The clucking period in chickens is directly related to the brooding instinct. The brooding instinct usually coincides with the period of egg laying. As a rule, it manifests itself in chickens in the spring, when increased egg laying is noted. It is similar to the maternal instinct characteristic of mammals.
In order to recognize a chicken in a chicken, you should carefully observe it. The bird, ready for incubation, begins to croak and can spend a lot of time in the nest. Another obvious sign of a broody hen is the pale color of the scallop and its reduction in size. Ruffled feathers also give away the quack.
How to recognize a good hen?
The brooding instinct is very well developed, as a rule, in meat and all-purpose breeds. Its manifestation is associated with hormonal changes in the body of birds. However, some chickens, through the process of genetics, have completely lost the ability to be hens. These include mainly representatives of the egg direction.
See good hen simple enough. Its keel is featherless and its skin is wrinkled, and if the chicken is not force-fed, it begins to rapidly lose weight. Some individuals even show aggression towards humans when they try to approach the nest. In this way they protect their future offspring. A hen is considered good if she leaves the nest, tries to quickly eat and return to it.
It is worth noting that the hen does not like it when her nest is on public display. As a rule, she places it in a secluded place. Therefore, a basket or box in the farthest corner of the house can act as a nest. A closed cage is also suitable for this purpose.
The fact that old is better than young deserves special attention. In addition, you should not change the nest to which she is accustomed. Otherwise, there is a risk that the bird will refuse to incubate altogether.
If there are few eggs under the hen and they are partially open even if she presses her body tightly against them and covers them with her wings, this indicates her poor ability to hatch. However, this can happen if there are a large number of eggs planted. If the hen has spread her wings wide and is trying in every possible way to cover the clutch, but she is unable to do so, then you should slightly reduce the number of eggs.
On the eve of hatching, chicks may squeak from some eggs. At this point, the chicken becomes restless and begins to cluck. Sometimes during the exit, the chicks, pressed by other fruits, squeak in alarm. In this case, a good hen rises and strives to come to the aid of the baby.
A bird that is ready for incubation is indicated by the following signs:
- she tries to avoid the rooster;
- the hen sits in the nest the longest after laying the fruit;
- the bird uses plucked feathers to organize a nest for future offspring.
How to make a chicken a hen?
To make a hen out of a chicken, you can use one of the methods recommended by experienced poultry farmers:
- Leave about 10 eggs in the nest. This is an excellent stimulation for brooding.
- To check how developed the brooding instinct is in your chosen hen, it is best to first place the hen on false eggs, that is, use decoys. Having placed them in the nest, you should immediately place the chicken on them. It is very important that no light enters the room. As practice shows, literally after 3-4 days she begins to hatch real eggs.
- Place the chicken in the nest and cover it with a basket. After 2-4 days, the basket must be removed. If the chicken continues to sit, then you need to add eggs.
It is better to place the chicken in the nest in the evening. In this case, the bird must be lifted and the eggs quickly placed in the nest. A good hen will immediately begin to roll them under her with her beak. After this, she looks around to make sure that there are no eggs left outside. How this happens in practice, we suggest watching the video (author Arseny Seleznev St. John's wort).
Important points
In the room where the bird is trying to hatch eggs, the humidity should be moderate and the temperature should be within 10-12 degrees. At the same time, it is very important that there is twilight and silence in it. To protect birds from insects, it is necessary to treat the nests with lime. Straw or hay should be placed inside. It is advisable to compact the raw material thoroughly and make a basket-shaped depression in the nest.
If one room is intended for several hens, you need to fence them off. Be sure to let the bird out twice a day for 10 minutes so that it can drink water and eat. But after a walk, the chickens may confuse their nests, which will lead to a conflict. Therefore, owners need to be extremely careful at this point.
During exercise, it is necessary to inspect the place where the bird hatches eggs. If broken fruits or with a slight crack in the shell are found, they should be removed. Eggs smeared with droppings, whites or yolks must be cleaned. However, you should not wash them or wipe them with a wet cloth. The bedding also needs to be changed.
You can place from 13 to 15 eggs under the hen. For large breeds, this number can be increased to 17. In addition, the success of incubation largely depends on the quality of the eggs. It is very important that they are as fresh as possible. Fruits that have been stored for more than 3 weeks at home cannot be called reliable.
The appearance of chicken offspring is a question that worries many farmers, because not every one of them has a special incubator, and sometimes it can be a hassle. A reasonable question arises: “How to get a domestic chicken to hatch eggs?” After all, eggs can often bring a lot of income, and for this you need to have a large amount of “labor” in the form of hens. Today we will talk about how you can put a chicken on eggs at home by force, but at the same time painlessly for her.
