Hatching log of a broody satin

[yakitori]

So my 10month old paint satin (named “paint” due to lack of naming creativity) went broody, I can’t say I wasn’t secretly hoping it would happen, lol.

Paint happily took to the 6 fertile Delaware eggs I gave her yesterday. She rolled two under herself right away, but seemed a bit overwhelmed afterwards, so I manually tucked the rest under her.

She is an unusually tame girl, given that I really didn’t handle he all that much. For whatever reason, she loves and trusts humans (and even my cats) more than she does the full sized girls.

My plan is to take her out twice a day to be fed, watered and pooped. I care about the eggs, but ever since her broodmate died of reasons yet unknown... I’ve been wary of her health. Additionally i don’t think anything short of a miracle is going to break her!

Paint seems to know exactly what I want her to do, and has been extremely co-operative. I took her off the nest twice so far. She took right back to the nest after taking care of her needs - I’m proud that she’s so trusting despite her protective hormones kicking in.

Speaking of hormones, she flogged my poor nonchalant cat when he got too close. This was a surprise to me and the poor cat as they had been “roomates” all winter, and she’s never acted bothered by him before!

 

[yakitori]

Day 4
I just candled all of the eggs and they are all growing, yay!
I plan to candle again on day 10... it’s hard being patient!



Paint is still being very good with the current schedule, She seems to prefer a dust bath in the morning on top of her fooding and pooping, so morning breaks are a little longer.




She’s been quite fluffed out this whole time, which I presume is normal. Someone asked me why she’s so fat and I had to explain to them that she’s actually quite lean. lol

I dont believe i have seen a true broody poop yet as she poops twice a day. and from what I’ve read, I don’t believe I’m missing out on the experience



And when she’s done, I bring her back to her eggs, and she stumbles right back in. Shuffles the eggs into position under her and sits for another half a day <3

 

[yakitori]

Okay... I couldn’t resist stealing an egg to candle. I can see the eye and bean shape now...
they develop so fast!

Day 5



Going back to her eggs after her break <3

https://youtube.com/shorts/QPGRQVhibhY

 

[yakitori]

Day 7
I may have lost one. All the eggs are showing strong movement with the exception of egg number 2

heres a video and photo of egg number 4.0

https://youtube.com/shorts/xMQ6lF6Hf20?feature=share

 

[yakitori]

5/31

Went to bring paint out for her evening break and found one outlier egg (egg #3). It was cool to the touch, not completely cold. Not sure if it was an accident or ifshe sensed there was something wrong with it. Either-way, I put it back in the middle... we’ll see what she does with it tomorrow.

6/1

hmm... another (egg #4) egg was left out today. I candled it and dont see movement, but put it back in the midst of the other eggs, like i did with eggs #3 yesterday. I’m starting to wonder whether 6 eggs is too many for Paint. She is after all, only 1.75lb...

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I was thinking the same thing, that maybe she has too many eggs to cover and turn properly. With my broodies, when they return to their "egg babies" after their daily break, i try and always make a point to look inside nestbox and make sure all eggs are covered again. Its usually on the return that an egg gets shoved to the side or behind the hen. Especially when there are a lot of eggs to cover. "A lot" being relative to the size of the broody. For my hens, a lot means 11-13 eggs. But for your little Paint, a lot can be 6. Especially since this is her first time brooding.

Are the other eggs you previously discovered left out still alive? Going forward, if u can check to make sure she has covered the eggs upon her return, they should be ok. If u see the veining is not uniform within the egg(s), she may also be having trouble turning them regularly. Just keep an eye on and help her best as you can. Shes 1/3 done now. Paint is a beautiful girl, & i love her name!

 

[yakitori]

I was thinking the same thing, that maybe she has too many eggs to cover and turn properly. With my broodies, when they return to their "egg babies" after their daily break, i try and always make a point to look inside nestbox and make sure all eggs are covered again. Its usually on the return that an egg gets shoved to the side or behind the hen. Especially when there are a lot of eggs to cover. "A lot" being relative to the size of the broody. For my hens, a lot means 11-13 eggs. But for your little Paint, a lot can be 6. Especially since this is her first time brooding.

Are the other eggs you previously discovered left out still alive? Going forward, if u can check to make sure she has covered the eggs upon her return, they should be ok. If u see the veining is not uniform within the egg(s), she may also be having trouble turning them regularly. Just keep an eye on and help her best as you can. Shes 1/3 done now. Paint is a beautiful girl, & i love her name!

Thank you! She’s the sweetest chicken ever

I did end up candling the one that was left out yesterday and it appears to still be alive - yay! Hopefully the one today will be okay still...

I’ll definitely check that her eggs are fully under her from now on. The first few days I pushed a few half exposed eggs back under her, and she was doing really well up until sunday, and so I got a bit complacent, thinking that she had gotten the hang of it

Before I put her back this evening, I surrounded the eggs with more pine shavings, so hopefully that will also help keep all the eggs in

 

[Cryss]

can’t wait to see the results of this. I’m nervously expecting a hatching under my Blue Marans this Friday, or tomorrow.

 

[yakitori]

can’t wait to see the results of this. I’m nervously expecting a hatching under my Blue Marans this Friday, or tomorrow.

Oooh. How many eggs? please share photos!

I’ve found reading about and looking at photo of other people’s hatches to be quite therapeutic for my first time broody mama anxiety

 

[Cryss]

Oooh. How many eggs? please share photos!

I’ve found reading about and looking at photo of other people’s hatches to be quite therapeutic for my first time broody mama anxiety

That’s probably why I’m sitting here at midnight of day 18 reading tons of hatching threads
There are 14 eggs.. I candled (poorly) day 13. I saw 5 with movement, 2 very probably dead, 3 are Marans dark chocolate colored eggs that I can’t see through for love or money so I have no way to even guess, and the other 4 I’m unsure of just because I didn’t see much either way. So I’m leaving them all up to God and mama Doris.