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HoppinHalfPints

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That my mom actually AGREED to let me hatch chicks! :mbounce:

Probably only 3, though. Two of our Modern Game hens are broody, so we'll put the eggs under them. :p

Agh, I can't wait! We'll we be getting eggs from a breeder about 30 minutes away from us.


Take that, mom! Now there's no going back. :twisted:
 
The chicken forums generally suggest 5 eggs minimum. Although broodies are better than using an incubator where 3 eggs often leaves a single chick with no company and competition. They don't grow as well or sometimes at all alone. Some people have had luck putting stuffed animals and ticking clocks in with single chicks but they still do better with 3 or more chicks and a 100% hatch rate even with a broody is very unlikely. You can always sell extra poults for $3-$10 once they are ready to go with other chickens. Covers the bag of chick feed.
 
Okay, we revised the order. She's GIVING us 1/2 a dozen, maybe more, in exchange for a chick that she really wants. We're heading up tomorrow, so we'll see. :lol:
 
I'd get more than 6--my son just finished his 4H embryology project- we started with 12 eggs- 4 were not fertile- down to 8. Six hatched without a problem, one pipped and died in the shell, it was so close!! Last large one just never moved, we'll see how far it got when we do our dissection of all the kids unhatched eggs. So we have 6 week old chicks- were doing well, one now looks a little off, drooping wings and unsteady- trying to keep it going but it may die. So, 12 eggs, one week post hatch 5 viable chicks. No way of knowing how many are males and will have to go- with chickens more is always best. Chickens are very social, they really need other birds to thrive and be happy.
 
Broodys tend to have better hatching rates then, say, an incubator. She said that she has 80-95% hatching rates with broodys. Besides, she mentioned that she would be collecting, and she already has 6, so we will see how many we get.

That must of been a really fun project! My science teacher says that in 2 years we're going to be hatching chicks in class. I can't wait!
 
Broody hens have a high hatch rate if they don't quit halfway, get other eggs dumped on them by other chickens and push the fertile ones out, or end up attacked by something because of sitting on the ground instead of up on a roost. When they do hatch some are a bit stupid about their chicks and some take good care of them. You never know. I kinda preferred my incubator. My first few hatches may not have gone much over 50% but after a year of tweaking and keeping a journal of everything I did and what result it had I made 90-95% consistently for years. I only lost 1 chicken chick that managed to dry off and stand. It's naval didn't close and it got some type of infection. Bled a lot getting out of the egg too so it was starting weak.
 
I have hatched a lot of eggs, and as far as broody hens go-- it is a gamble. some are great moms, and some are not-- and then there is the eggs, just because there is a rooster in with the chickens does not mean all eggs will be fertile. I have used a incubator the last many years, "mostly".[ it holds about 180 eggs] I candle all of the eggs after the first 10 days, and toss the ones with no blood veins in them, -- after that-- I get about 95% or more hatch/ survive rate.

_
 
It is a fun project, and the one that didn't look good has perked up. So if we had 8 viable eggs, and 6 hatched and survived thats 75% hatch rate, not bad for our first time using an incubator. We have tried using broodies to hatch in the past, without very good results, and we have silkies and bantam cochins. Think in the end we got one good chick, and he was a he. Right now I think we have 2 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Buckeye and three that are either Easter eggers or may be Olive eggers. Hoping for mostly hens. Hope you get a good hatch!
 
Not all broody hens make wonderful moms, but I much prefer chicks raised by a hen to those raised in a brooder. Mom teaches them, protects them, keeps them warm, and teaches them some manners. :p

We've had good luck with Speckled Sussex and Dominiques and, of course, Silkies. I think most heritage breeds do well as broodies.
 
I believe that is the same for rabbits, some are great moms while others....not so much. :lol:

We'll be getting them tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get a good hatch rate on this batch! I'm planning on documenting the eggs growth for my 4-H poultry project.
 
MaggieJ":3bjy66sy said:
Not all broody hens make wonderful moms, but I much prefer chicks raised by a hen to those raised in a brooder. Mom teaches them, protects them, keeps them warm, and teaches them some manners. :p

We've had good luck with Speckled Sussex and Dominiques and, of course, Silkies. I think most heritage breeds do well as broodies.
Click to expand...

I think that about sums it all up, -- I agree with Maggie on this--
 
My japanese bantam hen looked like she'd be an incredible mom. She built a nest nearly a foot deep in the bedding and packed dozens of eggs, not all bantam, underneath herself. I finally started marking them and taking away the ones she'd stolen from the bottom nest boxes and added to her pile. She was killed by a coon right before the first eggs were going to hatch along with another hen that roosted too low and I stuck all the eggs in an incubator. Every last one hatched. Some a week apart but every egg hatched. After so many being sat on by one of the smallest bantam breeds. It would have been fun to see her with dozens of chicks ranging from japanese bantam size to large standards. We then had some bantam EE all go broody and hatched out about 5 chicks each. Sadly that was the point we gained a fisher cat that slaughtered about 100 chickens and 50 guinea fowl in the half day we were gone. We got out of chickens because that was our 3rd repopulation attempt after a wild animal attack and we didn't have the means or permission to build fort knox. I poured a lot of money in to the novelty of seramas too only to have them killed twice before I could hatch eggs laid by my own seramas. Serama eggs don't ship well for some reason so it's an expensive venture to hatch out enough and even more so to get the really small ones.
 
Congratulations on the eggs!

I hope you get a good hatch rate. :good-luck:
 

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