From Egg to Hatch with a Broody Hen 

That's lovely of you - thank you kindly 🙂

You’re welcome 😊

I'm so glad! They are such a wonderful addition to any home trying to be self reliant - the dual purpose and natural broodiness makes them so useful for our mindset!

So glad that you enjoyed it!

Thank you so much!

How exciting 🙂

Hello 👋

So glad that it helped

Thank you

Definitely!

Thank you! We think so too!

So nice of you

Thank you!

You are very welcome 🙂

Thank you so much Patrick!

Glad to help. Thanks for your compliment!

@@EnglishCountryLife :)

Hi Laurel! Lovely to see you over here :-) I find the parallels between the chickens and Arwen fascinating. Having said that I suppose that sitting in position for 23 hours must cause a need to move and to be energetic if only for a short period. I think I would be the same if it were me.

@@EnglishCountryLife Fortunately Arwen doesn't sit for 23 hours straight. this is partially because cockatoos, regardless of the species, take turns between the parents in sitting their eggs. The fathers sit about 50% of the time, allowing the mother to leave the nest to eat, fly, etc. Except overnight when it's safest for everyone to be in the nest hollow, they take about 2-6 hour shifts, depending on the pair. Of course since Arwen is not married, she's not following that same schedule. but of late she's breaking up her time more, especially since she sleeps on her eggs at night.

Thank you so much!

Hello fellow Fiona (waves)

How wonderful - that's brilliant

Thank you

Thank you. That's so kind of you

@@EnglishCountryLife if I let you babysit my hens, they would follow you, and leave me, you spoil your girls, lots of love

You are very welcome Tod

So pleased that you liked it 😀

I hope you're able to keep them.

Thanks fo much

We are so glad 🙂

Thanks so much 🙂

You are really kind! Thank you so much

That's a great ratio. Good luck!

@@EnglishCountryLifethank you! 💗 is there a bedding you recommend more for the brooder?

@@LouisaSamayoajerez We use Snowflake Supreme soft wood shavings 🙂

We have a video on that very subject! Both Harry Dodson & Ruth Mott from that series are heroes of mine. Hugh ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qHburN5ARdA.html

Thank you - we love them

Its an interesting behaviour & highly breed based. All of our Orpingtons are currently broody - but none of the Marans. Legbars go broody maybe 25% of the time

You're so welcome!

So glad that you liked it Melissa

Thank you

Thank you so much 😊

You're very welcome!

It's a fantastic experience - good luck 🤞

Thank you

Thank you 😊

Fabulous! We have two broods due on June the 6th! Will you candle yours?

That's great. I might just be a wee bit jealous 😀 We have to wait for the hens to be broody but it is so amazing seeing them nurture the the chicks.

Our favourite set up is a Garden Life Direct walk in run and a Nestera ground coop inside our chicken run. This gives separation whilst she broods, an outside space for the broody to poop but keeps her in contact with the flock. We let her & the chicks out on day 2 under supervision. You can see the setup here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HhEGw40VjK0.html

Thank you!

@@EnglishCountryLife You're welcome 🙂

Please feel free to be virtual chicken keepers 😉

So glad that you liked it 🙂

Thanks and welcome

Glad you liked it 🙂

Good luck 🤞🤞🤞🤞☺️

So glad that you enjoyed it. We are Buff Orpington breeders hopefully you can find other useful content on the channel. Welcome to a fellow Orpington fan 🙂

Me too - if it isn't too long 😉

Thank you

I'm so glad that it was helpful 🙂

Thank you

Now is the time to pop some eggs in the incubator or pop them under an obliging broody?????

@@EnglishCountryLife What is the name of this kind of hens?, please 😊😊

@@adelawad1111 The golden yellow chickens are Buff Orpingtons

Oh Jonny! I am so pleased you've commented. You and Jane are welcome to visit anytime :-)

Thank you

You are so welcome!

@@EnglishCountryLife 🌷🌷🌷

So glad that you liked it. Nothing wrong with doing both. We use incubators to help broody hens have large clutches . We discuss our combined approach here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6z3kkeKj9jQ.html

Thank you so much! It sounds like you have your hands full. I hope it goes well for you. I have some other videos under the playlist "Breeding chickens" that covers some of the issues we have had. I hope they help. 95% of the time it has all gone incredibly smoothly.

