Incubator to broody - when to move?

[jessmorris]

Hello there,
a quick question, I think RH talked about this recently but I can't find the thread!...when's it best to move eggs/chicks from incubator to under the hen? Pipping time, or new chicks? And presumably better at night when the hen is sleepy?
Any comments on your experiences welcome!
JM

[motherhen]

I have never put chicks back under a hen, usually you either incubate or hen, if she is not broody then she will probably attack them unless she is really special?
From the incubator, I usually wait untill they are dry and fluffy and they lose the little hairs? that they are born with, then they go under a brood lamp in a box with shavings, and then slowly wean them off the heat, depending on the weather, up to at least 5/6 weeks minimum and I would over do rather than under.
If they were with the hen then I would have her on her own with them in a broody ark and she would do it all.

[RichmondHens]

I regularly hatch chicks in the incubator then add to the hen's clutch when they are strong enough. Because I very rarely get any broody large fowl (grrr), I use bantams to incubate my eggs, but because it is LF eggs (mainly) I am hatching, the bantams cannot cover more than 4 or 5 tops, so I put a few in the incubator at the same time as I set the hen, and they all hatch on or around the same day.

With incubator hatched chicks I wait until they are dry and standing, then pop them under the hen alongside her newly hatched ones. At this early stage the hen has not yet learnt how many she has although once the chicks are up and about and venturing into the run (usually at the two day mark) then it is more difficult to add new ones as by then the hen has counted her chicks and knows them. Be wary too of adding different coloured chicks - one or two yellow chicks added to a black brood will stand out and are more likely to be rejected. Try and add same or similar colour chicks if you can.

I had an "emergency" last year when one of the eggs in the incubator took a long time to hatch and I had almost given up on it when it did hatch. However because the chicks under the hen had been hatched for more than two days I had trouble introducing the new one, and because I didn't want to raise just one chick under a lamp was determined to get it a foster mother. Fortunately I had a broody who had taken to getting out and "sitting" under a bush. I put the chick under the bush with her for a day, she accepted it and then I moved them to a coop. I still have that chick, she grew into a lovely black hen and is laying regularly for me.

[jessmorris]

Thankyou both.
just a bit of background - I have a lot of mixed banty eggs, but some of of dubious fertility, so have put some under broodies and 3 in an incubator. After candling these can go under one broody for her to hatch (as I'm assuming that a lot won't be fertile).

I also have 6 large fowl eggs in another incubator which I'm hoping to introduce under one of said broodies once hatched. These chicks will be all the same breed so shouldn't present her with any 'choices'. Both broodies are bantams, one silkie x pekin and one pekin. Would it be better to put the LF eggs under a broody once the bantam eggs have been candled, rather than incubate them and introduce them to her as young chicks?

The coming and going with incubators and broodies is only because a broody who was sitting decided she wasn't interested, after some precious eggs had been bought and transported from Devon, so they had to be incubated. Subsequently, two bantams have gone broody (sod's law!). I would usually use broody bantams and not an incubator as it is much simpler.

Thankyou for your input both of you, its very useful, and good to know that your rescued late chick grew up so successfully RH.

best wishes,

JM

[RichmondHens]

I'm just reading and re-reading your post. This is how I understand it (please correct me if wrong):

You have two broodies both sitting on bantam eggs, plus some LF eggs in a machine. After candling you suspect enough bantam eggs will be discarded to fit the remainder under one hen. Then you can put the LF eggs under the other hen.

Fine in theory, the only possible problem you may have is if the 6 LF eggs don't all fit under the second hen, which if your hens are the same size as mine, they won't. Why not put 3 under the hen and leave the other 3 in the machine and add the machine hatchlings to the hen when hers hatch? The only other possible problem you may encounter is that the hen may object to having slightly bigger eggs underneath, having sat on bantams so far but if she is like mine chances are she will carry on brooding regardless of what is underneath her.

It is a lot easier to introduce chicks to a hen if she already has chicks of the same age (and very newly hatched, ideally not older than a day). Trying to introduce chicks to a broody that has no chicks of her own, or indeed has not actually brooded anything to "term" is a lot more risky and likely to end in rejection. I am lucky with my bantams in that 9 times out of 10 they will accept eggs/chicks even if they haven't sat for 21 days but not everyone's hens are that obliging.

[jessmorris]

Yes you understood it all correctly! And yours is a much better idea. The LF eggs are Amrock so not huge, but yes, bigger than a Wyandotte which she is on at the mo.

The Pekin who will have the Amrock is unproven as yet, but seems steady as a rock, growling and spreading her wings when I get too close.

Its not usually so complicated, but needs must this time.

Thanks again for good idea - it was your post about swapping eggs/chicks between incubators and broodies that inspired me in the first place after I was given far more eggs than I realised by a v generous Grape!

JM