Brood hens: how to choose or recognize a laying hen
If you want to achieve the highest possible hatching rate of chicks, this process should be carried out exclusively in the spring, since the conditions for raising future chicks are most favorable in the subsequent time intervals, namely the summer-autumn period.
To choose the most suitable chicken for hatching chickens, you need to take a closer look at the bird running around the chicken coop.
A chicken with a pronounced brooding instinct exhibits certain external signs (in fact, the behavioral type completely changes):
- the bird clucks often and for a long time;
- leaves the nest briefly and reluctantly;
- often plucks its own down and feathers to create a warm and cozy nest;
- in hens ready to incubate eggs, the comb decreases in size and gradually changes its color to pale pink.
Advice. By the way, hens that are ready to hatch eggs often show little interest in food, so it is necessary to periodically force them to eat, otherwise they will simply begin to rapidly lose weight.
Chickens preparing/ready to hatch chicks are quite often located for a long time in the most remote corner of the chicken coop: in some kind of basket standing in a dark corner or deep box. This is due to the fact that the hen tries to hide her nest away from public view.
How to help a chicken lay eggs
If there is not a single bird in the chicken coop ready to hatch offspring, you can try to force some chicken to become a hen. Here are a few proven and simple ways that will help you get chicks without an incubator:
- Place several decoy eggs in a makeshift nest and observe the behavior of the chickens for a week. Perhaps at least one of them will be interested in them. If the bird's brooding instinct kicks in, the chicken will sit on the eggs. After a few days, when the hen is already accustomed to hatching, you should very carefully replace the decoys with real eggs. This can be done by carefully placing real eggs under the chicken’s tail, or by replacing the eggs at a time when the chicken is not there.
- This option is very similar to the previous one. The only difference is in the approach to choosing chicken. As in the first case, a nest is prepared in a secluded corner of the chicken coop, after which you do not need to wait for the bird to arrive, but independently choose the one that has previously hatched eggs and place it in the nest.
Finally, about the importance of properly arranging a nest for hatching chicken offspring. Make sure that the place is secluded and, preferably, darkened. Can be used as a nest cardboard box or a wooden box and carefully line it with straw. At the same time, it is undesirable to build a nest that is too large: the optimal dimensions should not exceed a pattern of 55x35 cm.
Also try to organize as much as possible comfortable conditions for the future hen. Firstly, the chicken coop must have an optimal temperature not exceeding +12 degrees. Humidity should be moderate. It is advisable to treat the nest with a special compound to protect the bird from insects. For these purposes, ordinary lime is quite suitable.
Also make sure that the hen has access to food and water (place them near the nest). If she shows no interest in walking, take the bird outside every day for at least 15 minutes. If she stays for a longer period, bring her back to the nest.
Attention! If you plan to involve several hens in hatching eggs at once, make sure that there is a decent distance between them. The fact is that chickens can have disagreements and confusion regarding eggs. As a result, there may even be a conflict that will end in a bloody fight.
Do not forget to also pay attention to the choice of eggs for hatching: they must be medium in size, with a strong shell, and must be fresh (laid no later than 5 days before hatching).
That's basically all you need to know about how you can quickly and effectively force a chicken to hatch eggs. As you can see, it's not that difficult. Good luck!
How to choose a hen: video
Farmers came up with a pattern: Every year, two or three hens from the domestic flock do not leave the laid eggs, but remain sitting in the nest, hatching the chicks.
In 8 out of 10 cases this happens with the onset of heat, and only in rare cases in autumn or winter. In order to obtain greater productivity from the flock, poultry farmers are trying to wean the chicken from brooding.
Reasons for awakening the maternal instinct
In hatchery birds, the instincts are dulled. But it happens that a hen sits on eggs and hatches chicks.
Maternal instinct awakens when the hen's egg production increases. This happens in the spring and summer. The bird's pituitary gland produces a hormone that encourages the bird to breed.
Why drive away the hen?
There are two options. It is customary for calm birds to leave eggs.
However, 9 out of 10 modern breeders opt for incubators, driving birds away from their homes.
There are several reasons for weaning chickens from incubation:
- , the hen stops laying eggs, devoting a long period to maternal duties. The chick may follow its mother for several weeks, reducing farm productivity.
- The hen is capable of hatching, the incubator is capable of about a hundred monthly. The second option is more profitable for farmers who have passed state registration - they are interested in mass breeding of chicks.
- Additional costs are another reason for weaning chickens off brooding. The hen is transplanted into a separate room to protect the chicks from attack by adult birds.
