Wanting to learn about hatching chicken eggs naturally? This post covers all the things you need to know to hatch healthy chicks in a natural, self reliant way.
Hatching chicken eggs naturally is a great way to stock your flock. It is easy on the wallet, educational and SO rewarding. I remember the first time we had baby chicks hatched by a mother hen. She only hatched out two chicks but it quickly became on of my favorite sights seeing a mother hen and her chicks. Hatching chicken eggs naturally doesn’t cost any money and is comparatively easy (for the human at least.) No brooder, no clean up, totally self reliant, hatching eggs with a hen is AWESOME! This post covers all things hatching eggs naturally, with a mother hen and nothing else.
How do Chicken Eggs Hatch Naturally
The key to hatching chicken eggs naturally is getting a hen to go broody. If left to her own devices a mother hen will lay a clutch of eggs and go “broody”. Broody is kind of like the pregnancy of the chicken. She will sit on her eggs, only leaving the nest occasionally to eat and get a drink. The eggs will incubate next to her warm skin and fluff for about 21 days and then *peep*peep*peep* those little chicks hatch.
There isn’t a way to grantee that a hen will go broody, but there are ways to encourage it. You can encourage broodiness by choosing the right breed, making the nest as appealing as possible, and not gathering eggs.
An Appealing Nest
Make the nesting area as appealing as possible. That means it should be quiet, out of the way, sheltered, but easy to get to and left undisturbed. It should be free of threatening traffic, out of the way of the farm dogs for example. My chicken’s favorite brooding spot is in the corner of the chicken coop and the haystack. The key is to leave it undisturbed. If a hen is thinking about going broody and you muss with her nest she won’t go broody.
Don’t Gather Eggs
A hen will incubate eggs that aren’t hers and to make it worth her while she will wait until there is a good clutch of eggs before she goes broody. To encourage your ladies to go broody don’t gather the eggs for a while and see if someone takes the bait. Interestingly enough, the fertility of eggs goes up if they sit for a few days before incubation begins.
How D0 I know if She is Broody?
A broody hen won’t leave her nest. If you try to reach under her or anywhere around her she will make the crackly warning sound and might peck your hand. You will know it when you see it.
Here is a video of a broody hen.
Breed Matters
Many of todays chicken breeds aren’t very broody. Once a chicken goes broody she stops laying eggs, so commercial egg growers have bred it out of the big laying breeds. You can google your specific breed and find out how broody they are, but for now, here are some breeds we have found that are more broody than others.
Cochin
The first chicken I’ve ever had go broody was a cochin. Some hens will abandon their chicks after they hatch, but cochin we had was a good mom.
Silkies
These little fluffy hens make great mothers. They are (usually) more than willing to go broody. The con to silkies is you can only fit a few eggs under them because they are so small.
Black Austrolorpes
This breed from Australia is another good choice when it comes to broodiness.
Barred Rock
These ladies aren’t SUPER broody, but they are a good all around chicken that will go broody every once in a while.
Delaware
Another option that isn’t super broody, but is a great choice all around that will go broody if properly encouraged.
Trouble SHooting
Most chicks today are hatched in incubators and controlled environments, so it can be a trick getting hens back in the swing of hatching chicken eggs naturally. Here are some common problems or variations you may see.
My hen was acting broody but now she isn’t, what is going on?
Just because your hen is broody doesn’t mean she will stay that way. If she feels threatened, or something is off about her environment she will come out of broodiness before the eggs hatch. To encourage her to stay broody leave her alone and make sure she has easy access to food and water.
I have more than one hen sitting on the Same Nest!
This is totally normal, and I actually prefer it when my hens do this. They will go broody together on the same nest and hatch them out together. They will even steal eggs from each other. As long as the eggs are staying under a hen and they aren’t damaging them they should be just fine to continue incubating them together.
When SHould I start counting the 21 days of incubation?
I count 28-31 days after I notice them go broody. It always feels like it takes way longer than the 21 days, but just when I think it’s been way to long the chicks hatch the next day.
Other “Natural” Options
If chickens aren’t cutting it, you can have other birds hatch out your chicken eggs for you. I’ve had ducks hatch out chicken eggs. I’ve even had them hatch chicken eggs with their own eggs. Duck eggs take longer to hatch, so I made sure the little chick had water and food because his mamas wouldn’t leave their nests as much as he needed. But he did great waiting a few extra days till his siblings hatched out!
I’ve also heard of people using turkeys to hatch chicken eggs, it might be worth a shot if you already have a broody turkey. You could probably fit a lot of eggs under a turkey.
This post is all about hatching chicken eggs naturally.
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