My buff Orpington has been persistantly broody for the last two weeks, so when our bator-eggs hatched I decided to give her a handful of chicks to care for. It's so moving to watch her interact with her babies! I really wasn't sure if she'd be a good mom, because I literally had to stuff them...
Sure you can hatch them in the same bator, although I think duck eggs prefer a somewhat higher temperature and they also take longer to incubate so you would be facing a staggered hatch. Read up on what the eggs need and I'm sure you can do it! Doesnt hurt to try anyways :-) Good luck!
Just let them share and don't worry. Mine did this too, and it's so funny watching the chicks grow up with two mama's. No problem at all. Separating them will only cause stress for both you and the birds. Just let them do their thing, sit back, relax and enjoy the chicken TV
Just showing off my broodies, shot a few snaps outside today while watching the chicken TV:
They're brooding five chicks, but this was the only one who posed long enough for me to photograph him. This one is about 4 weeks, and I think it's starting to look like a roo!
they'll be fine! I tried to split up my two broodies and gave them a clutch of eggs each. Turns out the bantam cochin didn't want to brood alone so next morning I found her eggs stone cold (we have almost freezing temps at night here). Candled and saw no movement, but threw them in the bator and...
Agreed. Broodies are smart, but they can't count.
I can't stop watching my broodies out with their little peeps these days. Love how they're showing them food and water, and learning them stuff like scratching the ground and dustbathing... Here's my silkie showing her 2-week-old something...
It's not always a good timimg for a broody. Hope you got her broken up fast and easy! Mine are really difficult to "unbrood" once they first have their minds set lol.
I just have to brag a little more... My broody silkie-bantam is taking the babies out for adventures every day now, and it's better to watch than any television show I've ever seen!
Shot this yesterday, the chick hatched on april 28th.
That's exactly what happened in my coop - a silkie and a cochin bantam went broodie together, lol. In my group the cochin seems to be the favourite mom too, but haven't seen any bratty behaviour yet. Maybe you can separate the silkie with a few of the calmer chicks and let the cochin take care...
Yesterday I added another day-old chick to my broodyhens. They are two hens sharing the clutch, and with the new one they had 6 little ones - the oldest is 9 days and the youngest before the day-old was two days. All working good, until I saw the youngest one getting beat up really badly by both...
Don't worry. It could hatch, it could not. Try keeping your nerves in check, and let broody-momma do her job. She's good at it. When you get to day 22-23 and still nothing, you can go out at night and candle the egg to consider if it needs assisting. I had to assist on one of my broodies egg...
You could go out at night and candle them to see if there's any movement. I candled one that my hen was sitting on at day 23, and saw an almost internally pipped chick live and moving. I rather candle and check than spend days worrying and overthinking it. The babychicken hatched the next day...
HAHA! Once your dad finds out, you better act just as suprised as he...WHAT? BABY CHICKS?
I'd say they're still good. Mine got chilled for a whole night as my cochin stepped off her nest, I threw them in the bator when I found them(candled one and the embryo was completely still) and they...
haha! The kids are having so much fun with it, although I must admit on our farm I'm by far the most enthusiastic one. The kids can watch as I'm assisting hatches, and look at the baby chicks for a couple of minutes then they're done - and I'll stay in the coop looking at the broodies with...
haha, thanks!
At the moment it's snowing sheets outside, and my two broodyhens are caring for four babychicks without a heatlamp in the coop (isolated, but not heated). They're doing very well, and I'm so glad I don't have to worry since the momma-hens do it for me!
I tried using a medium sized dog kennel for my bantam cochin, but she wasn't having any of it.So I just fenced off a corner of the coop for them, it's about 0,75 squaremetres and they can both see and hear the rest of the flock.I used composting-fences to segregate them, works wonders.
Just...