Broody hen! On day 12 of 18

[poison_ivy]

Two of the hens in my outdoor enclosure started sitting on eggs about 2 weeks ago. At first I didn't notice the signs and I disturbed their initial nests, but they re-built them and accumulated eggs over the course of a couple days. I marked the eggs and have been removing any that got added later. The hens have been diligent about sitting on their eggs and they just take short breaks to eat, drink, and take sand baths. I candled a few of the eggs yesterday and some are developing!

One of the hens was sitting on 9 eggs, but two eggs broke, leaving her with 7. The other hen started with 4 eggs, but I noticed her getting increasingly aggressive to the other broody hen, so I eventually took them away and gave them to the first hen. The aggressive hen would disturb the other hen several times a day, causing her to run away. So now I just have the one broody hen sitting on all 11 eggs. She seems to be able to cover the eggs fully (the photo was taken when she was wiggling around so some of the eggs are visible).

If my timing is right, I think the eggs should hatch on Friday or Saturday. Is there anything I need to do on hatch day, aside from keeping a close eye on things?

 

[HumbleAmerican]

I let chickens be chickens. Keep an eye out to make sure she doesn't decide they are the enemy and decide to kill them. Past that, I turn them out in general population and they thrive. I'm a huge fan of broody raised chicks. They come up knowing their place and very little fighting. Even when momma kicks them aside, it takes a couple hours to figure out roosting spots then its smooth as silk.

Good luck!!! Hope you follow with pictures.

 

[QuailTail]

That's very exciting! I hope she keeps it up and manages to successfully hatch some of them! I have zero expertise so cannot offer advice, so encouragement is all I can give Let us know how she goes!

 

[poison_ivy]

Some of the eggs started pipping today. I saw at least 3 eggs had pips. Hopefully I wake up tomorrow to some babies!

 

[WIchickMama]

Yippee! Cant wait to see what you get!

 

[poison_ivy]

Five of the eggs have hatched so far!

I was getting worried because I woke up and none of the eggs had started zipping yet. Then this afternoon, in the span of 30 minutes or so, 4 chicks popped out at once!

At first, she kept tossing one chick out of the nest, so I took it away and put it in my brooder for an hour. I returned it to her after and she happily accepted it.

I allowed my other quail to free-roam in the same enclosure, but noticed that they were behaving strangely. They kept trying to grab the babies and pull them away from mom. So I've cordoned off the others now, so that the mom and babies have their own area.

 

[ButtonNomies]

Awwww congratulations ❤

She looks likes she's doing tht chittering warble to keep the others away from her babies. I love tht sound