Natural breeding thread

Did you try or do you want to hatch with a broody?

  • I have experience with hatching with a broody

    Votes: 83 59.7%
  • I haven’t, but I might or have plans to do so

    Votes: 30 21.6%
  • I have had chicks with broodies multiple times and love to help others

    Votes: 33 23.7%
  • I have experience with hatching with an incubators

    Votes: 52 37.4%
  • I only bought chicks or chickens so far

    Votes: 19 13.7%

  • Total voters
    139
Pics
Hi.
Soooo. I have a broody chicken. I bought some hatching eggs. 10, because chicken math. It’s day… idk, 15? And hubby discouraged me from candling them around day 6 or so with my iPad. I think I got through two, didn’t really know what I was looking at, and he said, forget it; let’s leave her to it.
My fear is this: what if one or more are bad and they explode???

Today is the warmest day we’ve had in the month of July, only 94, but I figure it can’t be pleasant sitting in that coop.
Picture of her eggs to follow (taken while she ran around the run to poop!)
Don’t worry. I never had an egg exploding with a broody. And had infertile eggs under a broody many times.

Besides, it seems, that a broody smells if an egg is not okay and tosses it from the nest.

Its best to leave your hen do the job. If the nestbox where shes in gets too hot, provide more ventilation. Cover the nestbox area with a reflective sunscreen (car window), a parasol or a tarp if the sun burns where she sits. Look for more tips in the article section to help her to cool down. But dont disturb her too much.

Good luck! Hope to see some fluffy pictures next week.
 
what @BDutch said. And in addition you might reflect on the risks of intervening.
My fear is this: what if one or more are bad and they explode???
From my casual reading of relevant threads, novices have thrown out far more good and developing eggs by misinterpreting what they saw when trying to candle the eggs - or dropped them during the process - than have been reported to explode. And who knows how many chick deaths and deformities have been caused by novice egg candlers, being too rough with the eggs, messing with their temperatures, introducing bacteria from their hands to the shell etc.?

The risks of causing harm by candling are far greater than is generally recognized here.
 
My fear is this: what if one or more are bad and they explode???
I do not candle eggs I give my broodies. Never had one explode. I think most hens know more about hatching than I will ever learn. I have had hens push an egg from the nest that was not developing so I just trust the hens even first timers.

We have very hot, humid summers here. I had a hen who had been sitting for about a week. An awful heat wave set in. Temps for about 10 days were 97-102f. I was so worried.

I did what I could to increase ventilation. Made sure her water stayed cool, refilling a couple times a day.
I had a small battery powered fan. I covered it with hardware cloth with zip ties so no beaks could poke inside. I put it near her space. It was not blowing on her just near her to create a breeze. That little fan runs on 4 "D" cell batteries. It ran non-stop for a whole week before I had to change the batteries. I still have it ready to go just in case! I am a worrier! My nerves were fazzled the whole time but she did great and hatched 4 of 5 eggs. One was not fertile.

Good luck with your hatch! Let us know how she does. We love mama hen with chick pictures! :love
 
I'm pretty sure you can buy urine spray online. Spray it around the border of your property so predators recognize that this "territory" is already occupied. Not foolproof but scent markers are an important type of communication between animals.

Human urine works too but depending on where you live you can't just drop your pants and pee around your property 🤣 but some people will pee in a container and dump it at the bases of trees and bushes etc. Sometimes I do go next to the run. Not often 😆 but when you gotta go, you gotta go, and if it could help keep predators away then why not?

Foxes, raccoons, bears, lots of animals are becoming less afraid of humans because humans are trying to befriend them, or help them, or whatever else. Not a good idea. It puts people and the animals themselves in danger. Eg a "friendly" bear that has been fed by humans and is comfortable around them is potentially a very dangerous bear. Comfort leads to boldness. If you want to keep these guys away from your property you need to make them wary or even afraid of humans.

Loud noises, motion sensor sprinklers and lights, keep trash securely locked up, DO NOT FEED THE WILD ANIMALS... These are much more affordable options than buying a dog, training it, keeping it fed and healthy... Not to mention the vet bills. LGDs get themselves injured and sick just from being out there in the elements. Vets are not cheap. Especially emergency vets, and a dog being outside 24/7 is an emergency waiting to happen.

(I don't have a problem with people owning LGDs in general. Some people think it's cruel to the dogs, I don't agree, as long as it's done correctly. I just cant imagine having the funds to deal with an emergency at any point!)
I understand this is 4 months old and not on the original topic but found this while searching for "human urine". We live 7-800' from the road, trees surround and have deliberately relieved ourselves to drop our scent, hoping it to possibly be a deterrent.

Instead of going around the coop/run area, I'll go and direct my husband to begin to "mark" the edge of the woods.😎
 
My chicks will be 3 weeks old this weekend, they are already getting flighty and decently covered in feathers. They together with their mom have been staying inside a coop in my chicken run, so since the moment all chicks were dry they could have interacted with the rest of the flock and their father. I do think they are old enough where my chicken coop is less of a deathtrap as I called it.

Kuikens 2025.jpg

Bit of an older picture of mom with the chicks. The black chick on the right has sadly died.

So I would like to know how mom with chick introductions to the main flock went for other people on this thread? Especially since this is the first time any of my chickens are dealing with offspring, so I don't know how the rest would react to the little ones.

Kippen op stok 2025.jpg

This is my main flock. I introduced the 3 pullets on the lowest roost to the flock right after all the chicks had hatched, so the Silkie mom wouldn't be disturbed.

There is a very clear pecking order which is:
- Ayam cemani rooster
- Blue hen
- White hen
- Silkie mom (Lowest place of pecking order, before hatching chicks)

- Brahma Pullet
- Bearded Polish pullet
- Silkie pullet

During the day the rooster, blue and white hens stay near the chicks and mom and interact with them. Meanwhile the 3 pullets are scared of the others and have never left the inside coop. So my flock isn't exactly that stable at the moment. Would you still go ahead with adding the Silkie mom and chicks back to the flock? Could I assume The silkie mom would place above the Brahma pullet? The Silkie mom did follow and stay with the flock before, unlike the pullets right now.
 
I would like to know how mom with chick introductions to the main flock went for other people on this thread? Especially since this is the first time any of my chickens are dealing with offspring, so I don't know how the rest would react to the little ones.
In my experience (which is relatively extensive; see my article on How good is your broody for details prior to this year, when 3 more have occurred), the rest of the flock are interested to meet the new members, but once the introductions are over, have very little interest in them thereafter. It does of course vary bird to bird, both qua broody (some are excessively protective and set everyone on edge), and qua rest of flock (some have no mothering instinct at all and find youngsters a bit annoying). Roos will come to imprint, i.e. hold their head down low and still for minutes, while making close eye contact with each chick.

From what you have said, I think the introductions were over long since, and I would expect most of the rest of your flock to largely ignore the new family, leaving the broody to get on with it.
 
From what you have said, I think the introductions were over long since, and I would expect most of the rest of your flock to largely ignore the new family, leaving the broody to get on with it.
It is as you said! They just kinda do their own thing. I did see the head hen dust bathing right next to them. They still sleep in their own separate coop, which I prefer for now. So all seems good!
Kuikens 2025 buiten.jpg
 

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