I have 3 mother hens, one with 7 chicks, and 2 with 2 each. Their ages are spaced about a week and a half apart. I've penned them to keep them safe from our cats, but I've also penned them separately to keep them safe from each other. But the second two are in very small kennels. I have a...
I have a hen sitting on a clutch of eggs, that look like they are all duds. She's been on well past hatching time and a quick candling didn't show anything alive. Will she continue to sit if I throw another clutch of eggs under her? She usually gets off the eggs a couple times a day.
I have a hen sitting on two chicks and 7 eggs in a nest box. The box is 6 inches or so off the ground. The chicks can get down but not back up. What about food and water for the chicks? I'm afraid if I put the hen, chicks, and eggs in a cage, she'll stop sitting on the eggs altogether. I...
Our little fridge for eggs is on the fritz and we think it is freezing some of the eggs that are on top. Is there any way for me to tell, short of cracking it open, if an egg has been frozen? I don't want to sell eggs that have been frozen. I wonder if they would fail the "fresh test" by...
OK, that didn't work. She wouldn't sit on the eggs at all. I removed the eggs to the fridge and put her back with the flock. She has gone right back to the next box. Should I just let the eggs collect under her and hope for the best? Perhaps if the box fills up with eggs the other hens...
Does it take a while for them to figure it out? I put her and about 11 eggs in a big dog kennel this afternoon, but after a few hours she hadn't started sitting yet.
Here's the situation: I have about 25 hens and 2 roosters. I have a hen that's gone broody and is hanging out in one of the laying boxes. She does move to a different box occasionally. Don't know if she's being kicked out or what. So far I've just gathered all the eggs.
Do I just leave her...
Thanks. Oddly, the goose hasn't laid any of her own eggs. She's just sitting on duck eggs. I do have another question. I know that setting birds must get up sometime, but what's normal for ducks and geese? When I open the door in the morning she goes outside, but I think she comes back in...
I have a lone female goose who seems to have gone broody. I have one KC drake in with about 12 hens (Welsh Harlequin and Khaki Campbell). First question: Can I assume the eggs are fertile? Second, can I put them under the goose?
Thanks. So I should be able to see the difference on an egg laid today? I suppose, if they haven't starting their mating activity, it will probably be too late when they do. Do hens go broody in the fall/winter? Does anyone let chicks hatch out then? It gets pretty cold in NY.
I have a broody hen. I've been collecting the eggs, but I just figured out 3 of my new australorp chickens are roosters. They just started to crow in last couple of days. They were born in mid-May. I haven't seen any action between the roosters and the hens.
Is it worth letting the broody...
I have both, but the KC are just beginning their first lay cycle, and the eggs are tiny. I know the eggs will get bigger over time but I don't remember the eggs from my WH being so small at the beginning.
The WH are supposed to be just a color variation of the KC, but all the descriptions say...
I have 9 older Welsh Harlequins. I got 7 kahki campbell ducklings. I raised them in the house for awhile, but when they got bigger I penned them in a corner of the duck house with the older ducks, but I haven't let them together yet. The older ducks are let out during the day and I let the...