- While hatching chicks, a laying hen can accidentally crush an egg, reducing the number of young animals.
- Birds are not always able to sit for the entire period, this leads to losses.
Due to the disadvantages of natural breeding of chicks, breeders are considering methods of weaning chickens from incubation.
Jigging
The effectiveness of this method is achieved by following a specific scheme.
- A clucking chicken is placed in a cage measuring 70x70x70 cm
- During daylight hours, the cage is placed in the yard. An alternative to a yard is a bright, free space.
- The hen's daylight hours are increased by several hours.
- At night, the chicken is left with its relatives, but is not released, they simply place the cage in the chicken coop. The deposition lasts three days.
- Three days later, a rooster is placed with the hen.
- At night, the rooster and hen are moved to a common room.
Compliance with the presented scheme helps to return the chicken to normal mode.
Attention: the bird will lay eggs upon returning to the coop if the amount of daily feed is increased.
Traditional methods
Previously, farm production was predominantly extensive, and they helped to wean chickens from sitting on eggs traditional methods:
- spraying with cold water;
- darkness;
- hunger;
- plate with water.
The effectiveness of the methods has been proven by many years of experience.
Cold water
When the whooping whale shows aggression, clucks, and sits on the eggs, breeders spray the chicken with cold water or, alternatively, dip it in a basin.
You need to keep the chicken in the water for about five minutes. This is exactly how long it will take for the hen’s body to cool down. A decrease in body temperature, and not stress, as is commonly believed, discourages the bird from sitting on eggs.
This procedure should be repeated every time the bird sits on the eggs. This will allow the body to develop the ability to cool the hen's body every time she sits in the nest.
Attention: Douse the bird with cold water only in warm weather, otherwise the chicken can easily catch a cold.
Darkness
Placing the hen in a dark, cool place solves the problem of brooding. The bird is placed in a darkened room, barn, closet, basement.
Breeders with small farms place the laying hen under a box, box, or basket, placing a load on top. The bird is kept in the dark for two to three days.
Important! The chicken is fed in a large room. If she sits under the box, then you don’t have to feed the bird until she returns to the chicken coop.
Starvation diet
. The birds are kept in a separate room for three days and are not given food. When the hen stops clucking, she is transferred to a common chicken coop.
Important! When choosing a starvation diet as a punishment, you need to take into account: a hunger strike depletes the bird’s body, which means that the chicken’s egg production will decrease for a short time. But with a return to normal feeding, the size of the egg laying will increase.
Plate with water
If the owner does not have time to notice signs of readiness for breeding, a plate of cold water will help. When, it is driven away, and instead of the eggs it warms, a plate of water is placed.
At first, the bird will be in the nest, rinsing its paws, but then, having calmed down, it will leave the chicken coop.
Important! A plate of water helps to dissuade the bird from the nest for a short time: after a while the hen will sit on the eggs again.
Shock therapy
When dropping off and folk remedies do not help, a professional farmer uses shock therapy. Stress allows you to wean the hen from staying in the nest for a long time and sitting on eggs.
Cell
The cage, along with the hatching method, helps to wean the chicken from brooding. Poultry breeding experts recommend one with a mesh bottom. The tray must be removed, leaving only the feeder and drinker.
For a week, the cage is suspended in the chicken coop, allowing the chicken to see its neighbors. The inability to communicate with other birds will be a serious stress for the individual and will prevent it from sitting on eggs for a long time.
After seven days the bird is released. If the hen sits on the eggs again, the procedure with the cage is repeated.
Attention: it is possible by increasing the daily feed intake, as during weaning.
Electric current
The most cruel, but effective method– exposure of the hen to electric current. To carry out the procedure, you will need a step-down transformer and two clamps.
For greater efficiency, the clamps are distributed so that the chicken is pierced throughout the body. For this purpose, the first clothespin is attached to the bird's comb, and the second - to the leg.
When the clamps are secured, a charge is applied with a voltage of twelve volts. The procedure lasts thirty seconds.
After shock treatment, the bird is released. Thirty minutes later, the electric shock is repeated.
The brain receives a message about the danger that arises when incubating eggs, due to which the self-preservation instinct is triggered, and the bird refuses to breed offspring for a long time.
Important! The procedure may result in the death of the bird. Therefore, the use of this method is permissible only if all others are ineffective.
Conclusion
The activity of brood hens in 80% of cases occurs in the spring and summer.
When the chicken begins to sit on the eggs, cluck, and show aggression, it’s time to take preventive action, preventing the bird from getting used to incubation. And each breeder decides for himself which method to choose.
