It made me sad.<\/span><\/p>\n One day, a friend talked me into letting one of my hens keep a few of her eggs. Instead of pushing the hen aside and taking her eggs, I left her alone with her hatching eggs. About three weeks later, I was introduced to the incredible joy of watching a mother hen raise her babies. <\/span><\/p>\n It was an experience I\u2019ll never forget, and one I recommend to all chicken lovers.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are 10 reasons to let your hen try hatching eggs and all experiences I had with my own brood.<\/span><\/p>\n Broody hens can be a problem if you regularly remove eggs for human consumption. They tend to stay in the nest box for days, seemingly unable to accept the fact that their eggs are gone. But if you want to hatch some chicks, a broody hen is exactly what you need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once she lays a clutch of hatching eggs, your hen will spend 21 days sitting on them in the nest box, leaving only for a few minutes a day to get some food and water, and to relieve herself. (If you\u2019ve never seen a broody poop, be prepared. It\u2019s huge!)\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Most of the time you check on your expectant mother, she\u2019ll be sitting in the nest box with great purpose, feathers puffed up to ensure she covers all the eggs beneath her. (You can help her out by putting food and water close to the nest box so she doesn\u2019t have to wander too far for sustenance.)<\/p>\n Actually seeing the chicks hatch can be tricky because Momma hen will keep them covered just about all of the time. But if you keep track of when the eggs were laid and are vigilant, you might get lucky.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On days 20 and 21, check the nest box frequently. Keep an eye out for any disturbance under the hen. She may get up and out of the box for a minute while chicks hatch but will go right back to sitting on the eggs as soon as she can.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you are lucky, you\u2019ll catch a glimpse of a baby pecking its way out, but only briefly before Momma sits back down. The truth is that you probably won\u2019t know the babies have hatched until you hear the sound of peeping coming from underneath Momma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Read more: Using an incubator to hatch your chicks? Keep an eye out for these conditions.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s likely the first time you will see the chicks is when they are poking their heads out from under Momma\u2019s breast feathers. In a day or so, the babies will start venturing out from under her to explore the world. This is your chance to see how many you\u2019ve got!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The chicks will stay close to the hen most of the time, but don\u2019t be surprised if one wanders farther away then you\u2019d think. Momma won\u2019t like it and will do her best to keep all the babies close to her.<\/p>\n She\u2019ll also attempt to annihilate anyone who gets too near them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The family dog, the rooster or even you are subject to being chased and pecked at if she feels like <\/span>one of her babies is threatened. (My Corgi made the mistake of innocently walking too close to one of my hen\u2019s babies one day, and she chased the poor dog around the yard for five minutes.)\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ll soon learn how the expression \u201cmother hen\u201d came to be applied to anyone overprotective and doting. Momma will be vigilant in protecting her young and stop at nothing to make sure they survive to adulthood.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not unusual to see mother hens beating up cats, hawks and even coyotes who dare come close to their chicks.<\/p>\n Unlike songbirds, baby chicks are ready to eat on their own from hatch day. You\u2019ll want to provide a chick feed<\/a> for them because regular <\/span>chicken-sized food will be too big for them to swallow. You can put the chick mash out in a separate <\/span>container when you feed your other chickens.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The fact that scratch and pellets are too big for the babies to swallow won\u2019t stop Momma from offering it to them, however. You\u2019ll see her call her babies to the food, clucking loudly and dipping her beak in the direction of the food. <\/span><\/p>\n If your flock free-ranges on your property, you\u2019ll see a lot of this behavior as Momma wanders around the yard looking for snacks for her babies to eat. Bugs are a particular treat. She\u2019ll make quite a fuss if she finds one that she thinks her babies will enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n Your rooster will be one to watch during all this, too, and will likely take one of two approaches to fatherhood: He will be a doting, watchful dad, or he will ignore the babies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Momma hen\u2019s attitude toward him will help determine which tact he takes. If the hen tolerates his presence around the chicks, he may develop a protective attitude toward the babies, shielding them from any threats, real or imagined. <\/span><\/p>\n If you rooster is already an aggressive type that likes to intimidate people or other animals, he may get even more obnoxious now that he is the father of some young chicks.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The flip side of the doting father is the rooster who wants nothing to do with the babies and completely ignores them. If Momma attacked him the first time he came near them, this is likely the result.<\/p>\n And you can\u2019t blame him.<\/p>\nSetting the Hatching Eggs<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Hatching Eggs: The Hatching<\/b><\/h2>\n
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\nSuper Mom<\/b><\/h2>\n
Feeding Chicks<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Proud Papa<\/b><\/h2>\n
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