There’s something pretty special about watching a mother hen hatch and raise her own chicks! 🐣 It’s a wonderful experience for the whole family and a lovely way to see nature at work.
No worries! You’ll just need some fertile eggs.
At Sunset Valley Chicks, we love letting our hens hatch their chicks naturally, and we’re happy to share our fertile eggs so your broody girl can experience motherhood too!
Once fertile eggs are placed beneath your broody hen, she’ll usually sit on them for around 18-21 days before they hatch.
During the early stages, you can carefully move your hen to a quiet, safe nesting area where she can settle in without being disturbed.
Not necessarily, and that’s perfectly normal! Hatch rates can vary depending on fertility, weather, incubation conditions and whether your hen is a first-time mum or an experienced broody.
We supply the same fertile eggs we use to hatch and raise our own chickens, so we aim for excellent fertility. However, because nature has a mind of its own, we can’t guarantee that every egg will hatch.
And that’s all part of the wonderful adventure of hatching chicks!
Fancy hatching your own chicks? Our loyal followers can pick up fertile eggs from a selection of our beautiful chicken breeds at our markets and events during the spring and summer seasons.
Availability is seasonal, so get in touch to find out which breeds are currently available!
We’d love to help you get started! Get in touch to ask about our fertile egg availability, breeds and pricing. Your broody girl’s next adventure could be just around the corner!
Answer is yes. A good experienced mum will take day olds where some may not know what to do and kick their babies out or worse eat or peck at their babies in our time that’s only a few so let’s concentrate on the good broodie and pop a few days olds under her and allow her to be a mum without the 21 days of sitting. We find putting chicks under a suspected broody that has sat for a while rather than eggs is the best option. Introduce the babies gently removing any existing eggs under her maybe leaving one until you are sure the mum as adopted the chicks.
Putting the chicks under a mum at night time is another option.
We encourage that you clean out the nesting box or area that the broodie seems settled to sit on her eggs. Using fresh sawdust/straw we are sure your broodie will settle in quickly. Checking her over and making sure she’s mite free and if she’s not treating her accordingly with a powder such as prestene (you can usually get that at a produce or pet store)
Keeping water and feed close by the broodie will be happy and comfortable.
That unfortunately is reality that we aim for a 60/40 hatch rate and anything over 40 percent of girls is a bonus. Here at Sunset Valley Chicks we are happy to have you surrender your unwanted poultry. Roosters included!
