A new baby on the farm!

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I am so happy! We have on little hen that tried a few months back to hatch some eggs with no success. She would get out of the nesting box to get something to eat or whatever and another hen would hop up on the eggs. She would decide to get back to the box and seeing that someone else was on the eggs, she would get into another box. Then of course the replacement hen would get down because she had no intention on hatching eggs. So in one box we would have the eggs, in another box, our little broody hen. Hatching eggs doesn't really work that way.

So her broody spell was finally broken for about a month. Then she became broody again.

This time she did a really good job at sitting on the eggs. She was very persistant and rarely left the nesting box. Two weeks ago, she hatched one of the 5 eggs that she had. But...the chick hatched and we found it dead the next morning. So at that point, she had been sitting on the eggs for 21 days, as that is roughly how long it takes. She still had 4 eggs left.

We let her continue to sit on them as she was so determined. Yesterday as we left for work. We saw that one was hatching. We and prayed that all would be well with this one. Got home last night and Momma pecked the farmer hard when he tried to lift her so we let her go overnight without checking. This morning, I could hear a cheeping! So we took a broody cage and put it on the hen house floor. Took her out and low and behold; one little chick alive and well! One egg dissapeared? Perhaps she kicked it out of the box knowing it was no good and the other hens ate it? So we moved her, her chick and the remainning 2 eggs into the pen. She peacefully settled right in over her chick and the eggs. I am hopefull that the other two will hatch soon and she will have 3 babies.

This means this little determined momma has been sitting on eggs for 35 days! Thats a long time... So congrats to Momma Hen!

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh, good job momma hen! Hope all goes well with the new hatchlings.
My little Dutch bantam is broody again, and I'm almost tempted to get a couple of fertile eggs for her to hatch out.
But my coop is at maximum occupancy now, and the new chicks would undoubtedly be cockerels.

 

[desertlady]

yay !! Its not a easy task to do !! My broody hen tried to hatch her eggs, but I lost them all ! other hens killed them

 

[cityfarmer]

Congratulations!

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Thanks all! I am happy for her and hopefull that the other 2 will hatch sometime over the next day or so.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

best thing to do when a broody is about to hatch (usually a week to a few days before you expect them to) is to move momma and any eggs to a secluded spot away from the other hens. i would suggest a very large dog crate big enough for her to move around and away from the eggs when she needs to do any business. also some room for a bowl of water and some food. once the chicks start hatching you might want to remove the food for a few days or move the bowl closer to momma so she does not leave the chicks/eggs uncovered for too long. she might think they are ready to learn to eat and not focus on the eggs still trying to grow their last day or two before hatching.

btw, sometimes the eggs under a broody will hatch one day at a time so watch a determined broody closely and see how many days it will take her to give up any remaining eggs. one of my girls went broody on me last year 5 times in a row before she finally hatched 4 chicks. this year she already hatched 2 chicks but didn't want to give up the remaining 5 eggs. after cracking open the eggs 2 had gone bad, 1 looks like it started developing and got through 1 week before quitting, 1 other looked like it should have hatched and either she gave up on it early or it just died in the shell. the 5th egg disappeared and i think she ate it-probably a dud.

 

[Collector]

She will be one proud Moma for sure! Congrats

 

[Adambelmont321]

Congrats to the mommy hen

 

[desertlady]

I have a broody hen and I am not looking forward to it!, Last time other hens fight over the nesting and they like to break eggs, I tried to seperate them but its a big hassle! I am going to work on it this time and hope she will be able to have her babies..

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I hope it works out for you desertlady. I understand your frustration.

This momma hen only had the one chick. The other two eggs never made it. It is a pain trying to keep them seperate, have seperate food for the chick, etc. So they are both just in with the flock now doing there thing. Momma is doing a good job. She put the boots to the rooster on the first day and baby hangs right under her feet for the most part. She's happy, I'm happy!