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

[Preservation Acres]

OK, I've been wanting to let one of my hens hatch a clutch, and now I can.

Yeah! Melbourne the Australorp is desperately trying to hatch 4 ceramic eggs.

It's already getting cold in Tennessee, so I'm moving her inside, away from the other hens. I'm going to give her a dozen fertilized eggs from a neighbor who has roosters. She'll be in a small pen with food and water.

I'm going to set up a comfortable nest for her in a box with her new clutch.

Am I forgetting anything???

 

[Preservation Acres]

Bump??

 

[Iceblink]

Looks good, congratulations!

 

[SallyF]

Sounds like you've got it covered. Good luck with the hatch and I hope she's a good mom for you. Nothing neater than watching a broody hatch a batch of eggs.

 

[Whirlwind]

I would move her at night if you can. Good luck with your Hatch.

 

[Preservation Acres]

Thanks folks!

She's actually surprisingly docile toward me and other people, but she is a very friendly hen...typical Australorp.

But boy oh boy, if another hen DARES to get near her and her ceramic clutch...she growls like a lion. I never heard anything like it.

 

[cbiblis]

Hey looks good. I have jersey's to, mine are quit friendly as well. There a great breed. I think however that I'm going to sell my 3 hens and beautiful rooster. They are all laying ( i have a light in the roost) and the rooster is a noisy one. So if your interested I'm in Murphy just across the Tenn. NC boarder. I'll post pictures soon.

Good luck.

 

[Preservation Acres]

She's actually an Australorp, and is the kind of hen that will jump up on your lap.

She let me reach under her to see if she had any real eggs along with her four ceramic eggs. She also let me pick her up without any fussing. For a while I wasn't even sure if she was broody, but when another hen came near her, she threw a complete fit.

Also, when I put the ceramic eggs down after picking them up, she rolled them under her, so I knew she was broody.

 

[19hhbelgian]

I had 2 broody australorps this summer. One was easy to handle, the other could get a little peck happy

Both took excellent care of their eggs.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR GIRL!!!!!!!

 

[Kittymomma]

Like another poster said, do it at night if you can. I'd also cover her new home for a day or so after you move her and leave her with the ceramic eggs for a couple of days.

I had to move my BR (nesting under the car trailer) and she wouldn't sit tight on the eggs afterward. She'd stay on for a half a day then come off, on them one night off the next etc. Anyhow, make sure she'll stay broody for you before you sneak the fertile eggs in. BR's aren't typically a broody bird so hopefully it will work better for you than it did for me.