Topic of the Week - Broody vs Incubator

[Conan]

If I were to hatch under a broody would I be able to take the eggs at the latest stage and hatch them inside the house and raise the chicks? Would she let me? Would the chicks/pipped eggs just need a heat lamp? I love raising chicks and I couldn’t bare to watch those cute little fluff butts not be friendly with humans

I go one step further... I let her hatch the whole mess out, then I take them immediately to raise indoors in the brooder. I use a bantam - I can't stop her from going broody so I just let her do her thing. Using this method, I get friendlier birds by raising them after the fact but I don't have to do any of the work
I do agree with most folks when referring to large numbers of eggs, my little gal won't wait for them all to hatch. She usually gets fed up at about 6-7 chicks so I keep the number of eggs at that. Also keeping with what others are saying - it pays to know your bird and their limitations, but if you do and respect that, can't go wrong!

 

[Gail Laubenthal]

I prefer incubators. I select the eggs; I set the eggs when I want to; and I hatch the eggs in a safe warm environment! I just had a very successful hatch yesterday: I set 28 eggs in 3 incubators. After candling (7 days), I determined that 3 were not fertile...25 left. 21 hatched Friday and Saturday and today I checked the 4 eggs that did not hatch (all chocolate Marans) - only one of them had a chick that somehow could not peck its way out...the other 3 where non-fertile I have found with the dark shelled eggs, it is sometimes hard to tell if they are viable at candling. So of the 22 fertile eggs, 21 hatched and are thriving! I consider that a very successful hatch! My incubators are all Brinsea (Mini Eco, Mini Advance, & Maxi II Advance). BTW, most of the chicks are blue/olive EEs...my favorite little puffy cheeks!

 

[Conan]

I prefer incubators. I select the eggs; I set the eggs when I want to; and I hatch the eggs in a safe warm environment! I just had a very successful hatch yesterday: I set 28 eggs in 3 incubators. After candling (7 days), I determined that 3 were not fertile...25 left. 21 hatched Friday and Saturday and today I checked the 4 eggs that did not hatch (all chocolate Marans) - only one of them had a chick that somehow could not peck its way out...the other 3 where non-fertile I have found with the dark shelled eggs, it is sometimes hard to tell if they are viable at candling. So of the 22 fertile eggs, 21 hatched and are thriving! I consider that a very successful hatch! My incubators are all Brinsea (Mini Eco, Mini Advance, & Maxi II Advance). BTW, most of the chicks are blue/olive EEs...my favorite little puffy cheeks!

That's an adorable pile of babies!!!

 

[JaeG]

If I were to hatch under a broody would I be able to take the eggs at the latest stage and hatch them inside the house and raise the chicks? Would she let me? Would the chicks/pipped eggs just need a heat lamp? I love raising chicks and I couldn’t bare to watch those cute little fluff butts not be friendly with humans

If your broody is friendly and views you as a non threatening source of food she will teach her chicks there's nothing to fear and you should be viewed with enthusiasm. Our broody chickens never had a problem letting us handle their chicks, even the less friendly ones.

A broody talks to her eggs before they've even started hatching and the chick hatches out knowing their mother's voice. Pipped eggs need humidity so a heat lamp wouldn't be enough and the chicks will call for their mother all night. Even incubator chicks will do that. They are wired to connect with someone and be looked after by that someone 24/7.

My Button quail chicks hatched by a Button mother are calmer and friendlier than those that have to make do on their own.

 

[BoyTheRooster]

We've always used broodys to hatch eggs. She does everything for you, much easier if you don't have the time to incubate
I feel like the breed of the hen makes a big difference on how well they do at hatching and raising chicks.
Right now we have 3 orpington/faverolle mixes raising chicks (sisters, 2 are co-raising with much success). Faverolles aren't typically broody breeds, but their mother raised 5 or so lots of chicks while she was alive, would have been more but we didn't want to be over run with chickens. And we have 1 light sussex mix raising 8 chicks. All of these girls are doing a great job and they love their little fluffs, and this way we don't have to worry about integrating them into the flock, mama hen does that for us. This lot of chicks are all been raised in the flock. No issues aside from our rooster getting his arse kicked by one of the mothers for getting to close to her babies

 

[Sublight]

I love my broody hens. One good broody hen will make you hate incubators.

Just put the eggs there and forget about it. If you want to hatch 5 or so a broody is great. If you are hatching 40, then incubators are the way to go.

Broody hens have a crazy high hatch rate.

