Broody Australorp Now Mother Hen!!!!!! Lots and Lots of Pics!

[SilverStar]

That is awsome!!

I love australorps!!!

 

[Preservation Acres]

I absolutely love this hen. She's sooooooo friendly and has no fear whatsoever of people. Flightiness gets on my nerves, and she shows no signs of it.

Now that she's broody, I like her even more. Can't wait to see her with chicks.

 

[cwhit590]

Quote:
Ok.... broodies normally get off the nest about once a day to relieve themselves and grab a quick bite to eat. Pooing in the nest isn't good...it can happen but it shouldn't be happening all the time.
Looking at the cage pics...maybe she isn't getting off because there aren't any shavings on the floor of the cage?

Shavings would be messier for you guys in the house, but it might make her more comfortable to move around? I know sometimes when I'm changing the shavings in the coop or moving my birds around they can freak out and not want to walk on unfamiliar surfaces...

 

[ginbart]

Hi, I just wanted to tell you what I use to candle. I went to Wal Mart and got a Ray O Vac flashlight. I use rechargeable batteries. But I take a wash cloth and put it around the light just where the light comes out so when I put it to the egg the egg only touches the wash cloth. I do this in a very dark room and I can see in my brown eggs very good.

Good luck.

 

[Preservation Acres]

I think I'm going to take her off the nest and make her walk around some. I think she's just being obsessive.

 

[Preservation Acres]

Oh boy was that an experience. I took her off of her nest and separated her from her eggs.

This was the first time she's been away from them. I put her down, and immediately, she hunkered down back into broody position.

I picked her up again a few times, then she started to stretch. She looked down at her feet and saw that there were no eggs under her.

She threw a complete and total fit. I never saw anything like it. She walked around the room looking for her eggs and pooped and pooped and pooped. She was pooping faster than I could clean up after her.

She finally calmed down after I showed her the eggs, and she immediately went right back on them and hunkered down. She also growled at me for the first time. lol

So, lessons learned...every day from now on, she WILL take a 5-10 minute walk away from her eggs OUTSIDE where she can poop to her heart's content. She was so stiff trying to move around. I felt bad for her.

 

[Kittymomma]

Oh my, I think you need video of that. A chicken throwing a poopy hissy fit. The mind boggles! Sounds like it's all working out well for you. I'm glad she's being such a good mommy. It gives me hope that at least on of my three Australorps will hatch out a clutch for me next year. When are you going to try to candle the eggs? Sending good hatching thoughts your way.

 

[Preservation Acres]

I tried candling them tonight, and I believe I could see faint veining, but it's hard to tell.

I bought this thing a couple of days ago, and it should be here by Friday.

http://www.cutlersupply.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_95&products_id=612


Friday will be day 9, so there should be something to see.

 

[ginbart]

Quote:
I have one of those too. They are nice what I didn't like was I had to go to a plug and then move my eggs a lot. I live in a house that's over 100 years old so theres only one outlet in each room. LOL I'm betting you have a plug close to the hen so you don't need to move them that much. It has a soft end on it so when you put it up to the eggs you don't need to worry about breaking it.

 

[Preservation Acres]

That sounds perfect. Does it work well with brown eggs?