- Feb 15, 2013
- 10
- 0
- 22
Hello! I love reading through all these, just had my first broody hen experience ever 
As a newbie, I'm not too sure on my hen or roos breed even after looking online.. when I think I've got it, another breed throws me off. We got them from my cousin as day old chicks whom is also clueless lol
We collected her first 3 eggs then left the rest (1st egg was massive - double yolk then 2nd was super tiny and 3rd egg was collected as a precaution). After 12 eggs she decided to go broody but before that she kept flying out of our fenced coop so my dad cut some of her wing feathers.. I was worried this may affect how well she incubated the eggs but alas, proved me wrong! I candled only once on day 7 (2 eggs) as I was paranoid any disturbance would result in her abandoning the eggs.. did I mention I'm a newbie? haha
Fast forward, this morning 8 hatched !! 1 egg might make it as the shell looks cracked while the other 3 are probably infertile? We'll give an extra day to see if anymore hatch however its now 8pm and they look the same. I'll check on them tomorrow morning with my mum.
My cousin told me we should remove the chicks so mummy hen won't be distracted and sit on the other eggs longer. I was especially afraid she may reject the chicks later so was against this but mum was adamant. Well, we tried which only resulted in one angry mumma and her standing up so we put all the chicks under her again.
Will post pics tomorrow, the chicks are sooooooooo cute
As a newbie, I'm not too sure on my hen or roos breed even after looking online.. when I think I've got it, another breed throws me off. We got them from my cousin as day old chicks whom is also clueless lol
We collected her first 3 eggs then left the rest (1st egg was massive - double yolk then 2nd was super tiny and 3rd egg was collected as a precaution). After 12 eggs she decided to go broody but before that she kept flying out of our fenced coop so my dad cut some of her wing feathers.. I was worried this may affect how well she incubated the eggs but alas, proved me wrong! I candled only once on day 7 (2 eggs) as I was paranoid any disturbance would result in her abandoning the eggs.. did I mention I'm a newbie? haha
Fast forward, this morning 8 hatched !! 1 egg might make it as the shell looks cracked while the other 3 are probably infertile? We'll give an extra day to see if anymore hatch however its now 8pm and they look the same. I'll check on them tomorrow morning with my mum.
My cousin told me we should remove the chicks so mummy hen won't be distracted and sit on the other eggs longer. I was especially afraid she may reject the chicks later so was against this but mum was adamant. Well, we tried which only resulted in one angry mumma and her standing up so we put all the chicks under her again.
Will post pics tomorrow, the chicks are sooooooooo cute
