An update on my coop full of broodies:
All the girls kept taking breaks from the nest, and changing nest boxes, even though I was on lockdown on the eggs in the bator.
It was musical nests with four broodies and three nest boxes. I was worried none would hatch, I think giving them eggs that were
already half incubated threw off their timing. Yesterday was day 21, and this is how they ended up:
Claire, the BCM ended up on the largest group of six eggs I had originally given Opie, the first to go broody. Mia, in the middle, ended
up on a golf ball only, and sisters Sophie and Opie shared a nest with five eggs I had given Mia, the second to go broody.
Amazingly enough, Claire hatched four chicks, and two hatched in the Sophie/Opie nest. I came home from work to find Claire and her
chicks out of the nest and into the coop. I knew I needed to move them down to the pen before they fell out the coop door. I moved
Claire first, and one of her chicks ran into the Sophie/Opie nest. I gave Claire and her three chicks time to eat drink and adjust before
moving Opie and the three chicks with her. I was a little worried about Ranger the roo, but he showed only mild curiosity in the chicks.
One of the chicks with Opie joined the Claire group, I'm thinking it was the one who ran away during the transfer, and she knew who
her hatch mother was. So far, the chicks seem to be hanging with their hatch mothers:
I slipped one of Mia's biological babies from the bator under her, and will move them in the morning. Sophie, who just went broody a few days ago, apparently
has been laying a little clutch of eggs, I'll let her keep sitting...I guess they will hatch days apart? If this works out, it will avoid the "adult integration" phase.
It's been fun, interesting and informative.
Another chapter of "How the Egg Turns".
All the girls kept taking breaks from the nest, and changing nest boxes, even though I was on lockdown on the eggs in the bator.
It was musical nests with four broodies and three nest boxes. I was worried none would hatch, I think giving them eggs that were
already half incubated threw off their timing. Yesterday was day 21, and this is how they ended up:
Claire, the BCM ended up on the largest group of six eggs I had originally given Opie, the first to go broody. Mia, in the middle, ended
up on a golf ball only, and sisters Sophie and Opie shared a nest with five eggs I had given Mia, the second to go broody.
Amazingly enough, Claire hatched four chicks, and two hatched in the Sophie/Opie nest. I came home from work to find Claire and her
chicks out of the nest and into the coop. I knew I needed to move them down to the pen before they fell out the coop door. I moved
Claire first, and one of her chicks ran into the Sophie/Opie nest. I gave Claire and her three chicks time to eat drink and adjust before
moving Opie and the three chicks with her. I was a little worried about Ranger the roo, but he showed only mild curiosity in the chicks.
One of the chicks with Opie joined the Claire group, I'm thinking it was the one who ran away during the transfer, and she knew who
her hatch mother was. So far, the chicks seem to be hanging with their hatch mothers:
I slipped one of Mia's biological babies from the bator under her, and will move them in the morning. Sophie, who just went broody a few days ago, apparently
has been laying a little clutch of eggs, I'll let her keep sitting...I guess they will hatch days apart? If this works out, it will avoid the "adult integration" phase.
It's been fun, interesting and informative.
Another chapter of "How the Egg Turns".
