Breeding season is underway once again, with fresh additions to The Poodle and The Hen farm due to start hatching over the coming months. When it comes to our breeding program, a key element to ensure a successful hatch rate is how we incubate the eggs. It would be great to say we trust our Heritage hens to do the job for us but the reality is Leghorns and Sussex aren’t the most reliable mums. Leghorns, whilst prolific layers, rarely go broody and Sussex hens often are either too big and squash the eggs/chicks, or get off halfway through brooding and abandon their clutch.
That’s where our game hens come in.
Most breeders use an artificial incubator to churn out maximum results but the reality of this method is it’s far more hands-on and doesn’t always equate to an improved hatch rate. We have been using American and Old English Game hens as natural brooders here at TPATH for many years. These birds are fiercely protective mums and are highly intuitive in knowing which eggs will produce healthy, strong chicks. This has led to us seeing improved success in both the quantity and quality of hatching each year. Our game hens can comfortably manage 10-12 eggs each cycle and go broody at least twice per year.
When using an artificial egg incubator, regular monitoring is required to check the water levels are sufficient enough to manage the humidity. You must also ensure the temperature is set correctly and there is always working power supply. When we rely on machines to do the work for us, there’s more room for error, not to mention, electricity doesn’t come cheap these days!
Our results indicate that when using an artificial incubator, the hatch rate is lowered by up to 25%. This is because whilst the incubator chicks grow well inside the eggs, they seem to have a harder time hatching out of their shells. We often find incubators are more likely to create breeding imperfections like bent toes or scrawny chicks. We would hypothesise that this issue comes down to the artificial humidity levels impacting how the eggs hatch, causing the hatching time to be longer than with the assistance of a mother hen. With a game hen we rarely have issues with chicks getting stuck inside their shell at the last hurdle.
Once hatched, with a game hen protecting the chicks, our work load is drastically reduced. There is no hand raising or heat lamps required as chicks raised with a mother hen adapt much quicker to the outside climate and get natural exposure to microbes which strengthens their immune systems and creates overall, sturdier birds. With room to explore and climb in a natural environment they are more exposed to the benefits of sunlight and become much more agile. We find this kind of rearing means our chicks are taught to be chickens by a chicken, which overall drastically improves their outcomes. The fiercely protective nature of game hens means we rarely have issues with predators stealing the chicks.
For our waterfowl, we find that our Muscovy ducks make the best mothers and surrogate mothers. In contrast, Pekin ducks are incredibly unreliable mothers and our Geese often squash their own eggs so for these fowls, we put their eggs under our Muscovys.
We do keep an artificial incubator on hand as a backup for times we have surplus eggs or a hen gets off the eggs too early but the most successful results we have are with our brooder hens. With around 300 fowls hatching at The Poodle and The Hen farm each year, we’re certainly grateful for our game hens taking on most of the raising duties for us!