Broody ayam cemani

[peafowl_Lover]

Hi, I have a broody ayam cemani, I would like her to hatch, do they make good mothers? I'm going to give her 4 eggs, will that be enough?
Thanks

 

[Paz]

Give her more then you’d like her to hatch, they are considered very good moms. If it’s her first time, though, it’s best to supervise and see that she’s not murdering the chicks.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

Yes it's her first time hatching, she goes broody most years, I'll give her 6, I was thinking of keeping her in the nestbox, but I moved her to her own crate in the coop.

 

[Paz]

Sounds like a good idea. Good luck! I bet she will raise them wonderfully

 

[peafowl_Lover]

I was thinking as she's quite a small hen that I might just give her 3 eggs because it's her first time, so we'll start off small.

 

[Paz]

The size of the hen doesn’t matter too much. Three eggs is very little, she might end up failing, especially since it’s her first time.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

I gave her 4, she's very content and doesn't mind me petting her, she hates the other hens now
I'll post a pic of her soon

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hens come in different sizes. Eggs come in different sizes. A bantam may have trouble covering 4 regular-sized hens' eggs. A full-sized hen can cover a huge number of bantam eggs. I typically give a hen 12 eggs of the size she normally lays and it usually works out.

I had a hen hide a nest and bring off 18 chicks. She laid those eggs so she was able to manage that many of the size she laid. I once gave a hen 12 but she was having trouble covering all of them so I took two away. Some people like hard and fast numbers regardless of details but I find each situation is unique and try to react to what I see.

I never set extra eggs under a broody or in the incubator counting on some to not hatch. You have to be OK if they all hatch. I have had 100% hatches, I've had some a lot worse. You do not count your chicks before they hatch, either positively or negatively.

I've had great success with a hen that had never gone broody before. I've had failures with hens that were successful broodies before. I don't pay any attention to that first-time-broody stuff, but if a hen messes up on her first hatch I never give her a second chance.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

Yes, this is probably a once off, I probably won't hatch chicks again in the near future... I didn't do 6 as my coop would be able to house them all but it would be too crowded. This is her, her name is Dubh, pronounced dove, it means black in Irish.