Eggs must be hatched in the spring. At this time, the chicken’s natural instinct to procreate is best demonstrated. But many novice farmers often have a question: how to put a chicken on eggs? This is exactly what we will look into in today's article.
Mother hen's choice
When planting in the spring, the most comfortable conditions for the growth of chicks will be created, because the main period of their growth will be in the summer and early autumn, that is, in the warm period of the year. It is recommended that the poultry farmer spend some time very carefully observing the behavior of the chickens in order to choose a future hen who is ready to hatch chickens. Choosing the right hen at home is not difficult.
A hen that has already developed the brooding instinct can be recognized by a certain type of behavior: it clucks, sits in the nest for a long time, and leaves it reluctantly and briefly. In addition, such a chicken often plucks down and feathers in order to organize a cozy nest for future chickens. Thus, for brooding, you need to choose a hen that already has the brooding instinct.
If there is none, then you need to place several decoy eggs in the nest and watch it for a week. Most often, within a week, one of the birds will develop a brooding instinct and sit on the nest. After a few days, when the bird is already accustomed to incubation, it is necessary to replace the decoys with real eggs. This must be done so that the chicken does not see it. The eggs are placed either behind, under the tail, or replaced when the hen is not at the nest.
There is another way to force a hen to become a hen and successfully hatch chicks. To do this, choose a nest that is located in a dark place and place decoys there. Then you need to select a hen that has previously had experience in hatching offspring and place it in the nest. After a few days, in almost all cases the chicken will begin to cluck. But sometimes this does not happen, then the bird should be replaced.
Chicken landing
It is not difficult to plant a chicken on eggs at home; for this you need to do a few things: simple actions. First of all, it is important to properly organize the nest. It should be in a fairly quiet place, the bird should be comfortable in it. But at the same time, it should not be too spacious so that the eggs do not roll out during incubation. The ideal size is 55 by 35 cm.
To do this, you can use a wooden box in which straw is placed. In the future, the chicken will create comfortable conditions for brooding and insulate the area with down and feathers. It is best to cover the exit with something light so that the chicken can leave and enter the nest at any time. Then they put in the decoys - it is necessary for the chicken to get used to incubation. After a few days, the decoys are replaced with real eggs.
It is important to know that if there are several hens in one chicken coop, they should be seated as far apart as possible. This should be done in order to eliminate confusion among the birds, which could lead to possible fights. After the hen is placed, she will be able to clean up the nest herself; the poultry farmer will only need to periodically monitor it while the hen is feeding.
Selection and placement of eggs
The selected bird is taken to the nest, and if everything goes well, it begins to hatch the eggs. One of the most important points in raising chickens - proper laying of eggs. It is important to know which ones to choose for incubation. Only fresh eggs, laid no earlier than six days before laying, are suitable; they should not be broken or dirty. It is better to take medium-sized specimens, because small ones often have an inferior embryo, while large ones can contain two embryos.
It is important to correctly determine the required number of eggs to lay - it directly depends on the build of a particular bird. The quantity must be selected so that the chicken covers them all, provided that they are located in one layer. If the chicken is large enough, then add 13 to 15 pieces.
During the brooding period, you cannot add more eggs, because after the first chicks appear, the hen will leave the nest. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the chicken copes very well with hatching eggs and other birds.
Features of caring for a hen
Proper care of the hen during the brooding period contributes to the successful hatching of chicks. When raising chickens at home, it is important to maintain the correct temperature conditions. The room should be heated from 15 to 20 degrees, the optimal air humidity is 75%. It is important to ensure that the bird leaves the nest at least 1-2 times a day to eat and drink. It is also important that she takes walks between hatching sessions.
If the hen does not want to leave the nest, then you should move her outside for a walk and feeding. At this time, it is recommended to cover the eggs with something. The duration of the walk is usually from 15 to 20 minutes. If after this time the chicken does not come back, you should move it there yourself.
During walking and feeding, you need to inspect the nest and clean it of dirt. You should carefully check the eggs: sometimes you come across broken or crushed ones - they should be removed. Sometimes a hen throws several eggs out of the nest - these should also be removed. It is important to organize the chicken coop so that the feeder and water container are nearby. Feeding the hen usually includes mixed feed, root vegetables and green grass (for example, chickweed).
The most important stage of incubation is the first days. During this period, it is recommended not to disturb the bird or force it to leave the nest. The entire incubation process usually lasts from 19 to 22 days. After the chickens are hatched, they are placed in a warm room in a box and covered with gauze or netting. The hatched chicks are released to the hen after incubation is over.
