We have had a particular hen who seems to like her winter hatches, last winter it was December first (low 20s for temps) and the winter before that she hatched on Jan 28th (8/8). She is on track to be wanting to set in January again this year, but time will tell.
When you check her eggs, how do you do it? I have 10 eggs under 2 broodies each (20 altogether) and they insist on sharing a nesting boxWhat I noted was she was a little higher on her haunches, more of a squat than actually settling down on the eggs and was more defensive than she had been this whole time. She has been a very pleasant broody, just some minor growling and never even so much as an attempt to peck when we actually did reach into the nest (ie to check for eggs that didn't belong) - she was MUCH more vocal and actually pecked at anything that came close to the front of her box, let alone reached into it. She was just overall different.
To the results - we gave her five eggs and she has five happy, healthy chicks! She is proving to be a very attentive mother - so precious to sit in the coop and listen to her cluck and tut to her chicks and them answering back. We moved them to a ground floor apartment today and cleaned out the nest box she had been using. For the next few days they'll be in their private quarters beneath the nest boxes, and then we'll see if mama feels comfortable integrating her family into the flock. I know there are mixed opinions on raising them in the flock, but it's always worked out well in the past, so we're going to give it a go this time around too.
We've been pretty hands off today with the exception of actually moving them, and are giving her some space and quiet to get resettled, but I did snap a couple of pictures
This was right after we got everyone into the new tote nest box - you can see all five babies, #5 poked it's head out just in time for the picture, lol
She found a little bit of feed that had spilled when I was moving the feeder over the nest area, she called the babies out to show them what it was.
The lighter of the two Easter Egger/Easter Egger babies - the other one is the front baby in the picture above - the other three *should* be EE/SLW or EE/GLW
Roflmao!!! Actually, it doesn't hurt to keep checking. I left my fbcm to take care of things on her own. When I finally did do a proper check, 3 partly-hatched chicks were dead because she covered the pipped ends with the empty shells from the already-hatched chicks suffocating them. Lesson learned!
ON MY WAY OUT RIGHT NOW! LET GO OF MY ARMS AND LEG OR YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH ME!!
What did you learn?? As I have said several times I have had 32 broody hens, just set hen 33--3 days ago. I do move them to a private pen and keep feed and water in it. I never light or bother the eggs. If I see the hen off the nest I do check/count the eggs---other than that I leave her/them alone. ALL the hens hatch every fertile egg except for one--the hen left the nest and one was partial hatched. I just slid that egg under the broody hen in the next pen and that night I retrieved the chick and put it under it Mother. What I have Learned is set them properly-- and Leave them alone till they come off the nest. Good Luck in your future hatches.
I can tell you've done this a lot - your tone is so calm and reassuring! It helps to be reminded - and everyone on this thread has been wonderful about that - that chickens usually know exactly what to do and when to do it, and know it much better than we do. But can I ask you a quick question? I have nothing but total respect for your experience and your expertise and I deeply appreciate your advice. I just wondered how you felt when you set hen number 1 out of those 33? Were you nervous? A little worried? Did you wonder if you'd done everything right?
