Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Solanacae]

Sounds pretty neat. I've eggs hatching in the incubator-call ducks, wild turkeys, and domestic turkeys. Sultan/phoenix will be hatching soon.

I would love to see how the Sultan/Phoenix cross looks as it grows!

 

[nchls school]

I would love to see how the Sultan/Phoenix cross looks as it grows!

I'll post pictures if I remember.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Creme needs a set of golf balls if all she gives you are cockerels!

Yeah. I'd just end up with ping pong balls then, or alarm clocks. Lol.

She's funny. She lays these beautiful turquoise eggs, then pretends she wants to brood, but always gives up after a day or two. I've never had her go the distance. She's an aunt and not a mom.

Thankfully I've got others who will hatch her eggs...hopefully all girls this time.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Rats. Just let chickens out. Bar was setting in the nest on whatever chicks she has hatched to date. I changed water for big girls, then checked water for chicks. Bar had in that time moved out to the corner by the water. Saw one chick. I know I have at least 3 separate shells pulled aside. Cochine is now on Bar's nest, and Auntie Creme took Cochine's. I've no idea if Bar had more to hatch. Sigh. Hopefully Cochine finishes the job as that was the pile of turquoise eggs.

Drat Creme. I really didn't expect her to butt her beak into this now.

Risks of main coop hatching. Brownie is still on brown eggs on the side coop...but I really wanted turquoise. Sigh.

Good news. Glimpse of one chick indicates girl as solid chipmunk. Didn't see any head dot.

LofMc

 

[nchls school]

Has Cochine been broody for at least a week? Many hens that have just started brooding will not accept chicks and may even kill them as intruders. Consider moving Bar, chicks, and nest to a safer location where other birds won't cause problems. Once there's a chick or two, hens will accept being relocated without an issue. I always bring broody hens into the house once a chick has hatched. Too often I've lost chicks when other birds got into the nest and... At this time there a Yokohama hen with six new ducklings on the dining room table; in a tub. Another silkie/phoenix hen is under the table with five new chicks; in a tub. I keep mom and new babes in the house for the first week after hatching.

I am lucky to be married to a woman who is as nuts as I am!

 

[McChooky]

Yeah. I'd just end up with ping pong balls then, or alarm clocks. Lol.

She's funny. She lays these beautiful turquoise eggs, then pretends she wants to brood, but always gives up after a day or two. I've never had her go the distance. She's an aunt and not a mom.

Thankfully I've got others who will hatch her eggs...hopefully all girls this time.

LofMc

She needs a Youtube channel if for nothing but having the prettiest eggs!

 

[Faraday40]

About 10-12 days before hatch, I had no broody volunteer, so I set a broody trap. (Nice comfy, darkened nest with a pile of eggs. I also brought my serama mama and her adopted silkie chicks next to the bantam coop so the hens could hear the peeping.) My "broody trap" worked too well!!!!!

On the 1st day, my serama "Popcorn" took the bait. She was already thinking about it and my intended target. On the 2nd day I replaced eggs with golf balls to prevent accidental chicks. Two days later, my mottled serama joined Popcorn. Last Thursday, the Modern Game sisters joined in to make it 4. I left Friday morning with 4 broody hens and returned to 5 hens piled in the nest and sounding like velociraptors.

The incubator chicks hatched on Thursday / Friday. Popcorn wasn't ready to adopt Thursday and sadly a chick was lost in the process. Tried again on Saturday and was eventually successful on Sunday.

Popcorn and chicks are doing well and fully bonded. I tried the mottled serama but she was just not ready for chicks. (Not enough time setting) So my broody trap backfired on me. Now what do I do with the extra 4 broody hens????

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Has Cochine been broody for at least a week? Many hens that have just started brooding will not accept chicks and may even kill them as intruders. Consider moving Bar, chicks, and nest to a safer location where other birds won't cause problems. Once there's a chick or two, hens will accept being relocated without an issue. I always bring broody hens into the house once a chick has hatched. Too often I've lost chicks when other birds got into the nest and... At this time there a Yokohama hen with six new ducklings on the dining room table; in a tub. Another silkie/phoenix hen is under the table with five new chicks; in a tub. I keep mom and new babes in the house for the first week after hatching.

