In my flock are two mixed-breed bantam sisters, Cookie & Biscuit. Cookie went broody in a nest box so I swapped her little eggs for some standard-sized ones I wanted her to hatch. At about the same time her sister Biscuit disappeared, and when we found her she was setting on a nest of little eggs in a more secluded location. I didn't know how long she had been setting, and didn't have the heart to swap out these eggs she had begun on her own.
Their eggs began hatching on the same day. Cookie stayed clamped tight on her nest for a day & a half, but Biscuit took her hatched chicks for an outing and left 2 pipping eggs cold in the nest. They were really cold to the touch on the outside, but the chicks were still peeping & picking strongly.
I stuffed them down my shirt & tried to figure out what to do. Leave them to hatch in my bra? Rig up a brooder somehow? Borrow someone's incubator?
Then I saw Cookie still clamped down on her nest. I set those eggs next to her and she immediately tucked them deep underneath her feathers. This morning I saw her off her nest with the 4 standard chicks she'd incubated and the 2 extra banty chicks of her sister's.
I placed both hens' nest boxes together in one little pen for my convenience in tending to them. Cookie & Biscuit are getting along nicely with each other and all the chicks. Once they even all jammed in together in one nest box, two hens and 10 chicks. It will be interesting to see if they continue to collaborate in raising these chicks.
Their eggs began hatching on the same day. Cookie stayed clamped tight on her nest for a day & a half, but Biscuit took her hatched chicks for an outing and left 2 pipping eggs cold in the nest. They were really cold to the touch on the outside, but the chicks were still peeping & picking strongly.
I stuffed them down my shirt & tried to figure out what to do. Leave them to hatch in my bra? Rig up a brooder somehow? Borrow someone's incubator?
Then I saw Cookie still clamped down on her nest. I set those eggs next to her and she immediately tucked them deep underneath her feathers. This morning I saw her off her nest with the 4 standard chicks she'd incubated and the 2 extra banty chicks of her sister's.
I placed both hens' nest boxes together in one little pen for my convenience in tending to them. Cookie & Biscuit are getting along nicely with each other and all the chicks. Once they even all jammed in together in one nest box, two hens and 10 chicks. It will be interesting to see if they continue to collaborate in raising these chicks.
