So I had this wonderful idea that I'd let me girls hatch out some hatching eggs I bought. The idea was that that was my best option seeing I don't have an incubator and I don't have the space to keep a separate area for transitioning the chicks in with the girls.
One of my girls spends more time on the eggs then the others, so I was thinking she would go broody easier. I've never allowed the eggs to pile up, so I figured that's why she hadn't gone full blown broody. It looks like I figured wrong.
I asked others in my area when their girls tended to go broody and they said the end of May. That worked out good with someone I arranged to get eggs from. Well, someone in line to get eggs before me backed out, so mine got moved forward.
In anticipation I started allowing eggs to pile up in the nest box. The girl that I figured would be doing the work would go in on the eggs, do a little rearranging, snuggle in and only stay for about 10 minutes and leave.
The eggs arrived on Saturday and I've kept them in a cool location and I've been changing the angle of the container (lined with shavings from the hen house) several times each day (pointed end of the egg down).
Well, now I'm getting worried so I'm altering my plan. Last night I put the eggs in my fishroom (for humidity) and put a heat lamp on them. I have a thermometer in with them and adjusted the height of the lamp so the thermometer is reading right around 100°. I'm also going to continue with the changing of the angles. My hopes are that when the eggs start making noises that I'll be able to slip them into a box at night and put that one girl on them and the peeping noises will kick in some mothering instinct.
What do you think? Am I nuts?
One of my girls spends more time on the eggs then the others, so I was thinking she would go broody easier. I've never allowed the eggs to pile up, so I figured that's why she hadn't gone full blown broody. It looks like I figured wrong.
I asked others in my area when their girls tended to go broody and they said the end of May. That worked out good with someone I arranged to get eggs from. Well, someone in line to get eggs before me backed out, so mine got moved forward.
In anticipation I started allowing eggs to pile up in the nest box. The girl that I figured would be doing the work would go in on the eggs, do a little rearranging, snuggle in and only stay for about 10 minutes and leave.
The eggs arrived on Saturday and I've kept them in a cool location and I've been changing the angle of the container (lined with shavings from the hen house) several times each day (pointed end of the egg down).
Well, now I'm getting worried so I'm altering my plan. Last night I put the eggs in my fishroom (for humidity) and put a heat lamp on them. I have a thermometer in with them and adjusted the height of the lamp so the thermometer is reading right around 100°. I'm also going to continue with the changing of the angles. My hopes are that when the eggs start making noises that I'll be able to slip them into a box at night and put that one girl on them and the peeping noises will kick in some mothering instinct.
What do you think? Am I nuts?