@@EnglishCountryLife Will have a look through them, thanks again.

Anytime. If you have any question just ask :-)

Wow that's early!

Thank you

They are :-)

@@EnglishCountryLife I had one, she was sweet but coyotes wanted food 🥺

@@bigdawg2011 Oh no!

We absolutely love Orpingtons - we hope you enjoy yours as much as we do

Thank you Beth, that's very kind of you 🙂

Thank you!

@@EnglishCountryLife I have a Silky Broody that loves sitting on our un fertile breakfast eggs . So I thought I would give this a try and let her be a real mommy. Ordered six Ayam Cemani hatching eggs. Digging into all of these how videos. Your video is very helpful . People like you that take the time to teach others is priceless . Thank You from Thomas of Alvada Ohio

@@patriotu.s.elections7879 That's very kind of you Thomas, thank you!

How exciting! Do let us know what you end up with?

@@EnglishCountryLife 9 babies on the last count. It is amazing letting Mama do all the raising. I love seeing animals at work. That's why I let my Nigerian Dwarf goats dam raise as well. The babies learn so much from mom.

@@fourfoldhomestead2404 How fantastic! That's great news 😁

That's fascinating

@@EnglishCountryLife When you think about it, humans follow a similar pattern as cockatoos. depending on species, cockatoos tend to lay 1-5 eggs. Humans tend to have up to about 4-5 babies in a pregnancy. Both humans and cockatoos frequently have additional offspring before the first ones are fully mature and living on their own. Like a typical situation where a second human child is born 3-6 years after the first one, causing siblings to be raised together with space between. same idea.

@@laurelrockefeller It always strikes me that human offspring are very slow to learn. Foals can stand in an hour, walk in a day & run in a week

@@EnglishCountryLife Relative to size, especially brain size, humans are not very smart. Humans and parrots have roughly the same intellectual capacities -- but the human brain is between 1 kg and 1.75 kg (females having the smaller and lighter brains). The largest parrots (whose entire bodies weigh between 900 and 1300 grams) are doing that with brains weighing at most 200 grams. Cockatiels weigh around 85-100 grams. Hence, Mithril and Arwen are pretty much able to do what I do mentally -- but with brains only weighing around 20-25 grams. that's a massive difference in efficiency that is rarely considered when assessing intelligence.

@@EnglishCountryLife Isn't it interesting how similar egg incubation times and number of days before a chick's first flight tends to be fairly consistently in the 20 day and 5-8 week respectively range? That's across every order, every species of class Aves. Certainly there is a difference between a hummingbird and a chicken, a parrot from a peregrine falcon. Yet these basics for baby birds are remarkably similar in timing. Though there is a huge difference in what a one day chicken chick and a one day old cockatiel chick can do, the amount of time in the egg itself is nearly identical.

What a good question. We don't separate the eggs. We like to have all of the hens running around the field together so we wouldn't know what is fertile or not. Before an egg begins an incubation period there is no difference between a fertile and non fertile egg if you are going to eat it. They look and taste the same. In fact there have been stories of people purchasing free range eggs for eating from the supermarket, setting them in an incubator and successfully hatching them. The only eggs we separate are the Cream Legbar (the little grey hens) and the Marans (the black hens) eggs. Their eggs are blue and chocolate brown respectively so we can tell them apart from our Buff Orpington eggs. That's because we only incubate and hatch pure breed Buff Orpingtons. As the other hens eggs are easily distinguishable, they all can run around our field together. Does that help?

Yes indeed, you can store unrefrigerated eggs for up to 14 days before starting incubation. We do candle eggs. We did a series this year following a broody hen right through & we showed the candling process in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1kzesDL31mA.html

@@EnglishCountryLife That's wonderful, thank you!

The simple answer is that it's and ENORMOUS space for only a few chickens. It doesn't stop them digging and I regularly have to patch small areas with grass seed and more soil.

If you are going to hatch it is important to have a plan for cockerels. You may get another breeder to take one if its a good specimen but rehoming can be a real challenge. We grow ours to maturity and process them for the table ourselves, but not everyone is comfortable doing that.