Video “Natural incubator”
In the presented video you can see how you can remove a hatched chicken without disturbing the hen.
Breeding chickens by a hen is one of the ways to increase the number of poultry in a private household. Many poultry farmers prefer this method, since the laying hen takes care of the brood upon herself and thereby relieves the worries of the person. But in the parent herd there are always quons that independently demonstrate maternal instinct. Therefore, poultry farmers have to think about how to place a chicken on eggs so that it hatches chickens.
Not every chicken has maternal instinct. It is completely absent in many hybrid breeds, such as or, and is rarely seen in individuals that were themselves incubated. But there are exceptions to every rule, so using some techniques, it is still possible to force a chicken onto eggs.
Not every hen is able to hatch eggs and raise chicks.
The poultry farmer first needs to observe his charges and identify some signs of a laying hen capable of hatching chickens:
- The chicken clucks.
- Stays in the nest.
- It plucks down and feathers from itself and places them in the nest.
It is from such quogs that mothers can turn out. It will not be possible to make a hen a hen if she does not want to sit in the nest and does not show any signs of maternal instinct.
How to choose a good hen
Most often, naturally bred chickens become good hens. If you notice a chicken clucking, you should check it out. Dummy eggs are placed in the nest where she stays for a long time. After observing the behavior of the hen for 2-3 days, you can understand whether she is able to complete the process of hatching chicks.
If a hen's maternal instinct is poorly developed, she will leave the nest and abandon the eggs. It will not be possible to make a hen out of such a hen. After sitting in the nest for a couple of days, she stops clucking and returns to her normal lifestyle.
How to make a chicken a hen
When there is no hen showing instincts in the herd, you can force a hen using some techniques.
White tennis balls can be placed in the nest as decoy eggs. False eggs are placed in a nest located in a secluded, dark corner and an overfed hen or laying hen, which no longer produces eggs, is placed on them. If a hen has already hatched chicks before, she is the one who is placed in the nest.
The chicken placed in the nest is covered with a wicker basket or other container that provides air access. Keep the chicken in the nest in this way for 4-5 days, releasing it in the morning and evening to feed. If the hen begins to cluck, you can place eggs under her. When it is not possible to sit the selected chicken in this way, choose another individual and repeat the procedure.
Features of caring for a hen
The hen prepared using the described method can be planted and the chicks evaporated. They put it under it. The maximum number of eggs is 12 pieces. The chicken is placed on eggs in the evening, immediately after feeding. The hen is covered with a basket for 3-4 days. During this time, the hen will sit down and the basket can be removed.
An important point is the size of the nest. It should be of such a size that the chicken can fit freely in it. But at the same time, in a nest that is too spacious, the eggs will roll out from under the chicken.
The nest where the hen will hatch her eggs should be quite comfortable. It is optimal to build a nest measuring 55x35 cm. A cup-shaped bedding of straw and down is made inside it, and eggs are evenly placed in the resulting hole. The temperature in the chicken coop where the nest is installed should not fall below 20 degrees, humidity is maintained at 70-75%.
During the period of hatching chicks, the hen requires special care:
Raising chickens as a hen is a process that requires a competent approach and knowledge of some nuances.
If there are several hens in the flock, and they sit on eggs at the same time, the nests are installed as far from each other as possible. In this case, there will be no confusion and conflicts between the quotes.
Dummy eggs must be exchanged for real ones with extreme caution. If the hen notices the substitution, she may leave the nest and never return to it.
When the first chicks hatch, they need to be taken from the nest, and other eggs should be placed in this place. Otherwise, the chicken may decide that its mission is completed and abandon the remaining eggs. However, experienced poultry farmers do not recommend rolling a new batch under the chicken after hatching in order to hatch a larger number of chicks. This technique can ruin a good hen, and she will never sit in the nest again. It is also worth considering that the period of incubation of eggs depletes the chicken’s body. If you force her to sit through two batches in a row, the hen may die from exhaustion.
If the hen is frightened (rats, unexpected visitors), she may escape from the nest. In this case, it is returned to its place and covered with a basket again for a couple of days.
It is not recommended to place two or more batches of eggs under a chicken to hatch. There are breeds, among which there are most often responsible mothers: , . Representatives of these breeds independently perform the duties of hens, so there is no need to use traditional methods for placing them on eggs.
Using a brood hen to hatch chicks is a fairly convenient way to get chicks. The chicken independently regulates the temperature and humidity for hatching, and turns the eggs. Therefore, if there are no real hens in the herd, you should try to force the chicken to lay eggs using these recommendations.
We offer you to watch a video in which a farmer explains how to plant a chicken and hatch eggs.
