Broody Hen in Decemeber!

[UrbanSilkies]

If you have a mom and pop grocery, you could try some eggs from there. I've read where other people have done this and the eggs hatched.

Thank you for the idea. They don't sell fertile eggs, unfortunately, but the quails seem to be doing well.

I have a broody, 6 chicks hatched 4 days ago, temperature as I type is 3 C, they are fine, they have nothing special just Plastic Garden Storage Box in a sheltered site

That's reassuring. It seems like this year we will have a warm winter so she should be ok.



I just candled a couple of her eggs, and I saw veins and a heartbeat in one! I'm surprised I could see it in a quail egg. The others were darker than they were when I placed them under her, but I couldn't see anything more than that. I'm just glad they are alive. She's currently sitting on 7 quail eggs, 3 from the fridge (apparently people have had success hatching refrigerated eggs) and 4 that were fresh. She leaves her nest for about 10-20 minutes each day, but never finds her nest on her own. Before she would go to her old nest, then her old coop (she never had a nest there, but I guess she remembered it was "in her home", it was just the wrong home), and today we had to call her over to the coop when she started searching for her nest. Hopefully she soon learns where to go because I won't always be here to bring her back. She starts making a strange sound when she wants to go back to the nest.

 

[nchls school]

Refrigerated eggs will hatch depending on how cold the fridge is.

 

[UrbanSilkies]

Refrigerated eggs will hatch depending on how cold the fridge is.

2 of them are developping well, but the others are infertile. One was cracked, so I checked and it wasn't fertile, so I checked the others. I'll be putting a couple others in my incubator (just got it today) just in case.

 

[UrbanSilkies]

I went to go check on my hen today, and her chest is covered in poop. It smells disgusting and I don't want it contaminating the eggs, so I put them in the incubator for now, but the only way I can clean her would be to give her a bath. It's really stuck to her feathers. Will bathing her break her broodiness or will it be ok since I will be using warm water?

 

[nchls school]

I went to go check on my hen today, and her chest is covered in poop. It smells disgusting and I don't want it contaminating the eggs, so I put them in the incubator for now, but the only way I can clean her would be to give her a bath. It's really stuck to her feathers. Will bathing her break her broodiness or will it be ok since I will be using warm water?

It's hard to know how a hen will react in a situation like this. I would try using a warm, wet cloth and wipe as much off as possible.

 

[UrbanSilkies]

It's hard to know how a hen will react in a situation like this. I would try using a warm, wet cloth and wipe as much off as possible.

I tried doing that, but it's really stuck onto her. I will try giving her a warm bath later. I can't leave her with the poop on her.

 

[UrbanSilkies]

It's hard to know how a hen will react in a situation like this.  I would try using a warm, wet cloth and wipe as much off as possible.

I gave her a warm bath (the rooster ended up also pooping on her back), and let her dry in the house in a "nest". She's still broody and is now back in her old nest. Hopefully she stays clean this time. She's sitting on a random quail egg at the moment, her actual babies are in the incubator. I'll put them back under her when we leave, but for now I want to make sure that the eggs are kept clean.

 

[UrbanSilkies]

So out of the two eggs that were fertile under her, only one survived (she ended up leaving one in the cold around day 10). The one that survived pipped yesterday, about 18 hours ago. I can't seem to find much information about quail hatching times, and I'm not sure if it's normal for it to be taking so long. The baby is breathing, but there's no progress on the egg.

 

[nchls school]

So out of the two eggs that were fertile under her, only one survived (she ended up leaving one in the cold around day 10). The one that survived pipped yesterday, about 18 hours ago. I can't seem to find much information about quail hatching times, and I'm not sure if it's normal for it to be taking so long. The baby is breathing, but there's no progress on the egg.

What kind of quail? Common quail take 18 days to hatch; if I remember rightly.

 

[UrbanSilkies]

What kind of quail? Common quail take 18 days to hatch; if I remember rightly.

Today is day 19. I started helping him slightly after 14 hours, and now he's out of his shell, but one of his legs doesn't seem to bend. He's trying to get on his feet but only moves one leg.