Keeperofmunchkins
Songster
So my serama hen decided to go broody last month in the peak of winter and I figured I would let her sit on nothing for a couple of weeks to have a rest from egglaying then break her because I didn't really want chicks.
Well she had other ideas didn't she, because a few days into her sitting I found two eggs under her. I candled them immediately and one seemed to be on day 2,very early but definitely something in there. I have a rooster with a small number of hens so I know my eggs are fertile. The other one seemed to be on day 0, not incubated at all. But I decided to let her keep them and see what happened.
Fast forward and unfortunately the second egg quit around day 18 for no known reason, but the other one hatched this morning. Now the question is i don't know who laid this egg.
I have 4 small nest boxes for my six small bantams and they aren't really big enough for two hens to share comfortably. The serama was occupying one when she went broody and she is the top of the pecking order of the bantams (I have a large hen who is above her but she uses her own bigger nest box). So I didn't think that anyone would dare to go in there and lay their egg squashed up next to her.
So they had to be the serama's eggs right....?
Except now that the chick has hatched I'm doubting this. You see the father is a cuckoo coloured Pekin Bantam and I am suspicious that this chick might have come from my bearded Belgian Bantam hen, because it looks like it could have a small beard. Also it looks exactly like a chick from the Pekin dad and Belgian Bantam mother that hatched last year.
What do you think? Is this a chick with a beard or just a fluffy face?
This is a picture of the chick which was definitely from my bearded Belgian Bantam hen last year for comparison:
Well she had other ideas didn't she, because a few days into her sitting I found two eggs under her. I candled them immediately and one seemed to be on day 2,very early but definitely something in there. I have a rooster with a small number of hens so I know my eggs are fertile. The other one seemed to be on day 0, not incubated at all. But I decided to let her keep them and see what happened.
Fast forward and unfortunately the second egg quit around day 18 for no known reason, but the other one hatched this morning. Now the question is i don't know who laid this egg.
I have 4 small nest boxes for my six small bantams and they aren't really big enough for two hens to share comfortably. The serama was occupying one when she went broody and she is the top of the pecking order of the bantams (I have a large hen who is above her but she uses her own bigger nest box). So I didn't think that anyone would dare to go in there and lay their egg squashed up next to her.
So they had to be the serama's eggs right....?
Except now that the chick has hatched I'm doubting this. You see the father is a cuckoo coloured Pekin Bantam and I am suspicious that this chick might have come from my bearded Belgian Bantam hen, because it looks like it could have a small beard. Also it looks exactly like a chick from the Pekin dad and Belgian Bantam mother that hatched last year.
What do you think? Is this a chick with a beard or just a fluffy face?
This is a picture of the chick which was definitely from my bearded Belgian Bantam hen last year for comparison:
