First broody!

[MJWarner]

Mary, my lavender orpington, decided yesterday to become a mom. Has not left the nesting box since at least yesterday morning, and is still there this morning. I usually collect between 8 and 10 eggs every evening from my 10 girls, and I only got 4 from the other boxes yesterday, so I figure she probably has 4-5 eggs under her now. I hesitate to disturb her too much, so she will commit for the long haul. I have eggs from the last 2 days, and would like to cram some of them under her to best utilize her as a broody and protective chick raising mom hen. From y'all who have done this before, can Ido this in the daytime, or should I wait until late night, then sneak them in? Mary is 6 1/2 months old, and this is both of our first hatching rodeo, it would be good if we are on the same page with this. I do realize it takes a few days before I can be certain of 100% commitment on her part, but I would like to place the extra eggs so that the hatch day is synced.

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

Daytime will be fine. Make sure to mark them so you can remove the new ones throughout the brood period.

I take my broody hens off the nest once a day if they have an empty crop at afternoon chore time so I can make sure they eat something. It’s also a chance for me to check their eggs and candle them if I want to.

Good luck with your hatch!

 

[Raccoon lady]

My lavender Orpington just went broody too. I placed eggs under her in the daytime. Pretty much, she wants as many eggs as possible. She probably won't mind.

 

[MJWarner]

I found her sitting on day one. On day 2, when she was still sitting by afternoon, I added 13 eggs from the kitchen counter, which had been laid within the last 3 days, with somee from collection on day 2. (13 total) But... I removed the eggs she had initially had under her the first and second day, because I didn't want those as chicks. Basically, I have a cream legbar rooster, and I wanted eggs from my blue/splash americana, my blue copper marans, my Easter egger, my olive egger, and whomever is laying the grey eggs, and the pink eggs. (Coop Camera dreams) For 3 days of collection, that ended up being 13, and since I don't expect 100% hatch, and since she's such a large, fluffy girl, I rolled the dice and went all in.

 

[MJWarner]

Well, Mary left the nest to eat and gave me a chance to mark the eggs she had, mark and add the eggs from the last 2 days and this morning's, and she now has 13 eggs to incubate. I will feel a lot less stressed once I get this first hatching completed, I know in my head that nature is successful, or there would be no wild street chickens all over rural Florida, but I am still anxious to prove the self sustainability for my flock and needs, even if my doubts are silly and unfounded. (...and I'm usually so logical...)

 

[RubelliteRose]

Congratulations! We just had our first and second broody hatch out eggs. The first almost 3 weeks ago and the second almost a week ago. It was exciting and nerve wracking
Hope your hatch goes well and make sure to post pictures of your new chicks

 

[MJWarner]

Congratulations! We just had our first and second broody hatch out eggs. The first almost 3 weeks ago and the second almost a week ago. It was exciting and nerve wracking
Hope your hatch goes well and make sure to post pictures of your new chicks

Oh, I will! She's in a top box, plenty deep and large, and my plans are to leave her there until the first 24 hours after hatch day is past. Then I will crate her on the floor of the coop, with water and crumble inside, by moving her chicks first, then Mary.

 

[MJWarner]

Well, I candled today, day 9, and even though I watched over 10 videos on how, what to look for, all those tips are apparently beyond my skill level, which is quite obviously lacking. I did discover 5 or 6 that were actually moving around and visible, many shells were too thick or too dark to view. I used a powerful COAST pocket led, cupped my hand around the escaping light, and even threw a large heavy towel over me, like like an old-time photographer, I got a lot of "who knows" and "maybe yes-maybe no", plus a few shoulder shrugs. There were 3 that I removed, due to nothing at all inside, just translucent nothingness. I hope I didn't kill off any of the babes doing that.
I came away running to order the BrinSea ovascope viewer, and that should be here for checking on day 14. That's my version of, if I can't do something, throw more money at it. LOL.
Mary is a treasure, probably the only reason for any success in this hatching adventure. She has this internal clock... around 11 am every day, she hops off, does her business of eating, drinking and basic self care, then after a 1/2 hour to an hour and a half, settles herself in and goes all trance-like.
I'm just an inefficient observer in this, Mary deserves all the credit.

 

[NatJ]

Well, I candled today, day 9, and even though I watched over 10 videos on how, what to look for, all those tips are apparently beyond my skill level, which is quite obviously lacking. I did discover 5 or 6 that were actually moving around and visible, many shells were too thick or too dark to view. I used a powerful COAST pocket led, cupped my hand around the escaping light, and even threw a large heavy towel over me, like like an old-time photographer, I got a lot of "who knows" and "maybe yes-maybe no", plus a few shoulder shrugs.

Were you in a really dark place?
It can help to candle after dark, or carry the eggs into the house and candle in a closet or bathroom that has no window, with the door closed.

There were 3 that I removed, due to nothing at all inside, just translucent nothingness. I hope I didn't kill off any of the babes doing that.

If you crack those eggs and look at what was inside, you will know.

Cracking the empties always makes me feel better-- I can tell there really was NO chick in there. And if I ever crack one and find a chick, I would put the others back and work to improve my candling skills. (That hasn't happened to me yet.)

Mary is a treasure, probably the only reason for any success in this hatching adventure. She has this internal clock... around 11 am every day, she hops off, does her business of eating, drinking and basic self care, then after a 1/2 hour to an hour and a half, settles herself in and goes all trance-like.

It's nice to have your first broody manage things so well

 

[MJWarner]

Normally, I am a person who would bristle at even the thought of needing to have "my hand held" to learn new skills, or travel outside my known comfort zone. But I can not state how wonderful the members of this forum are, how reassuring and comforting it is to know that I have mentors right here, who will take time and patiently counsel my unknown fears and lack of experience. THANK YOU.