 

[strawberricatt]

Broodies all the way. A good broody will take care of turning, humidity and raising chicks. If I find duck nests I'll give them to a broody. I used to have an Incubator, but it was so darn finicky, and it was very stressful when the power went out (being on alternative) If I want a broody to hatch quail, I'll give her a few chicken eggs as well (I did this with my dear OEGB, Cinnamon). I just feel so awful when a poor hen sits for weeks, loses a lot of weight only to have me take away her chicks.

 

[Carelessmessage]

Incubators for me.
I do like broodys but hate to lose the eggs they give.
Now that I have a reliable incubator, its easier to keep them clean, candle, pull out the bad ones, ect.
I was not a fan of leaving an uncertain egg under a hen, just so it explodes all over her and the rest of the eggs.
That and when she decided not to leave the nest and pooped all over the eggs.

 

[sylviethecochin]

For me, it's broodies all of the way.

I made an incubator once, when I was a kid. We had no indoor temperature control, Dad made me keep it in the basement because of the fire hazard, and 50% was a good hatch rate.

The broody did everything for me. She raised the chicks, fed the chicks (I did not give more than 20 pounds of feed to twelve free-ranging chicks) and warmed the chicks.
The broody chicks integrated into the flock better. They are better free-rangers and began laying before the brooder-raised Leghorns (I still can't quite believe that one--but the Leghorn girls certainly weren't the ones laying the cute little green pullet eggs.)

There are, of course, a few problems. Broodiness is heritable. It's cute when you have two sisters go broody. It's less cute when you've got all of their descendants going broody. Broodiness is also infectious. Separate your broodies and hide them from the flock! Finally, Broodies are sometimes less-than-sensible about nesting places. Pride of place--a little OEGB girl who built her bungalow under a tractor tire--which was attached to a tractor. The one in the shed roof was pretty bad too.

I don't understand why everyone's saying you can't candle a broody's eggs. If I didn't trust a hen to sit through that, I wouldn't let her brood a clutch. Determined and motherly sitters only, please!

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

I prefer incubators, because I am too curious for my own good and find learning about incubation to be one of the most fun parts of poultry raising. Is it easier? Not even close. Broodies are dead easy if you've found a reliable one. Just stick some eggs under her and pull out the products of a 90% hatch rate 21 days later. If you have a good incubator and a turner it isn't too much harder, but there's still some temperature monitoring involved that isn't there with a broody. Like noted in the original post, you have to have a plan for power outages or risk losing much of your batch. For those of us on solar electricity, the standard light-running configuration of DIY incubators is a power drain and would be best at least swapped for a more energy efficient incubator if not a broody. I am still 'plugged into the grid' so I can persist in my incubation without too much worry except for that of having to pay a little for whatever energy I used and didn't produce. Also, you then have to heat the chicks you hatch, which gets pricey fast if you're not using a heating pad.

The downsides to a broody, and in reverse the upsides to an incubator—in my opinion—are inability to mark chicks at hatch as being from a particular sire or dam; it's hard to use hatching baskets under a broody. Sure, you can set eggs from two birds only, but that gets old pretty fast when you want to hatch large quantities including different pairings at the same time. If you're trying out a broody to see if she's a good one, I suggest having an incubator warmed and ready for maybe the first week and then keep checking on her when they're hatching. I have yet to have a bad broody hen but they do come around now and then. Broodies also don't lay eggs, meaning you have two or three months of zero eggs from that hen. That's $28 in possible egg sales money (if you sell at $4 a dozen) that's gone. You can run an incubator for less than that.

Broodies have the advantage of the bird being on home soil from day one. They're wiser, tougher, and seem to be raised to be smart about predators. They learn robust foraging behaviour from momma, and c'mon, if you don't think a hen leading her babies around is cute you must have a heart of stone. I let a broody raise a few batches per year and I think it's the best start they can get.

As to mortality rates; at this point it's not a fair comparison because I have hatched ~70 in an incubator and maybe 15 or 20 under broodies, but it stands to mention I have lost 3 chicks from manual incubation and brooding (intestinal prolapse, mushy chick, and a brooder accident) and only one under the hens, which was entirely my fault. I left a water bowl in reach that was too deep and the chick drowned.

Two things to consider if using solar power: 1. No power outages. 2. By hatching season the sun should be high enough on the horizon that your batteries should fully charge each day. It would depend on how far away from the equator though. In my case, I'm far enough north that it gets light at about 4:30 am, and dark around 11 pm in June. The short amount of time that the batteries themselves are being used is quite short.

With that said, I've chosen to use broodies if I can. This will be my first year hatching, and to be honest, don't have the funds to buy incubators or brooders.

Question. I've got bantams (2 cochins, 2 OEGB & 1 silkie) for my broodies. IF they do go broody, how many large sized eggs is the recommended number to set under them?

I really like the idea of using a turkey to hatch chickens. Is there a breed that is more prone to broodiness?