We have a tiny game bird bantam named Dove who decided to go broody at the edge of the field next to our house. We have been having terrible issues with raccoons lately, and when she disappeared, we feared the worst. Thankfully, we found her and her clutch before anything bad happened to them. She had 6 eggs, and when we candled them, all were fertile and developing (day 3 or so). Unfortunately, when we put her and her eggs in a cage in the coop, she flipped out and broke her broodiness. In her attempts to escape she broke one of the eggs. 
Enter Jet, our black bantam cochin super mama.
She had gone broody at just about the same time as Dove, and, unlike Dove, is always perfectly content being put in a cage with her eggs. She is super tame, and I think she knows that we're protecting her and her babies. Anyway, we had already given Jet 7 full-sized eggs to hatch, so when Dove's eggs needed to be incubated, we threw them into the incubator with our eggs that were on day 15. We left Dove's eggs there until the other eggs needed to be locked down, and then we were left with a conundrum. Leave the eggs in the incubator and hand turn them until the other eggs hatch (pain in the butt), or see if Jet can absorb 5 more eggs. We tried Jet, and like the super brooder she is, she tucked them right up under her and flattened out even more to cover all 12 eggs. Go Jet!!! 
Here she is.
Enter Jet, our black bantam cochin super mama.
She had gone broody at just about the same time as Dove, and, unlike Dove, is always perfectly content being put in a cage with her eggs. She is super tame, and I think she knows that we're protecting her and her babies. Anyway, we had already given Jet 7 full-sized eggs to hatch, so when Dove's eggs needed to be incubated, we threw them into the incubator with our eggs that were on day 15. We left Dove's eggs there until the other eggs needed to be locked down, and then we were left with a conundrum. Leave the eggs in the incubator and hand turn them until the other eggs hatch (pain in the butt), or see if Jet can absorb 5 more eggs. We tried Jet, and like the super brooder she is, she tucked them right up under her and flattened out even more to cover all 12 eggs. Go Jet!!! Here she is.
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