Topic of the Week - Broody vs Incubator

[Kabootar]

I prefer broodies I always keep a bunch of aseel hens. They are the best mothers of the chicken world. They are constantly broody, they aggressively protect their chicks, they always remain on the top of the pecking order, they are friendly towards their owners except when they are broody, even roosters avoid a broody aseel hen or an an aseel hen with chicks, they are great in foraging. I don't have to care anything about them. I don't even need to separate them from the flock. In November I placed 13 eggs under a broody hen, she hatched 12 chicks and meticulously raised all of them without a single loss for almost three months she started again only a few days ago probably she will go broody within a month.

 

[GldnValleyHens]

Just my luck, tonight when closing the coop, there was a Wyandotte hen setting on a nest, puffed and staring into space like broodies do. Maybe she'll go full out. But I don't have any Call Ducks laying eggs, or the bantam either, the only chicks/ducklings I want hatched.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

A broody hen was my first experience with hatching eggs. I had three hens and one went broody, but I had no rooster. So I figured the best way to get through this was the natural method and in the process I might get the rooster I needed. So I ordered a dozen eggs from a hatchery and put them with the hen. I kept the other hens from laying new eggs in the next box. Later I moved the hen and eggs inside so I can keep a watch. One sunday morning I noticed a chick running around the next box. I ended up with seven chicks. Two eggs never developed and there rest died in the shell. Three were roosters, one being the kind I've been looking for for over a year.

With her, I moved her outside with the other two hens after a week. This way the hens would accept the chicks as part of the flock. The chicks were able to grow up being in the flock. The other hens accepted the chicks. I later moved them to a larger enclosure to accommodate the chicks for when they grow up. That night a cat got in and the broody hen fought off the cat, and won. But the flock being of mixed ages with one hen molting a few months later, having different food available did not work. The chicks would eat whatever the adults did. So looking at the nutrition information on the different feeds, I found the chick raiser had the same values as the egg layer except 1% higher protein and much less calcium. So I put my entire flock on chick raiser with oyster shell mixed in.

The egg laying hen played bigger eggs, and continues to do so, and the molter grew her feathers back and began laying eggs again. The broody hen went a total of six months of not laying eggs. Now I have the rooster breeding with the hens, both older and the hatched batch, and I have to use an incubator.

With the incubator, I have gotten several chicks. I really want to get chicks from my older hens first. With the incubator, I can keep a watch on the eggs, know who came from what hen and tag them, and keep adding new eggs. The issue with incubator chicks is the flock does not seem to know what to do. The older hens seem interested but not so engaging. One of the young hens was aggressive, showing I can not trust their safety with that hen. The rooster did not even come over to investigate the chick even though its his baby.

This leads me to believe I would need to approach this like I would adding new members to the flock. But the advantage with the incubator is ensuring the fertile eggs will have a chance, but the broody hen has not shown any signs of wanting to incubate the eggs again yet.

So using a broody hen is great, but she will not stay broody forever. There's very little work needed with a hen.

An incubator is great if your hens will not do the job themselves. However, you will be doing a lot of work.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

Just my luck, tonight when closing the coop, there was a Wyandotte hen setting on a nest, puffed and staring into space like broodies do. Maybe she'll go full out. But I don't have any Call Ducks laying eggs, or the bantam either, the only chicks/ducklings I want hatched.

One thing you might consider is letting her hatch out some eggs. Then you can sell the chicks when the time comes.

 

[GldnValleyHens]

Turned out that was just a one time thing, and she decided those eggs weren't worth sitting on

 

[BroodyMama1]

Ho

I prefer broody, it’s easier, and I find looking at a hen with a little chicks the most beautiful thing, although I do agree about incubators allowing larger clutches

Also I having a broody makes it easier to introduce the young to the rest of the flock, as they have some to look out for them at a young age. Rather then having to wait till they can fend for themselves.

w do you know when they are broody and what age do they normally start getting that way.

 

[J&Kfeatheredfowl]

Ho

w do you know when they are broody and what age do they normally start getting that way.

When they're broody they will lay on the egg, trying to incubate it. They'll rarely get off of it.

I dont believe there is a set age when they get broody, its mainly up to the chicken. Some breeds are better than others, and of course the pullets has to be laying to get broody

 

[sevenfatcows]

I set every broody on eggs but have learned it is best to also set my incubator at the same time with at least a few eggs in case something happens to the eggs in a hen's nest or they fail to hatch. Last summer a gopher snake ate all the eggs my Marans hen was sitting on, just three days before they were due. I had chicks to give her in just a few more days, so it all worked out in the end. A couple of years prior, a hen lost all her eggs on a real hot day when I was not there to keep things cooled down with the hose. She also was near the end of the incubation period, but I had no chicks to give her and had to bring her inside the cool house for a few days to break her. It was real sad that she'd diligently sat for nearly three weeks and then had nothing. That caused me to change my habit to backing up with some incubator eggs. I love to see a mamma hen with her babies....

 

[starlessji]

I've only hatched via incubators but my 2 silkies have been broody for so long and since I couldn't break them, decided to give them some eggs instead. We'll see how it goes!

 

[ojust4today]

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.

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. These are questions I came to this sight hoping to be answered. Very insightful.