Found a broody! To move or not to move?

[B J Hopkins]

I'm hope my Broody hen does better than the eggs I've got going in the incubator!! Started out w/13 eggs from my chickens and 18 EE eggs from a friend. Of my 13 I have 3 mixed Cochin & 2 Silky eggs left. The others were sterile.

Of the 18 EE eggs I've 10 left. 7 were sterile and one I THOUGHT was sterile was actually good

.

So, like I said, hope my Broody has a better hatch rate!!

First chick was hatched & dry before I came home from work today. Hope to find more hatched tomorrow, which is the actual due date. I've found Blue Cochins make wonderful Broodies and Mommas. Gracie (above) raised her last chick for 6 1/2 weeks before turning him loose.

 

[mychookschick]

Congratulations! Good luck with the rest!

 

[oesdog]

First chick was hatched & dry before I came home from work today. Hope to find more hatched tomorrow, which is the actual due date. I've found Blue Cochins make wonderful Broodies and Mommas. Gracie (above) raised her last chick for 6 1/2 weeks before turning him loose.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh so darn cute!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say Sussex make good mums too - my red Sussex raised her brood for a full 18 weeks and it was soooo funny because she would hurd them into a corner of the hen coop and then climb up them to sit on the top of a bunch of chicks that were near bigger than her!!!!!!! Eventually she had to give up when they started to figure the only way to get away from MUM was to get into the coop and up on the roost bar before she could sit on them!!! I am hoping she will go to brood again this year???? I want Ducks and she would be great at rearing those.

Well any more babies????

Oes

 

[mychookschick]

Wow, Oesdog! She really wanted those chicks, huh? LOL

I had a chick from the broody that I found, but it died and she didn't hatch anymore

I am in the process of trying to get her to go broody in the coop, but she doesn't like the idea. If I can get her to do it, I will set her with more eggs.

In the mean time, an egg in my incubator pipped this morning! YAY! I will be posting pics (to the thread in my siggy "Hatch along!") as soon as it hatches! I can hear it pipping!

 

[B J Hopkins]

Sorry pic isn't very clear. Black Silky was hatched this morning. Still have 8 eggs but I'm not seeing/hearing any activity from them. They are most EE eggs and I was really hoping to get some EE chicks.

 

[mychookschick]

Just wanted to let everyone that is following this thread know that I just posted pics of what is going on in my bator to the thread in my siggy entitled "Hatch Along"!!

 

[B J Hopkins]

Here is something interesting. I moved my Broody hen into the shed where I have my Brooder w/about 10 chicks of various ages.
My broody Cochin hen hatched 2 chicks. An EE and a Silky. For what ever reason the EE chick died on day 3.

Now, the hen is trying to foster some of the other chicks, including some that are 6wks old! I saw the Salmon Faverolle which is 3 wks old slip into Gracie's feathers while she was warming her Silky chick. I've seen the White Crested Polish & the 6wk old Cochins eating from Gracie's beak. She is such an awsome Momma hen!

 

[mychookschick]

Co0ngrats on the good momma, B J!

 

[B J Hopkins]

Co0ngrats on the good momma, B J!

Yesterday I moved 3, 6wk old Cochins out of the Brooder & shed to the chicken shack. When I came back to the shed where the Momma hen is and the brooder, she was looking all over for the missing 3 chicks. Calling for them. I had a 2-3 wk old Silver Laced Wyandotte in my hand as it had jumped in the box w/the Cochins, so I placed the chick on Momma's back. Chick burrowed into her feathers and that calmed down the Momma.