Update- Day 10 Candling Results- Fertile Eggs Under My Broody

[klyn]

I snuck out into the night tonight and put 6 fertile eggs under our broody hen, Cutie. Since January she has been broody more than she hasn't, so, I've finally given her what she's been wanting- the chance to be a momma! I'm hoping that now that the eggs are under her she doesn't kick the urge to sit. I had someone tell me that I have to catch her early on in her broodiness or she'll give up before the eggs hatch, but she's been so stubborn in the nesting box that I'm not sure anything but hatching some eggs will cure her of it. I'm still learning a lot about having chickens and have never hatched eggs at all, let alone using a broody hen so if you have any words of wisdom, I'd sure appreciate them. Thanks!

 

[Blackberry18]

I have this one Black Sex-Link who has gone broody twice. Her second time, I gave her two Easter Egger fertilized eggs. One died before hatching, but the other did hatch, and produced a lovely Brown Easter Egger chick. Sadly, my Sex-Link didn't take care of her as long as she should of. All of my flock ganged up on the chick (who was basically fully feathered), and plucked all the feathers off of her, and she ran into the cold air and froze to death. It was horrific.

I hope that you have much better luck than I did, and I do have a couple of suggestions. Candle the eggs once in while, to make sure they're on track, it's very interesting! Also on the 20 day (the day before the eggs are due to hatch) put the hen and her eggs in a box with wire on top, so that when the first chick hatches, the hen won't come out, and the other chicks will be safe.

Good luck!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I snuck out into the night tonight and put 6 fertile eggs under our broody hen, Cutie. Since January she has been broody more than she hasn't, so, I've finally given her what she's been wanting- the chance to be a momma! I'm hoping that now that the eggs are under her she doesn't kick the urge to sit. I had someone tell me that I have to catch her early on in her broodiness or she'll give up before the eggs hatch, but she's been so stubborn in the nesting box that I'm not sure anything but hatching some eggs will cure her of it. I'm still learning a lot about having chickens and have never hatched eggs at all, let alone using a broody hen so if you have any words of wisdom, I'd sure appreciate them. Thanks!

Broody hens are the best for hatching and raising chicks because you just "set it, and forget it" - she will do all the work. The best words of wisdom I can offer are to leave her alone and let her do her job. Best of luck to you and Cutie!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Good luck on this adventure. Hens have been hatching and raising chicks with the flock for thousands of years, usually with little or no help from humans. Occasionally there are problems, just like there are occasionally problems when we use incubators, but usually the hen’s broody instinct is really strong and they do a great job. There are all kinds of different ways we do this. There is no one right way where every other way is wrong, just the way we choose to do it. Each method has its advantages and risks. When you are dealing with living animals you don’t get guarantees.

Many people isolate their broodies during hatch and even when they are raising the chicks. I don’t and have never lost a chick to another adults flock member. I know some people have. I have had some problems during the broody incubation part. I’ll get to that.

If you decide to let her hatch with the flock, I suggest you mark the eggs you want her to hatch so you can tell which ones belong. I use a black Sharpie and draw a circle around the eggs. The every day after the other hens have laid check under the broody and remove any eggs that don’t belong. You can still use them as long as you collect them every day. If you leave those eggs in there you’ll have a real mess at hatch with eggs at different stages of development, plus if the number builds up enough so the hen cannot cover them all you can have other problems.

When the chicks hatch I leave the broody alone. She decides when to bring the chicks off the nest, not me. I have food and water on the coop floor where the chicks can get to it. That’s all I do. Normally at night the broody takes the chicks to a corner of the coop and keeps them on the floor for the night, but occasionally one will try to get in a nest about a foot off the floor. Most of the chicks can manage that height but sometimes a few cannot. It’s a good idea to check on them just after they go to bed. A couple of times I’ve had to toss a chick into the nest with Mama. But usually she goes to the coop corner and it’s not a problem.

The broody hen will leave the nest once or twice a day to eat, drink, poop, and maybe take a nice refreshing dust bath. Before she goes broody she stores up a lot of excess fat. That’s mainly what she lives on while on the nest so she doesn’t have to eat or drink a lot, but she does need some. She also holds her poop while on the nest. Don’t be surprised to find some huge stinky poop around.

