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]

And the winner is number 5!

 

[yakitori]

Egg number 6 wrong end pipper hatched! I *knew* sleeping was the right choice

Egg number 1 also hatched.

And hello world from Egg #3
(previously chilled egg)


4/6

2 more to go....?
(hopeful)

 

[yakitori]

Awww! So cute. Do you know the breed of the chick? It is very cute. Hope you get all or mostly pullets.

they should all be delawares, but there may or may not be a SLWxDelaware in there I hope I get pullets too!

 

[yakitori]

And number 4 is out! The one that was left cold on June 1st

Just number 2 now...

 

[yakitori]

They are such curious little fluffs. Everytime I peek in the cage (i kept it dark for momma to concentrate on that last egg), they come out from under mama to say hi and be picked up

First taste of crumbles!

 

[yakitori]

Day 22

Sooooo...

Since the hatching is over and all...

I want to thank everyone who joined me in my first hatching adventure!

I’m really grateful for all the support as I honestly expected to be talking to myself this whole time

Paint turned out to be a great broody, and it seems like she will be a great mother too. It’s been such a fun ride that I’m already looking forward to her next hatch!

 

[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]

Day 13

I find myself having to continually find new ways to get nutrition into this bird...Today’s menu is pressure cooked grains mixed with home milled rice and 30% game bird starter. She ate well...hopefully she won’t change her mind tomorrow since there’s a lot left.



I think we’ve established a new routine. When’s she’s ready to go back after her outing, she will start to look around anxiously. That’s my cue to crouch and let her jump on my arm and transport her back to her nest.

so...How did the chicken cross the road? She made her human slave chauffeur her over.

Well, today she wanted to return a lot earlier than usual. since I hadn’t done the daily candling yet, I put her down and took the nesting box out to candle the eggs.

Poor momma walked into her usual cage to find it quite empty and anxiously paced around wondering where her eggs went. I told her that I’d give them back her right away, but i don’t think she understood me. Eventually she resigned to sitting on the cage floor as if expecting her eggs to materialize magically. Of course, when she wanted to tuck the eggs in, there were none under her, and so she shuffled around in a circle trying to find them.

I felt so bad, but at the same time, it was awfully cute to watch.



I candled as fast as I could, then set the box on the ground, intending to move Paint out of the cage so I can get the box in. But before I could do so, she caught glimpse of her precious eggs and LEPT from the cage onto the nest.

Good thing she’s quite light, because her landing was quite rough and I’m not a fan of balut...



In the end, all is well, and we have survived yet another day

 

[Lemon-Drop]

let me guess.... silkie?

Yep, she’s a silkie! She was brooding on a rock in two of the photos, the other one is just her being a chicken when it was snowing. (She’s usually pretty dirty, so that’s why she has a brown tinge, but she is mostly white with a small splash of black/grey here and there)