[---Snakey---]

I have had this particular speckledy about 8 months and she is a candidate for an olympic broody gold..... so i thought, give the poor girl the instinctive desire to hatch eggs and so i got 6 fertile eggs for her to sit on with the intention of passing on any newbies to a friend who is after some hens of her own...

I built her a one bed apartment and as good as gold she has sat on them non stop... growling at me when i encourage her off the clutch to have some food and water.....

I then realised that I may end up with a few chicks to look after for a while before they go off to pastures new..... so i have now built an extension to the apartment and the whole "condo" is like a big rabbit hutch....

My question to all u lovely folk is.... what should i do if they hatch? Particularly regarding the feed, water, outdoor/indoor and what do I do with the Broody hen?

I am also concerned that when chatting to a friend a few days ago he asked if I have been "turning the eggs", Should I do this or will he hen do this her self (surly thats what happens in the wild?)

Thanks for reading and all help well and truly welcomed

Regards,

Snakey

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Snakey, your friend is a twit!  Does he think a broody hen desn't know what to do? 

She will turn the eggs herself, just make sure she leaves them occasionally to drink and eat.  Once they hatch after 21 days, make sure there is a little bowl of water for them, either a chick drinker or some people say put some marbles in the bowl so the chicks can't drown, and you'll need a little tray of some sort with chick crumb in it.

Leave the rest to momma!  She will teach the chicks all they need to know, then at about 6 weeks old she will kick them out to fend for themselves!

Good luck!

[ANHBUC]

Hi Snakey, How long to go before your new arrivals, arrive?  Are they the same breed?
GrannieAnnie forgot one important thing, the pictures which you are obliged to post loads of on here.   

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Snakey, How long to go before your new arrivals, arrive?  Are they the same breed?
GrannieAnnie forgot one important thing, the pictures which you are obliged to post loads of on here.   

Ooops, sorry!!   

[---Snakey---]

Thanks for the replys, I can chill a bit now......

ANHBUC, Saturday is the big day, towels and hot water at the ready..... Anally I have said that I will drive and not drink to a works doo on friday night.... don't think that the effects of 6 pints of guiness would benefit the experience of see chicks hatch  Oh and the eggs are buff orpingtons (I hope!!!!)

I will upload pictures of the occassion, I promise :-)

[NormandyMary]

Good Luck Snakey, Im sure we will all be thinking of you at this eggciting time. When my broodies hatched, (I had 2 sitting together, which was great as they kept each other company) I had just gone into the henhouse to clean it out and found 4 baby chicks cheeping away from under their mums.
I dashed up to the garden centre to get chick crumb, etc and set it all up in the henhouse as I didnt have anywhere else to put them.(Totally unprepared!) Within a couple of days, the mummies had the babies out in the open air with their aunties and uncle, eating THEIR food and drinking their water. I put the crumb out for them, but they wouldnt touch it. I despaired, but couldnt stop them. They still managed to thrive, so dont worry, mother nature will take most of the care!

[---Snakey---]

So my eggs went under my chook on the afternoon of Saturday the 7th of May and my first egg hatched sunday morning the 29th. This morning none of the others had hatched...... Am I being impatient?

Oh a pic of my only chick

[---Snakey---]

Try again....

[curries]

How lovely, what a shame you only have one, not that I am an expert but i would give the others a bit longer, what have you got to lose.  Good luck and let us know.  My first batch are due to hatch on Wednesday.

[evie2]

Aaawwww gorgeous Snakey

We left Star to decide when to leave the nest,  that was yesterday 3rd day after last hatch, we removed the last 2 eggs, one was infertile, the other died in the egg trust the broody

[bantam novice]

Your chick is so cute! 

I had just one hatch out on Easter Monday and left my broody sitting as she didn't want to leave the other eggs.  On the Thursday a second chick hatched out! 

I would leave your broody to let you know.  If she is still sitting let her sit.  I have heared that if you use a fine mist spray of water on the unhatched eggs this may help them to hatch out but have not tried this myself. 

Good luck with your others and keep us posted