Cochin Thread!!!

Need some advice:

I have my first broody bantam cochin - she only has one of her own eggs but I've put 5-6 other bantam cochin eggs under her - this is the second day
She is in a big coop/pen with 15 other bantam cochins (2 roos, 13 various aged pullets - 10wks. to 8months)

Should I move her & eggs to a coop/building that we built for the purpose of using as a nursery - isolation - grow out pen or will she be fine in her coop with the others during incubation, after hatch etc.?

thanks


Also, how many LF eggs can a bantam lay on?
move her asap... with other hens they might chase her off the nest, cause her to change nests, etc... i relocate broodies also because they pitch a fit for the other girls laying, so i end up having to find the eggs wherever they got hidden.
 
move her asap... with other hens they might chase her off the nest, cause her to change nests, etc... i relocate broodies also because they pitch a fit for the other girls laying, so i end up having to find the eggs wherever they got hidden.

I'm new at this, but last spring I had 2 broody bantam cochins. I moved them out of the big coop to their own space. I even sperated the two of them, because they kept switching nests !! I put 6-8 LF eggs under each one. The eggs were large, not x-large or jumbo.

I kept each momma with her chicks until I was sure they had a good start.......................... about 2 weeks.
Thanks you guys - I will move her tomorrow.

One other question - so she went broody yesterday, beside her one egg I added 2 and then today i added 3 more, can I still add anymore eggs under her? If so, what time span can you continue doing this and/or total bantam eggs can she handle?

Thanks
 
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Quote: you really don't want to spread out the 'adding' stage much, since she'll probably want to sit tight to the nest until they've all hatched, and the oldest chicks might suffer for lack of food and water if it's too many days apart.

if anything, i'd maybe take away the oldest eggs and give her all new ones on the same day... that way they'll all hatch about the same time too.
 
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you really don't want to spread out the 'adding' stage much, since she'll probably want to sit tight to the nest until they've all hatched, and the oldest chicks might suffer for lack of food and water if it's too many days apart.

if anything, i'd maybe take away the oldest eggs and give her all new ones on the same day... that way they'll all hatch about the same time too.
Absolutely, this isn't a maybe. She WILL neglect her hatched babies to sit on any unhatched eggs. They'll die from lack of care.
 
you really don't want to spread out the 'adding' stage much, since she'll probably want to sit tight to the nest until they've all hatched, and the oldest chicks might suffer for lack of food and water if it's too many days apart.

if anything, i'd maybe take away the oldest eggs and give her all new ones on the same day... that way they'll all hatch about the same time too.

Definitely move them. I have just had a broody sitting on 3 partridge eggs in a common coop, by the end of the week when i had time to build her a broody box, she suddenly had 7 eggs underneath her. The problem is, as pointed out by others, that with staggered hatch days you run the risk of the first born not being cared for.

With my situation, i am giving the broody two days after the original hatch date to hatch the eggs, then removing whatever hasn't hatched and moving them under another broody. The ones that haven't hatched after a full 22 days will probably be the ones snuck in by other hens, and those will go to another girl waiting in the wings.

That way i get all my eggs hatched, the first born are cared for, and whatever was snuck in will still hatch under my "team b" broody, who will have the easiest hatching time ever
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Not only that, it means i get to break my final broody by giving her eggs that will hatch in a couple of days
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