Hen House Maternity Ward

A lot of people are talking about chicks, where to order them and how to raise them. My subject today is how to let a broody hen do all of that for you.

The secret to this success is management. A free range broody minded hen will find her a comfortable spot, and set about laying eggs and do this for almost 2weeks. Just before she is ready to settle down for the 21 day count down she starts to act very motherly. This action consists of lots of loud aggressive squawking, alternating with quiet but excessive mutterings of all the things she has yet to do (Bryon would say that this reminds him of someone). But, as simple as this sounds, this isn't always the way it works out. The hen will usually pick the nesting boxes where all her sisters are laying eggs too. Or she will pick a place where the goats could trample the new hatch-lings or the 'possums will find her and end her plans.

At first I tried to build my flock by letting them set in the nesting boxes, marking Henny Penny's eggs, and every day lifting her off and pulling out the unmarked fresh eggs. There are many problems with this, and it takes a lot of work to make sure that she is setting on the right nest all of the time. My mother always had a chicken-wire screen that the locked the hen in with a soup can with water set in the corner.  We still had to let her out every day and make sure she got back on the right clutch of eggs, while they can return and be very stubborn about their own corner, they don't do 1st and 2nd row very well!

This makes me love our maternity ward. We have a separate addition to the chicken house that we put an old row of nesting boxes in. When we spot a broody hen I start picking out the eggs I want for her to set. Sometimes I've gotten eggs from friends just to keep the flock with new blood. If I know it will take a few days I keep my collection in a warm place and flip the carton once a day. I figure that I will have the best luck with eggs under a week old kept in this manner.

In the maternity ward I choose the nesting box that is in the most general location as the one Henny Penny choose in the chicken house. I put down a generous layer of diatomaceous earth ( this helps keep mites under control), fresh straw and the saved eggs. I am set up with a screen to cover the opening and once I take the hen from the chicken house (at night when they are less aggressive!) and place her in the nest then close it up for a complete day.  When I let her out to eat and get water she most often goes back to the original spot but after a few times of setting her back on the new nest she's there to stay. If there are unused nest boxes I stuff feed bags in them because every now and then hens get really confused and still go in the wrong place.

It takes 21 days to hatch a chicken. If it is really hot, a day sooner, and cold, several days later, regular even setting, 21 on the money. So not always do all of them hatch at once, as the hen does get impatient to get down, she will sometimes leave a few egg/chicks still working their way out. Either I set the hen and her chicks that made the jump back on the nest (risking getting my eyes pecked out) and insist she set a little longer or I will slip the eggs under a fellow ward occupant to finish hatching. If I do this I keep an eye on them, if the late bloomers hatch within that day, or not much more, I can slip the newbies back under their mother at night and she wont notice. Do all these changes at night. We've lost a few chicks since the mother hen will peck those she believes not to be hers. One particularly gentle hen with 5 of her own was able to adopt 9 orphaned chicks (placed under her at night) and didn't even bother counting!

There are always hick-ups. For instance when Henny Penny gets locked out of the maternity ward. She will find some where to set! I couldn't find her, so I put a hot water bottle on the eggs and chewed my nails until she was found. Then one day they were locked out and I didn't know it, it got cold that day. I though for sure that the eggs had died and was ready to start all over again with new eggs (because in my experience broody hens don't stop until they hatch something!! Even if it takes all summer.) but my wise husband said to leave it alone. In spite of the exposure to the cold at least 3 times for several hours left unattended we still had a hatching, the count was low but she did successfully hatched 4 out of eight!

Sounds like a lot of work? At first yes, and then no. The chicks that are hen raised grow faster and are far healthier. We do throw them cracked corn in the morning and have clean water that is at the chicks level. The mother hen takes such good care of them, teaching them to drink, gathering them at night back into a safe place, guarding them with her life. As a mother I love to watch mothers in nature. I love to listen to a mother hen "talking" to her peeps: calling them, warning them and tucking them under her wings at night.

Linking Up this week  with Frugal Days Frugal Way#20  and at the 

Natural mothers Network - Seasonal Sunday #10

The Homestead Barn Hop #56