I am so excited! I have just candled our first batch of eggs. I was very unsure whether I was going to see enough to know what was going on. I bought a small LED flashlight recently instead of a candling device and it worked great even on the brown shelled eggs! I had suspected that some of the eggs may not have been fertile and sure enough there were two that had not been fertilised and one with a blood ring. The other 6 are fine with definite growth happening. This is really just a learning try for us. SInce Calypso went broody we decided to learn what we could. I just put whatever eggs I had on hand under her so we have 2 Buff Orp eggs, 2 Buff Orp X Speckeled Sussex, 2 white silkie eggs. I knew that the hen got bare patches on her breast while brooding but had no idea of the extent and that she would have a naked chest! Wow! Do they pull the feathers out or do they just fall out? Do they eat them because I don't see many lying around? Probably would make sense for her to eat them, good protein source.
We'll see how she does. Two weeks to go. She is eating. I have been smoothing the food out so I can see if she has been there. I have also been putting extra little super nourishing goodies out that she has been eating up. I picked her up to candle the eggs and laid her down near the food and water and she just stayed in her broody pose until I picked her up and put her back on her eggs! She is very gentle - no pecking at us, just growls and fluffs her feathers. Awesome chick!
We'll see how she does. Two weeks to go. She is eating. I have been smoothing the food out so I can see if she has been there. I have also been putting extra little super nourishing goodies out that she has been eating up. I picked her up to candle the eggs and laid her down near the food and water and she just stayed in her broody pose until I picked her up and put her back on her eggs! She is very gentle - no pecking at us, just growls and fluffs her feathers. Awesome chick!
