crazy ways of hatching eggs this really worked!?

[beccaWA]

My Black Australorp broody hen hatched out a clutch of duck eggs. I would imagine pigeons would be too small for that, though. As we can't have roosters, my eggs aren't fertile, but I have drakes and ducks, so I let the Australorp hatch them out. The mama ducks seem uninterested in this task.

 

[tocool4uvk]

Today's poultry seems just a small step away for many reptiles on the evolutionary scale. Turtles and gators bury eggs in sand to hatch so the concept is not unreasonable. For me the best incubator is a bantam hen. They love to brood, do it often and make great mothers. They have excellent food to energy conversions as well making them efficient brooders.

 

[nicollee]

???
So experimenting on ways to hatch eggs and being unsuccessful is "cruel"
but removing eggs from a pigeon is "not"???

Why is one birds eggs/babies more important than another??

just asking...

 

[nchls school]

Today's poultry seems just a small step away for many reptiles on the evolutionary scale. Turtles and gators bury eggs in sand to hatch so the concept is not unreasonable. For me the best incubator is a bantam hen. They love to brood, do it often and make great mothers. They have excellent food to energy conversions as well making them efficient brooders.

There is a type of turkey in Australia that buries and tends its eggs much like alligators.

 

[sirrahm]

I have absolutely no problem with volunteers wanting to hatch eggs in the spring. Ducks for chicken eggs and chickens for duck eggs I even have a rooster that will take over for an hour or so... too funny

 

[tocool4uvk]

I had no idea that this behavior existed. I can't wait to learn more. Thank you so much for bringing this to me.

 

[fruity7]

I've pretty much given up on successfully hatching any chicks. The hens get broody, but don't stay on the eggs long enough. The bigger hens lay on top of the broody bantams too, causing chaos Last year I tried marking the first lot of eggs and removed later ones, but it was tricky, then the chooks abandoned the eggs. Next time we tried moving the broody hens and the nest box away from the bigger hens. They just got up and changed their minds about being broody. This time I left them alone to take their chances, just grabbing out eggs obviously just laid. The only time my big chooks lay in the smaller nest boxes (lawn mower grass catchers) is when a bantam goes broody in one. Anyway, two weeks later, hoping for success, bantams went on strike again. It
s all a bit of a fail here- can't get candling right, too nervous to try an incubator. I'll leave it up to nature and hopefully one day I'll be surprised. Makes me wonder why wild fowl aren't extinct.

 

[sirrahm]

That's pretty much what happened for me the first two years that I had chickens and ducks. BUT... once one of my ducks hatched an egg she turned into the brooder from hell. I literally have to pick her up and kick her out of the coop kicking and screaming so her legs don't turn to rubber. My other good hatchers are two white Cochin.. They'll even steal each others eggs. Last year one hen was sitting on 15 and the other had but a single one left. I redistributed the lot and instantly became the evil one. Once the chicks hatched I had to put them in separate areas because they kept stealing each others chicks. Keep the faith it will happen. In the mean time I do believe that there is a thread on making your own incubator. It also may help if you have a way to separate the bantam that gets broody from the more hefty girls in the group. She might feel more secure and have more confidence in herself to stay on the nest.

 

[Hholly]

Agree with Blooie, i just found this site and i do not have any chiken or have ever tryed to hatch any eggs but thought it was really cool to learn more about. My first impression was is this for real and are theese people kidding or what? Great site however i hope to learn more about this topic!

Welcome to the forum!

 

[dcgirl]

HI I am new to this but i so enjoy the different views and opinions. I have tried several ways to incubate and i have more luck with a broody hen also my chicks seem to be healthier. A plus is watching the hen and chicks together!