Broody bantam!

[Egg Snatcher]

My little molted jap bantam is setting on a dozen right know. What I found out as long a they have a good tight nest then they can set on a dozen, I wouldn't give her any more than that. Hope this is good advise. Good luck.

 

[Willow2253]

Thanks. She’s got 7 right now and it doesn’t seem like she’s having any trouble covering them all. She did switch nests on us this morning, but I got the eggs back under her pretty quickly. She did get up one time after that but went back to the nest with her eggs, so hopefully there’s no more switching. I’ve been collecting everyone else’s eggs throughout the day so there’s less chance for her to get confused.

 

[NatJ]

I’ve been collecting everyone else’s eggs throughout the day so there’s less chance for her to get confused.

You marked her eggs, right? (Just in case someone else climbs in with her and lays an egg, you'll want to know which one it was!)

 

[Willow2253]

You marked her eggs, right? (Just in case someone else climbs in with her and lays an egg, you'll want to know which one it was!)

Of course. Though she’s pretty good about keeping the others out of her nest.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Something that has happened to me is that the broody gets up to attend to her daily constitutional, another hen gets on her nest to lay an egg, and the broody gets confused when she gets back and goes to the wrong nest. When that happens I just move her back to her original nest. I still get good hatches even if the eggs are cold to the touch but it's obviously not a great thing to happen.

If a hen does that regularly, going to the wrong nest, it can be a good reason to isolate her. You take the risk of breaking her from being broody if you try that, I saw a post in this forum yesterday where that happened to someone. I've never isolated one, it just hasn't been that bad, but sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two evils.

 

[Willow2253]

Usually with Tux she’ll swap on the first day or two and then be done with it. She’s got her favorite nest now so hopefully there’s no more moving. I have been watching her when she gets up to make sure she goes back to the right spot though just in case.

 

[Willow2253]

I had the opportunity to candle while Tux was off her nest. It's only day 4, and some eggs have darker shells, so I didn't see much, but there was one that had some good veins going. I'm just hoping that's not the only one developing.

 

[Willow2253]

After candling again today, I think there’s only one developing. The others looked pretty much empty, though there were one or two that could have started and not made it past the first couple of days. The good news is the one that’s developing looks really good. I’m thinking it’s one of the Wyandotte/ameraucana eggs, so I’m excited to see how the baby turns out.

 

[Willow2253]

Ugh she moved again today. I don’t think she was off the eggs for too long, it was only a couple of hours between when I checked on her this morning and when I checked again to find she was in the wrong nest. I have my fingers crossed that it didn’t kill the baby.

 

[Willow2253]

Good news today! Baby hatched and is doing really well! I think the mom is either a gold or silver laced Wyandotte, and dad is a blue ameraucana. I’ve fenced off an area in the coop with food and water so Tux and baby can have a safe place until they’re ready to go out. I’m going to try to get better pics in the morning, Tux was not happy about us touching her baby.