Empty Brooder Syndrome

[donrae]

After incubating and raising quite a few chicks this spring, I actually unplugged the incubator a few weeks ago. Sold off the last batch hatched. Now one of my brooders is empty and dark, and the other has four lonely looking hatchery bantams wandering around aimlessly. I just moved my breeding pens around, that means I've got another few weeks before I want to start incubating again. So, I did what any reasonable Crazy Chicken Lady would do, and got on MMM and ordered chicks

. I must be crazy, since I re-ordered the bantam Cochins I tried last month and lost almost all of them. But at least I had a credit for half the order. Amazingly my order should ship this week, talk about instant gratification!

Poor Honey is at the lumber yard as I type, buying material to make a run off a coop I was given last fall. It's smallish, so of course I needed a bantam breeding project to go in there, right?

 

[Folly's place]

This is why I don't have an incubator! Unfortunately, I was able to have some chicks hatched in a friend's incubator this year, in addition to the chicks from Cackle, and the two batcher of broody raised babies here. Would you believe I've got too many birds? About twice the number I will have by fall. Olive eggers anyone? Bantam EEs? Chantie/ Sussex mixes? Mary

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

About 2 months ago I had a serious case of empty brooder syndrome. I fired up the 'bator, collected my eggs and got them going. Then all of my hens started going broody. Would you believe I attempted to start 8 different batches of eggs? Only to carry them right back out to the coop for then next hen that went broody. Anyway, 8 broodies and an undisclosed number of chicks later, I once again need to find homes for gobs of extra birds. And I'm regretting giving them as many to hatch as I did. Oh well, story of my life