First time broody hen daddy

[N Good]

Butchering is never easy. When I was young we did it a lot at the family farm. Chickens, Hogs, and cattle. I would say a prayer thanking God for the animals. I also did the same when I hunted doves, ducks, geese, quail, deer, squirrels, and Rabbits. I am following your thread because we have hatched several times from the incubator but we have a broody that is due to hatch next week.

Overall the experience with our broody hen was great. Definitely a learning curve, but she did most of the work. 7 out of 9 eggs hatched. I really believe at this point that the two she ate must have been bad or not developing and she was keeping her nest clean. Other than intervening with this last hatch, we did not need to do a thing. But having said that, she appears to be a great mother.

What breed do you have?

And yes, it's my third season butchering ducks, definitely never easy.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Great news to hear you were able to help. Hopefully you'll find the little one doing well this morning. I much prefer letting my ducks do all the work. I've had to assist some but it's such a blessing to see it all done the way God intended.

 

[DuckyDonna]

how is the little one doing today?

 

[N Good]

how is the little one doing today?

Unfortunately it was still weak this morning. She sat on the nest all night but came out this morning and the baby still wasn't walking around so we rigged up a heat lamp. By the time we got home from church he had passed. I think the hatch was just too long and traumatic. I'm glad I helped him out so he at least had the best chance of survival, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. It's also possible that there was some other problem that kept it from being a successful hatch and that underlying problem is also why it didn't make it. Apparently, once again, she knew better than us and was right to discard him. Staying in the egg might have been the easier way for him to go. Who knows, but we've definitely learned so much from seeing her hatch out a clutch and even at 6 out of 9 survival her percentages are better than our 4 out of 8 in the incubator (and it was/is a lot less work on our part!)

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Very sorry.