They are such beautiful birds, I'm hoping others will want the roosters to multiply their own flocks. If not I may end up with my own flock of roosters! @@EnglishCountryLife

Hi, we go with separate coops and runs for each broody, but fully appreciate that this is not the right solution for everyone. If you leave eggs under two broodies, as soon as one goes out to eat or poop, the other will steal some or all of her eggs. If they have eggs set on the same day this is not too bad. If their eggs are planned to hatch on different days its an enormous issue. We've done it once with eggs set on the same day and they co parented well - but it was possible that they will fight.

@@EnglishCountryLife Thanks Fiona, that's really helpful!

Good morning Victor 🙂. With a broody hen, we allow the broody to lead her chicks out once they are fully mobile (about 48 hours after hatch). We have a large free range area so she will lead them around the other hens and cockerels. This will increase in range and chick independence for a couple of weeks. By about week 4, the chicks occasionally have sleep overs with other family groups!

I think they understand calm soft voices and gentle handling and certainly come to understand humans being the source of treats. Ours will jump up on our laps 🙂

Thankfully our hens more than pay for themselves, so the eggs are free 🙂

That's a great idea and I'll make a video on that. You can't feed kitchen scraps to chickens because if the risk of contamination from meat. The rule was brought in after the CJD/BSE scandal. If you peel your carrots outside in the garden, you can feed those scraps. It's all about proximity to meat preparation areas. Once you have 50 birds at any one time you must register with Defra and that applies if you have mixed poultry counting all of your chickens, ducks, geese etc. Does that help?

@@EnglishCountryLife That's great, thanks. There are loads of "homesteading" type videos on here, but unfortunately most are based in the USA so I think a lot of what they say doesn't apply to us, for example, they often talk about letting chickens scratch through the compost heap. I guess that would be a no-no for most of us because of the possibility of meat contamination. Is it okay to free range chickens now, or do they still need to be kept under netting?

Thanks David. I'm glad you like the daily Floofs. Now I've got you hooked I just need to feed the addiction :-)

Hi, we find that Buff Orpington hens can be easily moved. We often settle them on pottery eggs and transfer them with the eggs. We then keep them confined them in the broody coop for 24 hours with food and water. They normally then stick but attaching a run to prevent them returning to their favourite coop can be necessary whilst maintaining the ability to have outside space. Good eggs need to have been fertility tested. This is how we do it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aop_G9uzOVA.html

They are very cute as chicks

Hey! Excess cockerels become table birds at maturity so between 20 -26 weeks for Orpingtons. For aging hens we keep egg layers to 2 years old and brooders for up to 3 then pop them up for sale at a reduced price. They normally become family pets.

Cheers.

They roll the eggs every few hours but the amount varies When we use incubators, we turn at 45 minutes and 120 degrees

Hi, we simply have a very small number of chickens to a VERY large space. They still dig and tear up some of the grass but the area is big enough that we can repair it and they still have enough grass elsewhere in the field.

Hi! We simply store the fertilised eggs in our kitchen at room temperature in normal egg boxes. They must not be washed or refrigerated. We generally hatch under broody hens who sit in April or May but adjust to weather conditions. It's fine to hatch earlier with an incubator but they need to be kept warm until fully feathered at 8 - 12 weeks

@@EnglishCountryLife Thank you very much. Very informative video. Loved it.

Hi Leon. They are viable immediately but they start to develop as soon as she sits on them, so if you want to hatch 12, give her 12 all at the same time, otherwise the first ones hatch and she has to take them out to feed & the others go cold. Mark the 12 you give her and, if you can, give her a separate coop away from other hens otherwise they will pull her off her eggs trying to lay in the same spot or she will pull their eggs under her

Hi Susan. As I show in the video I store them pointed end down in an egg box until I have 12 for the broody hen. I keep the egg box in the house so they are at room temperature but never in the kitchen just to be sure there are no mix ups with eggs for eating. Does that help?

