Expected Hatch Date: 6-13-10

[AmberH]

My chickens and ducks are free range during the day and put up at night. I wasn't at home last night and when I came home today, my aunt said that she didn't put the birds up last night. I started to freak out. I rushed outside to find them. Two of the bantam Cochins were in a storage building along with my RIR cockerel. My golden comet girl came rushing to great me. I love her. The two ducks were perfect angels and slept in their pen last night with the door open.

I couldn't find Suri, my black Cochin. I started going crazy. She's my favorite and I really didn't want to lose her to a fox or coyote. So I went back through every where I'd already searched and didn't see a trace of her. Finally, I looked in the dog house that's in the poultry pen and she was sitting on 10 eggs! Yay! She's been there all day so far. I'm really counting on her to hatch them out. I'd tried everything in the book to get at least one of the two Cochin hens to go broody because I don't own an incubator. This is the second time I've had a broody hen! The first was Suri and Tank's mom. There were three chicks in that hatch and that's all I'm hoping for with this one. I won't know which hen is the mother to the chicks unless it's a splash. The rooster is blue and there is a blue and a black hen.

I'm really worried that she's going to decided not to hatch the eggs. I hope I'm not "counting my chickens before they hatch" by making this post. lol More than anything I want baby Cochins. They look like little penguins.

Anyway, I'll keep this post updated.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

YAY Suri!!

 

[AmberH]

I got a little worried yesterday afternoon. Suri decided to get off the eggs and hunt for bugs for a while. I thought that I jinxed it. I was just going to say oh well. When I went to put the birds up last night, Suri was back on the eggs. Same think happened this morning. She went out for about half an hour and straight back to the nest. I think she's going to actually hatch them out! I'm excited now.

 

[AmberH]

Funniest thing happened today. Suri was nowhere to be found and the eggs were just sitting there. I went looking for Suri and came back to the dog house and Blueberry was sitting on the eggs. I picked her up and moved her away so I could look at the eggs more closely. Blueberry got all defensive and went back to the eggs, fluffed herself up, and sat down. She stayed there for a good two hours before Suri came back and took her babies back. lol They're sharing mommy duties.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Way to go Suri!!
I'm Subscribing to this thread! Sounds cool! keep me updated!!!

 

[AmberH]

Is it normal for the hen to be leaving so often? My last broody girl was three years ago and I can't really remember much of that experience. They weren't free range birds though. My current birds are let out in the morning and are put up at night.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Yes, it's normal for a hen to leave her nest once a day to eat/drink etc.

 

[AmberH]

Turns out there are 14 eggs. Hum... lol

 

[RockyPhoenix]

it helps if you mark the eggs you want to hatch so you can remove any newly added eggs...we did tht with my silkie hen...i too am subscribing to this thread!!

 

[AmberH]

I have a hard time removing eggs because I'm terrified that none of them will hatch. lol It's like, the more eggs there are, the better chances that some will hatch. Haha... I really wish I would have marked the days that they were layed but I didn't. I kind sort of tell the newest ones because they're always the cleanest. We'll see. I'll probably end up selling or giving away most of the chicks and only keeping a couple. The worst that can happen is that I'll keep 14 baby Cochins. lol I'm really hoping for at least one splash.