What is needed to hatch new chicks?

[Don1]

I have 24 hens and a buzy rooster. I'm thinking of hatching say another 12 chicks. What would I need beside a hen in heat?

Don1

 

[azelgin]

A broody hen and 21 days. Either that, or an incubator.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have 24 hens and a buzy rooster. I'm thinking of hatching say another 12 chicks. What would I need beside a hen in heat?

Don1

azelgin has it right. You need a broody hen or an incubator. Hens don't go into heat. They pretty much are always ready to be fertilized, as you can tell by your busy rooster. If you don't care when you hatch out chicks, I'd say wait for a hen to go broody. You will know when that happens. She won't want to leave the nest, she'll try to peck you when you reach under her to get eggs, she'll growl at you and the real give-away is the Stink Eye. There will be no question when that happens!

If you want them hatched on a certain schedule, you'll need an incubator. Personally, I like the broody hen method.

 

[3chickchicks]

Then, once they hatch, you need a brooder to keep them warm. Or, the broody hen will raise them.

 

[Don1]

Thank you for your help. Next question - should I build a single nest and keep the hen and brood separate from the rest of the chickens? And, when do I introduce the chicks to the rest of the flock? I will put the chicks in my covered horse tank with heat lamp and chick feeders plus watering cans, like I did when I got the ones I have now.

Again, thanks for your help.

Don Olson

 

[bobbi-j]

I keep my broody hens separate while they're brooding, but let the hen raise the chicks with the flock about a week or two after they've hatched. I've tried it the other way, too - separating them until the chicks are older - and it goes much better to just let mama take care of them with the flock as early as possible. She'll protect them from the other chickens, they'll learn flock manners, and they'll all know their places when mama weans them.

I should note - the hens are still in the coop when they're setting, but I can divide my coop so the others can't get to where they're nesting. I've tried letting them nest in the general population, but the eggs always ended up getting broken within the first week or so.

If you plan on taking the chicks away from your broody after they're hatched, it would be best to keep them separate from the rest of the flock until they're of similar size as the adults. Integration will not go as smoothly as the adults will still teach them the pecking order, but they won't have the mama to protect them.

 

[Mrs. K]

I love a good broody hen, and I leave my hen right where she decides to be. Mine have always been fairly aggressive, and I swear, even the rooster even tiptoed around her. Because of that, she is HIGH in the pecking order. If you separate your hen, she loses her pecking order, which means when you add them back to the flock, she is fighting for her pecking order, and can lose interest in the chicks.

I have not had the problem of broken eggs, as the above poster mentioned, but there is a fragile time if you keep her with the flock. I have only had my girls go broody in the summer as I add no light to the house. So when it gets close to the hatch time of 20 days..... I lock out the layers into the run out of the coop. Set a temporary nest for eggs out there. I do this because the eggs may vary in their hatching times, and the early hatching chick, can get a bit adventurous and the layers will kill them, while the broody is still trying to get the others to hatch. So I just lock out the layers and roo, until 12-16 hours have gone by.

My broody hens have always hatched out in a nest above the floor a couple of feet. I have narrow nests, so that only one bird can be in it at one time. This keeps other birds from laying in her nest. You do not want too many eggs in the nest, or as she moves them around, they will get too far out, cool and die, and then she moves them again, and the next batch dies. Once she has hatched the ones that will hatch, she moves to a nest on a floor. When she takes them outside, she will tend to stay closer to the coop, than the flock. And she will put herself between the flock and the chicks. Any layer that gets too close, will be attacked and all quickly learn to leave the chicks alone, and get used to them.

A trick that I found by accident, is that if you have a flat board up at roosting height, within a couple of weeks, she will get those chicks up that high at night. The urge to roost is a powerful urge, and by adding the board, it allows her to keep the bond longer with the chicks. The chicks can huddle next to her.

This type expansion is the easiest way of adding birds to the flock. To me a good broody hen is worth her weight in gold, she does all the work, the chicks are healthier, out and about sooner.

Mrs K

 

[bobbi-j]

I love a good broody hen, and I leave my hen right where she decides to be. Mine have always been fairly aggressive, and I swear, even the rooster even tiptoed around her. Because of that, she is HIGH in the pecking order. If you separate your hen, she loses her pecking order, which means when you add them back to the flock, she is fighting for her pecking order, and can lose interest in the chicks.

I have not had the problem of broken eggs, as the above poster mentioned, but there is a fragile time if you keep her with the flock. I have only had my girls go broody in the summer as I add no light to the house. So when it gets close to the hatch time of 20 days..... I lock out the layers into the run out of the coop. Set a temporary nest for eggs out there. I do this because the eggs may vary in their hatching times, and the early hatching chick, can get a bit adventurous and the layers will kill them, while the broody is still trying to get the others to hatch. So I just lock out the layers and roo, until 12-16 hours have gone by.

My broody hens have always hatched out in a nest above the floor a couple of feet. I have narrow nests, so that only one bird can be in it at one time. This keeps other birds from laying in her nest. You do not want too many eggs in the nest, or as she moves them around, they will get too far out, cool and die, and then she moves them again, and the next batch dies. Once she has hatched the ones that will hatch, she moves to a nest on a floor. When she takes them outside, she will tend to stay closer to the coop, than the flock. And she will put herself between the flock and the chicks. Any layer that gets too close, will be attacked and all quickly learn to leave the chicks alone, and get used to them.

A trick that I found by accident, is that if you have a flat board up at roosting height, within a couple of weeks, she will get those chicks up that high at night. The urge to roost is a powerful urge, and by adding the board, it allows her to keep the bond longer with the chicks. The chicks can huddle next to her.

This type expansion is the easiest way of adding birds to the flock. To me a good broody hen is worth her weight in gold, she does all the work, the chicks are healthier, out and about sooner.

Mrs K

I don't know what happens. But I've tried for years to just let a broody be. For some reason, the eggs disappeared one or two at a time until they were all gone. Sometimes they got broken, sometimes they just vanished entirely. My coop is set up so the broody is still in there, just not in the general population. I'll have to admit, I'm new to the "let the broody raise the chicks with the flock" method. I have, in the past, separated them until the chicks were a couple of months old because I was worried that the rooster would harm them. Last year was my first attempt at integrating them right away. The hen didn't have to fight for her place in the pecking order - the others learned right away to leave her babies alone.

 

[ChickenCurt]

Bobbi J, sounds as if you have a broody egg eater...it happens, or a predator sneaking in for mid-night snacks. My broody hens are just left alone, after all, they know more than I do about raising chicks.

 

[Don1]

Mrs. K,

Thank you so much. I'll try your method and see what happens this first time. I will start with say 12 fresh eggs and one broody in which ever nest she prefers. Keep the layers and roo outside during the hatch. Then let them in and place a nest on the floor for the hatch and broody. I already have a board to the roosts.

Thanks again.

Don Olson