Water doesn't freeze for momma (or babes)

3. Momma can't get pushed off or lose track of where the nest is. Eggs will cool quickly.

4. Once babes are hatched, they cannot strand themselves away from momma through a hole in the wall, crevice, too high ramp...they can be extremely smart...or extremely dumb. A stranded chick in the winter is a cold chick is a dead chick.

Amazingly the chicks hatch just fine in cold. They dry and fluff for 2 days under momma (hence need for good bedding...recommend pine shavings or timothy hay). Then they will run around in their little down jackets using momma for a warming hutch when needed. (Hence they can't get stranded away from momma).

LofMc

I've been looking for this thread! I have a Java who has been increasingly broody for about 3 weeks. Last week she chose a corner of the deep litter coop to make a nest hole there. I filled it with sticks to make it uncomfortable and a few hours later I found she had moved all the sticks and was back in the hole. She has been vocalizing for weeks (usually very quiet bird) and is starting to use the hole a lot, tho she still spends the majority of her time either in the run or walking around the coop with lots of vocalizing.
She looks like a good candidate for hatching fertilized eggs.
I am allergic to bird dander so can't do a brooder in the house (I mask up in the coop/run) so I'd like to put eggs under her in the coop. It's February and mostly very cold here Massachusetts.
I can't let her sit on eggs in deep litter so I'm thinking of a dog crate in the shed-coop with a private timothy filled nest (what I usually use so it's familiar to her) with a privacy tarp over the back where the nest would be.
But if I leave the crate open for her, isn't there a danger of the chicks getting out into the litter and also being exposed to cold and other hens when Mama's leaves to have a poop and a snack? I know there's a right way to do this. I have deep litter in both the coop and the run, have dog crates, and will have a back up incubator just in case. I like to be prepared and know what I'm getting into (yet I have chickens !) Any and all wisdom/comments appreciated.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

@Pickychicks I brood with deep litter runs so I am not sure what your concern is. Chicks will and should follow mom as soon as hatched and fluffed and mom leaves the nest at day 2 or so. They scratch, peck, and act like little chickens running around in their down coats using momma for a warming hutch when needed even in my cold wet as long as they are out of direct weather. Baby chickens are not like baby birds that stay in the nest while mom flies away to bring back food. They follow her everywhere. It's hysterical to see mom pick up her skirts and the sea of legs under her all skitter together.

I've main cooped hatched in a back corner just fine. I don't deep litter in the coop, but that wouldn't be a problem for the hen or chicks. As long as mom and chicks can safely get to food and water and back, they will be fine.

More concern is to mark set eggs, set at the same time, making sure hen is truly dedicated by showing 2 days of constant setting on that spot meaning only 20 minutes or so off per day. You don't want other hens laying in her nest and mixing eggs up or pushing momma off the nest.

There is an Old Fashioned Broody thread here on BYC you should check out too.

LofMc

 

[Pickychicks]

@Pickychicks I brood with deep litter runs so I am not sure what your concern is. Chicks will and should follow mom as soon as hatched and fluffed and mom leaves the nest at day 2 or so. They scratch, peck, and act like little chickens running around in their down coats using momma for a warming hutch when needed even in my cold wet as long as they are out of direct weather. Baby chickens are not like baby birds that stay in the nest while mom flies away to bring back food. They follow her everywhere. It's hysterical to see mom pick up her skirts and the sea of legs under her all skitter together.

I've main cooped hatched in a back corner just fine. I don't deep litter in the coop, but that wouldn't be a problem for the hen or chicks. As long as mom and chicks can safely get to food and water and back, they will be fine.

More concern is to mark set eggs, set at the same time, making sure hen is truly dedicated by showing 2 days of constant setting on that spot meaning only 20 minutes or so off per day. You don't want other hens laying in her nest and mixing eggs up or pushing momma off the nest.

There is an Old Fashioned Broody thread here on BYC you should check out too.

LofMc

Great info thanks. While searching for the Old Fashioned Broody thread I came across great information by Harvey Ussery in The Small Scale Poultry Flock.

@Pickychicks I brood with deep litter runs so I am not sure what your concern is. Chicks will and should follow mom as soon as hatched and fluffed and mom leaves the nest at day 2 or so. They scratch, peck, and act like little chickens running around in their down coats using momma for a warming hutch when needed even in my cold wet as long as they are out of direct weather. Baby chickens are not like baby birds that stay in the nest while mom flies away to bring back food. They follow her everywhere. It's hysterical to see mom pick up her skirts and the sea of legs under her all skitter together.

I've main cooped hatched in a back corner just fine. I don't deep litter in the coop, but that wouldn't be a problem for the hen or chicks. As long as mom and chicks can safely get to food and water and back, they will be fine.

More concern is to mark set eggs, set at the same time, making sure hen is truly dedicated by showing 2 days of constant setting on that spot meaning only 20 minutes or so off per day. You don't want other hens laying in her nest and mixing eggs up or pushing momma off the nest.

There is an Old Fashioned Broody thread here on BYC you should check out too.

LofMc

Hi, Great info thanks. While looking for the Old Fashioned Broody thread I found a five part article by Harvey Ussery that is also in his book The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. The link is

 

[Pickychicks]

Great info thanks. While searching for the Old Fashioned Broody thread I came across great information by Harvey Ussery in The Small Scale Poultry Flock.

Hi, Great info thanks. While looking for the Old Fashioned Broody thread I found a five part article by Harvey Ussery that is also in his book The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. The link is

The link is
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hey guys, I have two hens that just went broody on some eggs. The temperature right now is ranging from -1 C to 6 C

Is it too cold to leave them to hatch the eggs?

This thread documents how somebody did it in temperatures colder than yours.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/947046/broody-in-michigan-winter