Congratulations! And what do mean, "selling chicks"Broody update: As of 4pm this afternoon we have 1 baby chick!I was inside putting up a few groceries and DH came in and said "look what I've got", he was holding a little light chipmunk colored chick. It is from one of the EE eggs. DH had to get the shell unstuck from it's butt! I thought it was so neat that my DH who had been saying nothing would hatch was so excited about showing off what hatched! We've checked a couple more times and found nothing else hatching yet. Mama Hazel is being a good mama to the little chick. DH was talking to the boys about selling the chicks and my ODS told him we weren't selling any of the chicks! They are already in love with the chick.
Question time: How long do you wait before assuming the hatch is finished? If this is the only chick to hatch I will be buying a couple more to add with it.
Your hens sounds like what my EE hen Hazel did. She went broody 9 days after we got rid of our last adult rooster. And he was an EE roo too. WE are using eggs from our own flock too. Moms are EEs and RIRs, dad is EE, so lots of EEs. She is sitting on 10 eggs. As of yesterday we have one chick hatched out.I have my first broody hen with 11 eggs under her - and they're due to hatch around Monday or Tuesday. The broody is Onyx - a solid black Araucana. So far I've pretty much left her alone. I haven't candled or handled the eggs at all. I moved her into her own broody pen when she first started sitting. Then yesterday, I moved her (just picked up the nest box without touching her or the eggs) back into the main pen - but in an enclosed dog crate. The dog crate is made entirely of wire - so she can be with her former chicken-buddies, but they can't get to her or the babies. I felt that her integration back into the flock would go more easily if she was with them rather than in the brooder pen. When the chicks are a couple days old, I plan to open the door to the crate so she can start taking them out.
I'm getting excited! All the eggs are from my own flock - mostly EEs and Araucana eggs with one Welsummer added in. The daddy was our EE roo that I sold just a few days before Onyx became broody. I hope to get at least 3 or 4 new hens from the hatch - and they should all be blue/green egg layers. If the Welsummer egg hatches and if it's a pullet - I might get an olive egger. Time will tell.
By the way, Onyx only poops every two or three days. Although food and water has always been right next to the nest box, I was worried that she was going so long without eating or drinking. So I've been scrambling an egg for the past couple days and putting it in a dish right under her nose. That way at least I know she's getting a little nourishment while she sits there. I do the same thing with water.
So glad I found this thread. Your chicks and my chicks should hatch within a couple days of each other.
Here's a photo of Onyx in her nest box:
I have my first broody hen with 11 eggs under her - and they're due to hatch around Monday or Tuesday. The broody is Onyx - a solid black Araucana. So far I've pretty much left her alone. I haven't candled or handled the eggs at all. I moved her into her own broody pen when she first started sitting. Then yesterday, I moved her (just picked up the nest box without touching her or the eggs) back into the main pen - but in an enclosed dog crate. The dog crate is made entirely of wire - so she can be with her former chicken-buddies, but they can't get to her or the babies. I felt that her integration back into the flock would go more easily if she was with them rather than in the brooder pen. When the chicks are a couple days old, I plan to open the door to the crate so she can start taking them out.
I'm getting excited! All the eggs are from my own flock - mostly EEs and Araucana eggs with one Welsummer added in. The daddy was our EE roo that I sold just a few days before Onyx became broody. I hope to get at least 3 or 4 new hens from the hatch - and they should all be blue/green egg layers. If the Welsummer egg hatches and if it's a pullet - I might get an olive egger. Time will tell.
By the way, Onyx only poops every two or three days. Although food and water has always been right next to the nest box, I was worried that she was going so long without eating or drinking. So I've been scrambling an egg for the past couple days and putting it in a dish right under her nose. That way at least I know she's getting a little nourishment while she sits there. I do the same thing with water.
So glad I found this thread. Your chicks and my chicks should hatch within a couple days of each other.
Here's a photo of Onyx in her nest box:
Yeah, move them back under her. I once found a hen sitting with an egg hatching right front of her! She was totally oblivious.
