- Jan 21, 2014
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Lizzie my Pekin girl has gone broody for the first time - she is one of last year's chicks at her breeders so is around a year old
We've gone with a fairly hands off approach on the advice of several people on the allotments with it being her first clutch to give her the best chance of success.
We didn't have a spare coop to use as a maternity wing so on day 3 when fairly certain it would stick we started working frantically to make one for her - here's a timeline of things so far.
2 July - started sitting (first day I didn't collect eggs) - 3 eggs, two of hers and one Polish Crested
8 July - rejected 2 eggs - one Polish Crested cracked, one Pekin just undeveloped - left with 3 eggs, 1 of hers and 2 Polish that she had claimed
12 July - moved into broody coop, 7-8 eggs as she had taken more Polish eggs, becoming hysterical if I tried to take them so had been unable to mark the three she had when rejecting others
she's been very happy in the broody coop, eating well and drinking - last night I managed to candle a few of the eggs before she got agitated, only got 3 pics though and confirmed as I assumed there is a huge disparity in the development between eggs so I suspect only 2-3 will actually hatch
Comparing it to some online resources I estimated that they are (from left to right) at about Day 5-6, Day 11-12 and Day 7-8?
Now these are just random eggs from under her and no idea of the full range but I highly doubt she'll sit an extra week for the last eggs to hatch and I don't have access to an incubator.
At least in future I have the broody coop already built now and will be able to move her and a controlled number of eggs at same time with no 'additions' appearing
We've gone with a fairly hands off approach on the advice of several people on the allotments with it being her first clutch to give her the best chance of success.
We didn't have a spare coop to use as a maternity wing so on day 3 when fairly certain it would stick we started working frantically to make one for her - here's a timeline of things so far.
2 July - started sitting (first day I didn't collect eggs) - 3 eggs, two of hers and one Polish Crested
8 July - rejected 2 eggs - one Polish Crested cracked, one Pekin just undeveloped - left with 3 eggs, 1 of hers and 2 Polish that she had claimed
12 July - moved into broody coop, 7-8 eggs as she had taken more Polish eggs, becoming hysterical if I tried to take them so had been unable to mark the three she had when rejecting others
she's been very happy in the broody coop, eating well and drinking - last night I managed to candle a few of the eggs before she got agitated, only got 3 pics though and confirmed as I assumed there is a huge disparity in the development between eggs so I suspect only 2-3 will actually hatch
Comparing it to some online resources I estimated that they are (from left to right) at about Day 5-6, Day 11-12 and Day 7-8?
Now these are just random eggs from under her and no idea of the full range but I highly doubt she'll sit an extra week for the last eggs to hatch and I don't have access to an incubator.
At least in future I have the broody coop already built now and will be able to move her and a controlled number of eggs at same time with no 'additions' appearing
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