I've got a hen that's broody. She's setting on about 18 eggs right now and I think they're all hers. She's been this way for about a month. Now to the questions.

How long do the eggs take to hatch?

Since she lays them one at a time, will the chicks hatch over a period of as many days as it took to lay the eggs?

I've been to farms where the hens just did their thing and reared the chicks themselves. Are there any good reasons why I shouldn't do the same?

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Answers

John, it takes 21 days for a chick to hatch, starting from the time the hen first STAYS on the nest. After the hen starts sitting on them, eggs that are added are less likely to be fertile. The main hatch should all happen within a day or two. It's great fun to let the hens raise their own chicks, and by far the easiest way to build your flock, as long as both parents a useful breed for your needs. Good luck.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Yes, this is a wonderful and easy way to raise chicks if they are what you are wanting!!!! It is so fun to watch the hen with her brood. Over the years I have gotten to kind of know their "language" and they really have a lot of different things they say to their chicks. Hope it works for you and that you enjoy.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

John, Letting a broody be a mama is one of the awards of raising chickens. I can't begin to describe the joy that we have experianced here doing so! When our flrst miricle happens in the spring, the girls are heard squealing from the barn, as they tumble out ,thrilled with the new life that is chiping it's way from a warm,brown egg. Soon the song of little chips is filling the chicken tractor, and mama hen gets up to show them the water and food. Mama pecking at the ground, as they stumble around her legs. Soft, yellow and downy. In no time they are following her around the yard, {because mamas and babies get special privileges} learning to take dust baths , and chase beetles and perch on mama's back. We give our babies a long childhood with a few romps in baby carriages, and dressed up like dolls. Mama teaches them to come to us, because we bring food. I watch them from the kitchen window growing daily. It's one of those things that I'm glad that I didn't miss.

We usually had to take our Broodys away from the other chickens so's that they would stay on their nest. They would get up , go get a drink, come back and another chicken would be setting on their eggs and they would get on a completly different nest. The only way we could keep them orbeted would be to put them in a place alone, which was our chicken tractor. Now if yours has been sitting in the same place, then great,{how did you get her to do that?}. Now, once the babes are here, they will need to go to water and feed. So sometimes it is good to put them, if they are with the rest of the chickens , in a box off in a corner, where they will have alittle peace, with water and food on their level. We keep our babies away from the rest of the chickens untill they are big enough to defend themselves. Mama won't stay on the eggs after so many have hatched , instead she will tend to the ones that she has, so you just gotta throw the other ones away. I have broken eggs open that wern't hatched and found bad ones and already dead ones. I would give them a little time, then get rid of them, cause if you don't mama will smash the old egg and get sick on it. I had a hen that did that once and she was seemed about to die, I had to put the chicks under lights as she couldn't take care of them, I thought she was dead, but I gave her peppermint water, and she came around and was able to mother again the next day.

Let us know John how it goes!

Tren

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

Oh John, if you end up needing to move your mama before the eggs hatch, you almost have to do it at night while she is half asleep, I tried to move some in the day time, and they got all hizzy and upset and refused to sit on their new nest. But if I had one person pick up the hen and another pick up the eggs and very carefully set the eggs in the nest where you want her, then set her on the eggs and close her in, she will accept the change most likely at night.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001