I am lucky to be married to a woman who is as nuts as I am!

Cochine has been broody for about 2 weeks, and being a Cochin mix, I'm not very worried about her hurting any possible chicks that haven't hatched.

Bar began hatching yesterday, and in my experience, what hatches does so within 24 hours...I don't think bar would have moved if the eggs weren't done.

Butttt....since I didn't lift up anybody today, to keep things calm during the daylight, I let them stay where they were and things just play out.

Sometimes it's hard to keep hands off when you are trying to keep a "sustainable" flock that is savvy to do it's own thing, but it's paid off with a lot less intervention over the years.

Bar is also the hen that went off and brought back 5 hatched chicks in a week of 108degree weather, keeping them all alive without any assistance by me.

So hopefully the ladies have it all worked out. I do think the clutch Cochine was sitting on was being disturbed a lot by Creme, so those eggs (which were the "extra after thoughts set") probably are a bust.

We'll see how Brownie does in the other coop. She has a lot more privacy. Just wish now that I'd set her with some blue eggs too...but I put so many under my faithful Bar I was afraid I'd be flooded with blue layers.

Oh well. Tonight will tell the tale.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

UPDATE:
Bar is back to the original nest which still has some eggs (about 4? maybe 5 left?). She hatched 4 chicks. As one brown egg was still in tact, that means 1 Barnie brown and 3 CL turquoise blue. Really, REALLLLLLY hoping I get at least 2 CL hens (they'll be 7/8 CL from breed backs which in my experience makes for decent utility line....I'm not in for show, just health, sustainability, and pretty eggs).

Brownie is still Zen-like on her separate, quite corner on 4 brown eggs.

Cochine is back to her corner nest, which I will be shocked if anything develops. I pulled out 3 eggs that weren't marked, and something broke, so this was the "what the heck" nest.

Auntie Creme was on the roost again, silly girl. Maybe she'll be happy as a grandma.

Anywho....One chick definitely looked not marked (head dot) so female. Didn't want to disturb things too much so quick peak didn't allow me to check for other head dots....but quick glance suggested another was really dark chipmunk (a good sign), the other lighter chipmunk (probably male).

So YES...4 chicks to date. Tomorrow will be bumper if any hatch from this nest. Brownie is due this weekend.

I'll check the "side pocket" "what the heck" eggs tomorrow night after things settle down a bit. I like to be careful to not mess with my broodies when they are hatching.

LofMc

 

[fisherlady]

UPDATE:
Bar is back to the original nest which still has some eggs (about 4? maybe 5 left?). She hatched 4 chicks. As one brown egg was still in tact, that means 1 Barnie brown and 3 CL turquoise blue. Really, REALLLLLLY hoping I get at least 2 CL hens (they'll be 7/8 CL from breed backs which in my experience makes for decent utility line....I'm not in for show, just health, sustainability, and pretty eggs).

Brownie is still Zen-like on her separate, quite corner on 4 brown eggs.

Cochine is back to her corner nest, which I will be shocked if anything develops. I pulled out 3 eggs that weren't marked, and something broke, so this was the "what the heck" nest.

Auntie Creme was on the roost again, silly girl. Maybe she'll be happy as a grandma.

Anywho....One chick definitely looked not marked (head dot) so female. Didn't want to disturb things too much so quick peak didn't allow me to check for other head dots....but quick glance suggested another was really dark chipmunk (a good sign), the other lighter chipmunk (probably male).

So YES...4 chicks to date. Tomorrow will be bumper if any hatch from this nest. Brownie is due this weekend.

I'll check the "side pocket" "what the heck" eggs tomorrow night after things settle down a bit. I like to be careful to not mess with my broodies when they are hatching.

LofMc

Glad the bar went back. What DH usually does on hatch days is 'wire them in'. He has short screws drilled in on either side of the box entrance so they just stick out about a quarter inch. He has pieces of hardware cloth cut for the size of the opening plus a little. He put the hardware cloth over the screws and then uses a real small bungee to tie it in place. The wire mesh is primarily to keep stray hens out and early hatchers in. The fence comes down once hatch is done or we want to move them to a floor box. The biggest risk to our chicks on hatch day is definitely the other hens wanting to lay in the broody box.