Chick Fever: Hatching with a Broody Hen

You might have had a broody hen and not have known it! Have you ever came into the coop one day looking for eggs and instead find a hen puffed up and growling, and may try to peck you? Well then you have had one before! If you want to hatch eggs, a broody is a wonderful way to do that. But if you just want to collected eggs without getting pecked you want them to stop being broody as soon a possible! Well, lucky if you just want to just collect eggs, most hens have been bred to lay eggs and rarely if ever go broody. But what if you want to hatch some chicks with a hen? Well I have picked out a few breeds that go broody very easy.



-Orpingtons

-Brahmas

-Australorps

-Cochins

-Silkies


There is a few more breeds I did not mention but these breeds of chickens sit very easy and are excellent mothers. Tip: If you are going to want to hatch you will need a rooster for an egg to be fertile. But even flocks with no rooster, the hens will become broody. 

Encourage a Hen to Sit

So, know you know the breeds that go broody how do you get them to start going broody? Well most of the time a hen will start going after she reaches the age 1, but that isn't the case in some hens. 1Way to get a hen to want to sit is put some wooden eggs or Easter eggs in the nesting boxes to create a clutch. This works better than leaving real eggs in the nest that may break or rot without a hen incubating them. Another way is hang curtains on the nesting boxes to give a hen a nice dark place to lay her eggs and hopefully decide to go broody. There are other ways to making a hen relax while laying an egg like putting a handful of herbs in the boxes. Herbs are very calming like lavender and can help the hen not feel stressed while laying an egg. You will know you have a broody when you find her in the same nesting box day and night and gets mean when you or another hen tries to get near.

Hatching With a Broody

Ok, now that you hopefully have a broody its time to get her hatching! Well, if you did put wooden eggs in the nesting boxes, your going to need to swap them for real eggs. You should do this at night when the hen is sleeping on the nest. Gently swap the wooden eggs for the real ones without disturbing the hen. Yay! Now she has real eggs under her! Let the incubating begin! The eggs will hatch after 21days of being incubated. If you keep your flocks food outside I would move it closer to were the hens nest is. The hen will only get up once or twice a day to eat, drink, and poop. Just make sure the hen gets up each day to eat and drink.  Broody hens will start to loose weight and look skinny because of how short breaks she takes. Some broodies are so dedicated to their eggs that they may starve themselves!
So you walk into the coop on the 21day the eggs have been incubating and look in the nesting box were the broody is and instead find her and some chicks! If you want you could move her and her chicks to a dog crate or a separate housing so the other hens don't try to kill the 'new' flock members. The hen may still have a few eggs under her, so if you do move her, move her eggs too. Sometimes, though, eggs don't hatch. The hen will sense the eggs aren't going to hatch and stop incubating them. If you decide to move them, give access to water and food right from the start.  You can keep the broody hen and her chicks in the crate for a few days until the chicks are moving around a lot and can be out from under the hen to explore. If you decide to keep the chicks and mother separate from the rest of the flock give them a fenced in pen to explore outside in. When the chicks are getting independent and don't need the care from their mother any more that is a sign to move them in with the rest of the flock.                        


So that's what there is to hatching eggs with a broody. It is pretty easy to let a hen hatch eggs then to incubate eggs and have to raise chicks yourself. The hen knows what to do and how to raise her own so you don't need to worry about heating but always make sure the mother and chicks always have access to food.