- Sep 8, 2013
- 33
- 8
- 24
The name, yea go figure.
We tried breaking Blacky from going broody to no avail. After two weeks we procured 7 eggs from our niece and set Blacky up with her own maternity ward. Along the way eggs kept disappearing but on Friday we have two new chicks
.
We don't know what happened to most of the eggs that didn't make it. One we found in her pen 6 days before the hatching, there was a formed chick in a cracked open egg on the ground. The first one a couple days after starting the brood was an empty egg shell in the pen, did she eat it? The other 5 were just gone, no remnant shell in pen, no tracks, no evidence. I don't believe a critter got in the pen; there was no evidence of entry or exit in the dirt. I finally thought snake. A snake could enter and exit without leaving a trail but don't know if it could get an egg from under Blacky. Still don't know for sure. We did move the pen to a different location. Only lost one more.
She did not eat much while brooding, this we know for sure. She wouldn't even eat the 'treat' seed mix except for a few pieces at a time.
She is proving to be an excellent mom, teaching and caring for her little ones. Showing how to do and scratching out bits and pieces for them; boy that cricket sure made a mistake
. We plan on keeping her with the chicks for 3 to 6 weeks and then giving the chicks to my niece, hoping that will be long enough to keep Blacky satisfied and UNbroody.
Blueline Charlie
We tried breaking Blacky from going broody to no avail. After two weeks we procured 7 eggs from our niece and set Blacky up with her own maternity ward. Along the way eggs kept disappearing but on Friday we have two new chicks
We don't know what happened to most of the eggs that didn't make it. One we found in her pen 6 days before the hatching, there was a formed chick in a cracked open egg on the ground. The first one a couple days after starting the brood was an empty egg shell in the pen, did she eat it? The other 5 were just gone, no remnant shell in pen, no tracks, no evidence. I don't believe a critter got in the pen; there was no evidence of entry or exit in the dirt. I finally thought snake. A snake could enter and exit without leaving a trail but don't know if it could get an egg from under Blacky. Still don't know for sure. We did move the pen to a different location. Only lost one more.
She did not eat much while brooding, this we know for sure. She wouldn't even eat the 'treat' seed mix except for a few pieces at a time.
She is proving to be an excellent mom, teaching and caring for her little ones. Showing how to do and scratching out bits and pieces for them; boy that cricket sure made a mistake
Blueline Charlie
