Quote:
Originally Posted by
vickiw 
Yep CC. That is going to be one spoiled chicky baby if it makes it. Things are looking promising so far.
Was out drinking when I checked this morning and mom was trying to feed it her own pellets. Silly momma. Still parked on the nest by the way. Chicky baby, from here forth will be referred to as "Noodle" (well, I already have, if you remember, Stirfry, Crockpot, Fricassee and Soup) had found the mash I made from a little "chicky water" and starter crumbles and was pecking at it. 2nd attempt actually. First time mom ate it all! Can't blame her, she was hungry!
Wait til hubby hears of my next project for "us" 
. I am working on plans for an addition to the coop. A little brooding room connected to the coop on the east side. Anyone gets bored, (yeah, I know right?) I would welcome some design suggestions.
Starting a little early, aren't ya, Vic? 
I expect to hear that outta the old retired guys on here, but you?
And see, Bigfam? I get mixed up with Cind all the time. That's fine by me. I know who they mean, usually, when my senility isn't kicking in. Yeah, yeah. I know it isn't often. 
I love the name of Noodle too. Too cute! And if you don't want mom trying to feed Noodle adult feed, which can be very, very bad for new babies, just feed mom the chick starter too. It won't hurt her. It doesn't have the extra calcium, but she isn't laying any eggs now anyway.
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In the next thrilling chapter of "As The Egg Turns", I had 3 broodies in the coop. One was on 8 eggs, one was on 2 eggs and one was on a golf ball. 
Well, I candled them & only found one infertile. (No Jim, it wasn't the golf ball). Well, my lone lav orp hen has repeatedly decided that the nest with the (now) 7 eggs in it is the only nest that she can lay her egg in. I have 7 nest boxes for 13 hens, BTW. So I have been removing her egg each day. Well, now one of the LO roos has decided that he has to "help" the LO hen "prepare" the nest for laying her egg in. By the time I discovered the shenanigans, one almost-due egg is missing & there is yolk on some of the remaining eggs. 
And mama broody butt was naturally ousted from her nest and was too afraid to return. The following day, continuing the same pattern, the roo chases broody out from the nest so, in fear of any more eggs breaking, I stuff the remaing eggs under broody #2, who had the brains to pick the least desirable nest. I also stuck a golf ball in broody #1's nest just so she didn't think all of her eggs were gone when she finally returned. I then went back to the house to watch the drama on the cameras & prevent further stress on the ladies. In the meantime, broody #2 gets off her nest and all the eggs. 
Almost 2 hours later, neither broody have gone back to her nest. 
So, out I go again. I grab all the eggs (6 from nest 1, 2 from nest 2) and stuff them under Mrs. Golf Ball. I have no idea what she was thinking going from 1 to 8 in a matter of minutes, but I wasn't really caring. Just so long as she sat on them for long enough to get the bator up to temp, which was another dilemma since the darn thing only holds 7 eggs. Well, she did stay on them, even though one of her sisters decided that she had to lay in her nest with her. Thankfully, no roos wanted to assist even though they kept coming in there to supervise. 
When DH got home, I put all the eggs in a box & had him help me move them & mama into a rabbit hutch in their own semi-private area. Unfortunately, we had to lock her in there overnight because she wasn't thrilled with the new surroundings, but when I checked on her this morning, she was glued to that nest. And the best part of the whole ordeal? I heard some faint peeping! 
They aren't due to start hatching til tommorow, though, so keep your fingers crossed that my 3rd (choice) broody is going to be a good mama. The first 2 broodies promptly forgot about being broody, but the 1st one was on her nest for a month, so that is understandible. Long story short, my SIL & nieces came to lock up when we were gone overnight & decided to take her eggs, not knowing they were fertile. 
At least they were only 8 days along. But now we've got peepers! 
And you should have seen the looks on the flock's faces when they heard the peeping. About 9 of my hens were all laying down on hay bales in the corner and they were all tilting their heads this way & that trying to figure out the sound. This is the first time any eggs have hatched out there so this is a new experience for them. When the eggs started peeping, they all got super quiet & were all looking like a bunch of old biddies sitting in a waiting room waiting for a child birth. It was a riot! Now I know why they call chickens biddies.
And with that, I say sweet dreams, all!
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Hope you find homes for them and your roo.
the fumes from that stuff could peel paint! Soon as I put Noodle down and she peeped, in shot mom and right into the nest they went 
Later, I gave mom a small piece of a sweetcorn left over from dinner and it was cute watching her tear off little bits to feed to Noodle. Like I said,,, a very good momma 
