Dmontgomery
Songster
I haven't posted anything here in a few months. It seems every time I come here to brag about Gertrude starting a new nest, something bad happens and we lose all the eggs. I decided it was bad luck to "count your eggs before they are hatched", so I quit saying anything.
She started nests in the chicken coop twice in the spring but lost a total of 20 eggs to snakes. We finally got the snakes under control by using moth balls around the outside of the coop and remodeling the inside of the coop so they had no place to hide.
Then she started to nest in the woods, but the dogs found her and stole at least 5 eggs. They brought one in the house to show us they found the nest. Then we followed a trail of broken eggs to the woods.
In August she made her 3rd attempt at laying in the coop. Unfortunately it was in a very inaccessible location under the roosts. We put some hay bales in place to build her a small cave. Thank you to whoever posted the picture of their cave. We took your advice to do the same thing.
She finally got her egg count up to 32 eggs at the beginning of this month and decided to start setting. The problem is, it's at least 90 degrees every day here in August. So left out in the heat, several of them went bad. We noticed a terrible smell in the nest last week and got her off the nest. 14 of the eggs had set long enough for the shells to become weak and were cracked. Rotten eggs all over! We cleaned them out and replaced all the soiled hay.
She got back on the nest, but she kicked out 11 more eggs the next day. They were cold by the time we found them so I took them out and found they were all bad too.
Now she is down to just 7 of the original 32 eggs. Likely none of them are going to be any good and we will not be getting any new keets. It's just too hot here in the summer to leave eggs laying around that long.
She's layed at least 50 eggs this season, but no babies. Maybe someday we will get this thing figured out. Still hoping for an incubator for Christmas!
She started nests in the chicken coop twice in the spring but lost a total of 20 eggs to snakes. We finally got the snakes under control by using moth balls around the outside of the coop and remodeling the inside of the coop so they had no place to hide.
Then she started to nest in the woods, but the dogs found her and stole at least 5 eggs. They brought one in the house to show us they found the nest. Then we followed a trail of broken eggs to the woods.
In August she made her 3rd attempt at laying in the coop. Unfortunately it was in a very inaccessible location under the roosts. We put some hay bales in place to build her a small cave. Thank you to whoever posted the picture of their cave. We took your advice to do the same thing.
She finally got her egg count up to 32 eggs at the beginning of this month and decided to start setting. The problem is, it's at least 90 degrees every day here in August. So left out in the heat, several of them went bad. We noticed a terrible smell in the nest last week and got her off the nest. 14 of the eggs had set long enough for the shells to become weak and were cracked. Rotten eggs all over! We cleaned them out and replaced all the soiled hay.
She got back on the nest, but she kicked out 11 more eggs the next day. They were cold by the time we found them so I took them out and found they were all bad too.
Now she is down to just 7 of the original 32 eggs. Likely none of them are going to be any good and we will not be getting any new keets. It's just too hot here in the summer to leave eggs laying around that long.
She's layed at least 50 eggs this season, but no babies. Maybe someday we will get this thing figured out. Still hoping for an incubator for Christmas!
That was the first morning with frost this fall. I don't know if they will be okay or not. Good news is I got my new incubator! The eggs are in it now, hoping that some of them will make it.