Some broodies are pretty vicious about defending their nests, others not so much. When I was a kid my job was to collect the eggs which meant looking under the broodies. Most of the time it wasn’t too bad but occasionally I really did not want to check under a broody. No way was I going to tell Dad I was afraid of a chicken though. I did it. You might find it beneficial to have gloves and long sleeves when you check, or it may not be a problem at all.

Now for some potential problems. Sometimes a broody gets confused about which is her nest when she is out on her daily constitutional, especially if another hen is on her nest laying an egg. She may go to the wrong nest and stay there. It doesn’t happen all that much but it does happen, especially with certain hens. When I see that I just take the broody off the wrong nest and put her on the right nest. While it is not good, usually that is not a problem with the eggs. A couple of years back I found a hen that had been off her nest so long the eggs were extremely cold to the touch. She still hatched 11 out of 11 and they were even a day early. Those eggs are pretty tough.

One time I had a broody hen kill three of her eight chicks soon after they hatched. I have no idea why. They were various colors so that was not it. She raised the other five chicks fine but I made sure she never hatched out any more chicks. It was definitely her, not any other flock member.

One time I had a snake eat the eggs out from under a broody. I saw it in the nest with the broody. She was just sitting there in a trance. Really creepy.

One time I had a second hen go broody a few days before another broody was due to hatch. When the eggs internal pipped and the chicks started talking to Mama from inside the eggs the two broodies fought over the eggs and destroyed half of them. I was mad, mainly at myself for not isolating that second broody. I knew better and have not made that mistake since.

That’s about the only problems I can think of that I have ever had with a broody hatching with the flock. The vast majority of the time there are no issues at all. Several of these could have happened whether the broody was isolated or not.

Good luck!

 

[klyn]

Blackberry18- I"m sorry you have such a sad experience. That has been one of my hesitations, just knowing how many things can go wrong with those littles makes me nervous. Here's hoping Cutie will stick be successful!

 

[klyn]

Ol' Grey Mare- "Set it and Forget it" Haha! That made me lol!

My hubby has been talking about getting some chicks but the thought of setting up a brooder seemed silly when we have Cutie who can take care of the chicks (probably) better than we can. So, when my hubby had to go out of town for business, guess what I brought home? 6 fertile eggs! Won't he be surprised on Friday when he gets home!? I checked her this morning and so far things are looking good. Hopefully, we'll end up with a few babies in 21(ish) days!

 

[klyn]

Ridgerunner- Thank you for the words of advise and encouragement. I felt much less anxious after reading your post. Sometimes we humans forget that life would go on in spite of us meddling.

So far I am leaning toward keeping her with the flock. I have marked her eggs but a staggered hatch won't be a problem as I have only hens at this point. She has been a little vocal about the other hens and me getting too close to her nest but so far hasn't been aggressive. In fact, sometimes she is so deep in her broody trance that she doesn't seem to notice much of anything. We have a rabbit that stays in the coop/run with the chickens, the other day the rabbit got into the nest and snuggled with Cutie for a good part of the day, Cutie didn't even seem to notice (it made for some cute Easter pictures!). Last night the rabbit tried to hop up in the nest with her again and Cutie wouldn't have a thing to do with that, she growled and pecked until the rabbit scurried away.

Do you candle your eggs when using a broody, or just let them be?

Thanks again!

 

[klyn]

Also, just as a extra tid bit- I am hatching local eggs, 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes and 3 Ameraucanas.

 

[klyn]

Well, so far so good! Cutie is stuck tight to her nest and only leaves when I boot her off once a day to bring in any eggs that the other hens are laying in the nesting box.

(I drew rings around the fertile eggs so there will be no confusion which eggs are hers.)

After a couple weeks of lovely springtime weather, the day after Cutie started sitting on her eggs the weather took a turn for the worse. It snowed and snowed for two days and was below freezing in the nights. Its much warmer today. I worried that maybe I should have waited to give her the eggs. Hopefully, everything will be ok.

Do most people candle eggs when not using an incubator? Is about 10 days the right time to think about candling? Thanks!

 

[klyn]

We're at day 7 and Cutie is sitting like a champ. I'm thinking thinking that I'll try candling this week. I have absolutely no idea how to do this so any advice would sure be helpful. Thanks!