🐣🐥Black Copper Marans and Whiting True Blues. Lots of videos🎥

[TexasBlues]

I thought this one was a pullet, but it seems pretty macho.

 

[MayBerg]

I thought this one was a pullet, but it seems pretty macho.
View attachment 3896649View attachment 3896650

Handsome or beautiful. I love puffy cheeks.

 

[TexasBlues]

We were gone for 3 weeks out of state and the birds did great. Everybody survived free ranging and the auto door works flawlessly. I had 2x 5 gallon waterers and 2x 5 gallon feeders for 16 birds.
The one bird that @NatJ said was a cockerel is definitely a cockerel.
I had a neighbor collect eggs but at some point my marans hen went broody and started setting 8 WTB eggs and 2 of her own.
I’m not totally sure how far along they are. I think she laid 2 and the WTB just kept laying more eggs in the box with her.

 

[NatJ]

The one bird that @NatJ said was a cockerel is definitely a cockerel.

Thanks for updating! If I remember right, that one was sending very confusing signals, and looked like it could go either way. So it's nice to know which way one it actually was!

Since you asked for guesses, I will guess male, but I am not very confident of that. So I'll be waiting to learn what it really is.

 

[TexasBlues]

My first naturally hatched chick

 

[TexasBlues]

I have a concern about the hatching eggs that the hen is sitting on. They were laid by one other hen over the course of 8+ days. I imagine the hen is going sit for a day or two and then move out if the nest to feed the chicks. Should I just keep the extra eggs in the incubator and stuff them under the hen at night? Any suggestions @wrathsfarm ? Also the nest box is up on a 3’ high desk. Should I just move the box and everybody into the big brooder now?

 

[TexasBlues]

Here’s an update on my last group of chicks. There’s 3 Marans pullets. 2 or 3 fibro mix cockerels and 7 or 8 fibro mix pullets.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I have a concern about the hatching eggs that the hen is sitting on. They were laid by one other hen over the course of 8+ days. I imagine the hen is going sit for a day or two and then move out if the nest to feed the chicks. Should I just keep the extra eggs in the incubator and stuff them under the hen at night? Any suggestions @wrathsfarm ? Also the nest box is up on a 3’ high desk. Should I just move the box and everybody into the big brooder now?

I'm confused... You have a hen sitting on hatching eggs. When she comes off the eggs with the newborns you want to put extras in incubator?

If it's easy.... yes you can move her any time as long as you take the nest box she's in also. I normally move my broodys before hatch day, If not I wait until she comes off with the chicks and then relocate her to a separate spot. I haven't had any issues moving them either way.

I normally will pull any remaining eggs and candle them after she comes off the nest after the 2nd dayish. She's ready to adventure with the babies not keep sitting on newly hatched, but usually by this time the remaining eggs were quitters or not viable.

 

[NatJ]

I have a concern about the hatching eggs that the hen is sitting on. They were laid by one other hen over the course of 8+ days. I imagine the hen is going sit for a day or two and then move out if the nest to feed the chicks. Should I just keep the extra eggs in the incubator and stuff them under the hen at night?

Yes, you can put the later eggs in the incubator.

I can't say whether the hen will accept the chicks that hatch later, or whether you will have to raise them separately in a brooder. Some hens are happy to take younger chicks, some are not. If she appears to accept the chicks, you will still need to keep an eye on them, because she might try to walk too far and too fast for the youngest ones. They need more rest and more time warming up in the first days, compared with chicks that are a few days older. Some hens can do something that works for them all, some cannot, and you won't know for sure about your hen until you try it and see. I would not let them into a large area until the youngest are a few days old. A "large area" for this purpose would be more than about 6 feet in any direction (far enough that a chick can get badly left behind.)

Also the nest box is up on a 3’ high desk. Should I just move the box and everybody into the big brooder now?

That would probably work.

 

[TexasBlues]

Great advice. The second one has hatched