In part one of incubating eggs naturally we discussed how Michigan flock owners can get a hen sitting in the right location to raise some chicks for them. In part two we’ll discuss the incubation process after we have sitting hen. Michigan flock owners who want to have the experience of letting a hen raise her own babies or who want to increase the size of their flock with natural incubation need to know several things.
The natural incubation process
The hen will start spending a lot of time in and near her nest. She will arrange nearby grass or straw around her, or in the case of ducks, pluck some of her own feathers. She will start laying eggs in the nest, one a day but she won’t sit tight on them. She may sit for an hour or two then leave. If you see her sitting on the nest at night incubation is usually beginning.
Hens seem to have a natural instinct on just how much sitting will keep the eggs alive but not developing until the right size clutch is accumulated. Nature has designed her this way so that all the eggs will hatch at the same time and mom can leave the nest with the little ones to look for food. In cold weather hens spend more time in early pre-brooding than they do in warm weather.
When the hen has accumulated 10-12 of her own eggs, if a chicken, or about 15 eggs if a turkey or duck, she will begin sitting in earnest. You will rarely see her off the nest, she will come off to eat and drink only briefly. The first day you see her on the nest all day start your countdown to hatching time. For a chicken that’s 21 days, for most ducks 28 days, muscovy ducks take 35 days. Turkeys take 28 days. (It’s the type of eggs, not who is sitting on them, that determines hatching time.)
To use a surrogate mom keep track of when she begins to lay her own eggs. Don’t remove her eggs as she may give up on the family idea or go hide somewhere to continue laying. When she seems to have finished her own clutch, you have a decision to make. Do you want to keep some of her eggs as well as that of the other birds? A mom can only sit so many eggs well. For average sized chicken hens that’s 10-12 eggs. For small hens like silkies being asked to sit eggs larger than their own, keep the clutch size to 6-8.
Turkeys and ducks may hatch 12-18 of their own and up to 20 chicken eggs. Do not mix turkey and duck eggs with chicken eggs as they hatch at different times unless you take the chickens that hatch early away and put them in a brooder. This still may cause the hen to abandon the nest.
Wait until the hen has accumulated about 10 eggs then put the eggs you want her to hatch in the nest and take away her eggs. If the hen has begun to sit tightly you can reach under her and carefully and gently switch the eggs or wait until she goes off the nest to eat. Don’t wait too long, or the surrogate mom may give up before the new eggs are ready to hatch.
If you are placing chicken eggs under a turkey or duck you have a few extra days to work with as their incubation is longer. If you are trying to get a chicken to hatch turkey or duck eggs its important to give the hen the surrogate eggs the moment you think the hen is sitting tightly. Some chickens will stop sitting before duck or turkey eggs are ready to hatch but many will continue to sit until they do.
Care of hens while they are sitting
It’s good to place food and water close to the sitting hen so she doesn’t have to leave the nest for too long. She must have a little room to get up and move around however, as she needs to move away from the nest to defecate. Basically she just needs to be protected and left alone. Too much checking of the nest and human activity near her may cause her to stop sitting.
When a good broody hen sits, she sits. She won’t run away from things like raccoons or dogs and is very vulnerable. Make sure she is protected from predators. Some hens cover the nest with loose feathers or nest material when they do go off the nest. This is normal and they aren’t destroying the nest.
Hatching time
As soon as you see a hen sitting tightly mark the calendar, don’t rely on memory. When hatch date is near begin keeping a close watch on the nest. Don’t disturb the hen at this time if at all possible. Signs that babies are hatching are pieces of shell around the nest, peeping and babies peeking out around mom. Leave things alone - do not move the hen or try to get babies out for at least 24 hours after you see signs of hatching. Mom usually sits on the nest with the babies for 24-36 hours as stragglers hatch.
Remove any deep water dishes from the hen’s pen and replace with a chick water container. Even baby ducks can drown in the first few days if they can’t get out of a deep dish once they get in. Chicken hens can generally drink out of a chick watering container but large turkeys and duck hens may need an additional water container. Adult size water dispensers with narrow, shallow drinking rims are fine to use.
Place a shallow dish of chick starter feed near the nest. For turkey chicks and ducklings the protein in the starter feed should be 24%. Mom will lead the babies to feed and water when she feels they are ready.
Helping mom raise the babies
If you want you can remove the babies soon after hatching to a brooder for raising. Treat them as you would any other chicks raised in a brooder. They will need heat in most weather. Mom will only look for them for a day or two, and then she will go back to pre-nest behavior. For more about raising chicks in a brooder see this article.
It’s romantic to let mom run around with a bunch of babies but in reality few of those babies will probably make it past the first week. If you really don’t want the flock increase, just wanted the experience, then let mom go where she will. Everything likes to eat baby chicks, even other adults in the flock. Baby ducks in a pond are sucked up by turtles and big fish. Cats that don’t bother other birds eat baby chicks and ducklings. Snakes eat them. Rats eat them. They are candy for many predators.
Mom tries to protect them but rarely is she successful in raising them all. Usually after a week most if not all of free ranging babies will be gone. Mother birds can be very aggressive when protecting their young and small children should be kept away from them. Don’t allow the chasing and handling of babies by children or pets.
Mom and babies should be protected from other flock members as well. Dad isn’t needed, even though some dads will act protective of the young. Unless it’s a single pair of birds remove him. If he bothers the hen too much, and ducks are bad at this, he’ll have to be removed. The male can be left if he is a gentleman with the hen and the babies.
Some hens of all the species will kill and eat babies other than their own. Others will “steal” them to mother which causes great strife in the coop. You can move mom and her babies easily after they hatch, she won’t desert them. Each family should be in a separate enclosure for at least the first month. If two hens sat on a nest as sometimes happens and they hatch young out its generally safe to leave them with all the babies.
As the birds grow they and mom should be given more room. At around a month they can be let outside the coop with mom if you have few predator problems. Remember chicks can and will squeeze through fence openings larger birds can’t get through. They will usually run back to mom but may be caught by predators. Make sure they are well protected at night.
If you are allowing young birds to mingle with older birds other than their mom watch carefully the first few days for signs the big birds are not harming the young. You may need to put chick feed in a place big birds can’t get to so the young can eat safely.
Pay particular attention to baby ducks so that they don’t drown. In a natural pond with sloped banks they will be fine. But in things like wading pools and artificial ponds they may get in and not be able to get out. After a while exhaustion and hypothermia set in and they drown. Fix these things so they have a sloped exit or keep birds away. Baby chickens and turkeys rarely go in water, even if the surrogate was a duck, but they also may fall or get chased into water containers and drown.
At 2-3 months chicks look nearly grown and mom will not be too concerned with them anymore - in fact she may be thinking about a new family. It is safe to separate them from mom. They still need chick grower feed until about 5 months when chicken hens can be switched to layer pellets and other birds to adult feed.
Once you learn a little and have the proper pens and equipment it’s pretty easy to let a broody bird raise your new flock for you. A broody bird can be a big asset if you manage things right and allow you to raise birds you otherwise would need an incubator to hatch. And they sure are green and renewable, easy on the budget and the environment. Every flock owner should try it at least once.
For a great book that explains the incubation process in detail I suggest Raising Chickens for Dummies.
To go to part one of this article go here.
For an index of country articles by Kimberley Willis click on her name at the top of the page.
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