@@EnglishCountryLife Thank you for your reply ... I have a hen on 22 day eggs .. nothing yet I removed 3 bad eggs! 1 exploded 2 were thrown out the nest. I have 2 other broody hens .. they always seem to be broody! I previously hatched 2 chicks from 9 eggs fingers crossed for the next day or 2. As I am in Scotland it is cooler so an extra day or 2! I did the foat test 2 sank 7 floated well

Strange you should should say it is taking a little longer. We have a broody that hatched at 22 days this week and a friend whose hens hatched at 23 days last week. It's never taken more that 21 days before for our hens. It's a very strange summer. I'm so sorry the clutch of eggs you had had such a high failure rate. We have had that before with eggs we have bought in. It's difficult to know how much they have been shaken through the postal system.

It is a very good question. For us we are a smallholding. We have a simple model. Unlike a commercial environment where cockerels have no purpose and are culled on hatch, all of our chivkens are grown to maturity and have a purpose. Hens are either sold or becoming broody hens and cockerels provide meat for the table. I appreciate this isn't suitable for everyone but we are not hatching hoping for all hens or that non-existent buyers appear for excess cockerels. Neither are we culling cockerels before they have had chance to live. They have a great free range lifestyle exhibiting natural behaviours. If you want to know more this video will talk you through our breeding cycle ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JDaMa8FawvM.html

@@EnglishCountryLife Thank you

If the hen is laying regularly, the cockerel will tread her regularly. Once that starts happening, partially formed eggs need to clear the oviduct and then all eggs should be fertile. Eggs will remain fertile for around 7 days after the last time the cockerel "treads" the hen.

Thanks for asking but we won't have any PoL hens available until next year. Our spring chicks have only just hatched and we already have a waiting list of people to buy any excess PoL that will be ready in September this year. Sorry!

That's a pity - as you know they wouldn't survive tge flight. We have been developing our strain for many years now and it's getting where we want it to be, large, calm birds, naturally broody and fully self sufficient

Temperament and space is vital

Hi Judi! They do protect the chicks once hatched but it's a really good idea to give them a peaceful space to brood in away from other chickens. Here's a really old video of a super basic coop that I made ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uwn1AOBh6iQ.html My buddy put a broody hen in a wooden packing crate that he cut a door in. It worked fine. Throw a bit of a fence round it to keep other hens out. Chicken wire, debris netting anything really. Once the chicks have hatched, after a couple of days, you can take the fence away

Congratulations and thank you

I think the first thing to do is to give her a thorough check over for injuries, illness or parasites. Chicken society is structured to keep the flock strong and this means that when chickens are ill or injured the flock can attack. It also means that chickens will disguise when they are ill or injured to avoid being "weeded out". If you find a problem, isolate her until she has been treated and healthy and try again. If you don't find a problem for her health you will have to isolate her so that she can eat and drink enough and if the problem persists when you reintroduce her the only thing you can do for her own welfare is rehome her. I'm so sorry.

@@EnglishCountryLife thank you. She is the nicest one too. I think i will keep her and a couple of quiet ones and rehome the bullies. Regards

With broodies, we give the chicks one day to recover from hatching then let the broody hen lead them out into the main flock. No-one messes with a mother hen - the chicks are just fine. As they grow they might get cheeky & get a tiny bop on the head from an older bird that does no harm. They learn their place in the pecking order and we get a contented flock.

Exactly so Justine, we switch all the feeders over to chick crumb or micro pellets

Hi Pamela! We like to let the broodies sit in peace, but as soon as hatching is over & the chicks have recovered, we take the run away (around day 2). The broody ensures no harm comes to the chicks

@@EnglishCountryLife Even with roosters?

@@pamelaremme38 Yes they don't hurt chicks in our experience of Orpingtons

@@EnglishCountryLife Thank you that is what I did only I waited until the chick has what they call "legs" Uno the one and only chick is now 7 1/2 weeks!!!

We always ensure that he is. Inbreeding causes problems sooner or later

If she has no chicks hatched of her own then maybe, maybe not. It's a risk. If you're going to give it a try these 3 things will help: 1) Have a back up plan to look after the chicks if it doesn't work 2) Give the hen some eggs (a very small number, maybe 3 or 4) to sit on (not hatching eggs). 3) Wait until the broody is roosting and asleep. Carefully put you hand underneath her from the front and remove the eggs. If there are any problems leave them in place. When she's settled carefully put each chick one by one under her wings. They will naturally try to snuggle under her. Then close the coop and wait, listening from outside. Any cries or issues, scoop the chicks out and pop them in your back up plan brooder.