Hatching with 2 broodies

[ItalyChickie]

On the chicken count topic:

I have 5 bantams .. none sitting on eggs and as it happens, none laying eggs either! Lol
Using TG’s chicken math, I only have 2.5 chickens!

I would like to start a new topic:

What other critters do you have at your place?

I will kick off with mine .....
I have two beautiful house cats. A 5 year old black male, Syba and a 3 year old black and white female, Chimee and
7 or so goldfish in the outside ponds.

PS. No tadpoles anymore ... the cold snap killed them!

Teila, I believe that tommysgirl said half chickens are not allowed, which means you (and me, and Marie) need one more bantam to get a whole number.

I have 1 16-year-old cat (who thinks he is 6 months and runs and jumps and plays like a kitten) and three very big dogs.. let me see if I can find a picture of those with me for size comparison... here's me with two of them, should give you an idea:

ItalyChickie,
I like your plan, sounds like it will work like a charm. So smart....
Friday is the day huh?
Are we going to get lots of pix?
Marie

YES definitely lots of pix! I'm so excited I'm about to start taking pics of eggs, though I doubt it would be very entertaining.
I do hope the plan works... you just never can know with those chickens... I think I'm the one making plans, but usually it's probably them tricking me into making the plans that suit them.

Do I have 11 and a half then Tommysgirl?
Oh my goodness, I think I need more chickens

Yep, that was my conclusion at 12.5 too... don't forget to add an odd number of bantams to make a whole number!

Hello all

Have been lurking in the background stocking your posts and so excited to see that there are a whole new slew of eggs starting to warm up and there will be more babies running about soon! Can't wait to see pics.

So here's the update on my little clan, I finally broke down and removed the barrier between momma and her littles and the rest of the flock ( I guess I'm like a momma bear, don't mess with my babies!!! Lol) and to my surprise the others were more interested in checking out what the little ones are getting for breakfast so needless to say everyone is getting along great momma lays down the ground rules every now and then but not a real issue.

That's great! I've been slowly introducing mine... supervised for the moment, but mainly because of the two new bantam Brahma girls that were added about a month ago and are still very skittish... basically, I'm not afraid for the chicks, I'm afraid for the poor new girls getting beat up by the moms! (which incidentally is the very first thing that happened as soon as I let them mingle)

But yes, the rest of the flock takes more interest in their food... lol!

Tommysgirl,



When I first signed up for BYC I had only four Yorke's, hence 16 paws. Then Abby got killed by 2 rattlesnakes hiding in our dog run. We tried to save her and got her to the hospital fast but after 2 anti-venoms her heart stopped in the middle of the night.

After that I had the opportunity to adopt 3 more Yorkie's from a terrible, abusive home that had 18 dogs.

I need to change my name to 24 paws!

Marie

Your pups are adorable! So sorry to hear you lost one... always sad, but especially when you think you might have saved her... glad you saved those other 3 though! I only ever planned to have one dog, but then found an abandoned one who had just given birth to puppies while walking with my then-only-dog... long story short, ended up adopting mom and one pup because nobody else wanted them and I had grown attached.

I found a woman who is willing to sell me hatching eggs...Blue Black Splash Ameraucana AND Sumatra/Game mixes and I think Tom is OK with it. I told him I wanted to and he just sort of looked sideways at me. He misses our old rooster too and since I have found homes for all of the chicks that we have hatched so far I think he is OK with the hatching since it doesn't mean we keep them all. Now to get the eggs here without sending them through the PO...hmmm

It is still in the talking stages but I think it is going to work out!

YAY! We're going to have another hatch-along! And can't wait to see baby ameraucanas. (I want those too! Ameraucanas are very high on my must-have list... sooner or later I'll find the eggs. )

Hey that sounds like a pretty good idea so you are going to let her hatch her eggs then once they hatch slip some of the bator chicks under her is that right or have I got it wrong Maybe you could put the eggs from the bator under her at day 19-20 then they would hatch under her but I honestly do not know do what you think is best and I hope it turns out good!
Ella

You got it right, that's the plan at least!! Whether some or all of the bator chicks will go to Bonnie depends on how many chicks hatch... I have 22 eggs so if all of them hatch, that would be too much for her to handle... but if only half do, they're all hers. I will attempt candling to try and figure this all out before the actual hatch, but so far, my candling attempts have been confusing (I tend to be afraid to take too long with it and can't really tell what I am seeing).

Hi everyone,
I have just spent three days reading through this thread and it's been emotional. You guys have been through lots of tears and happiness together!
I live in the UK and I have 8 chickens in my back garden- 2 pekin hens, 2 buff laced wyandotte hens, 2 silver spangled Hamburg hens, a lavender pekin cockerel and a random frizzle cockerel of unknown origin. About nine days ago, one of the pekins went broody and is sat on 12 eggs- some hers, some belonging to other chickens in the flock.
All seems to be well and she's not leaving the nest much, except about once a day (I know because I see the massive poo in the run). During the day I have taken to shutting her section of the hen house so the other chickens can't get in. This was mainly because the other chickens kept laying in her box (hence the 12 eggs). The other chickens have taken to laying eggs in all sorts of random places in the garden and even eating a few. I've tried to discourage this by placing rubber eggs in a nest box in their run and also filling a blown egg with mustard and chilli. For now it seems to have worked.....
I'm very nervous about this whole process and it's been a real help to read through all your experiences. Any advice you could give would be gratefully received- this is all new to me!
Thank you for reading,
Deb

Hi Deb, welcome to the thread!

I'm in Italy, so we're practically neighbors compare to the distances that separate us from US and Australia.

Your flock sounds very pretty!!!

I'm not an expert on anything as I keep saying, but will be happy to offer advice based on my experience... for the moment though, it seems like you're handling it perfectly well by yourself!

My chickens also lay where they decide to, not where I want them to... I just try to provide nest boxes for the areas they choose, and they usually switch from ground to nest box. As far as others laying eggs in the broody nest, if you mark the ones you want her to hatch, you can simply remove the extras daily. I often do that in the beginning, before I move a broody - though if you have her closed off, that isn't a problem.


Well, it's back to work for me, so that I can finish early and set the eggs this evening!!! I'll keep you all posted, obviously.

 

[Lesa Mae]

Hi everyone,
I have just spent three days reading through this thread and it's been emotional. You guys have been through lots of tears and happiness together!
I live in the UK and I have 8 chickens in my back garden- 2 pekin hens, 2 buff laced wyandotte hens, 2 silver spangled Hamburg hens, a lavender pekin cockerel and a random frizzle cockerel of unknown origin. About nine days ago, one of the pekins went broody and is sat on 12 eggs- some hers, some belonging to other chickens in the flock. 
All seems to be well and she's not leaving the nest much, except about once a day (I know because I see the massive poo in the run). During the day I have taken to shutting her section of the hen house so the other chickens can't get in. This was mainly because the other chickens kept laying in her box (hence the 12 eggs). The other chickens have taken to laying eggs in all sorts of random places in the garden and even eating a few. I've tried to discourage this by placing rubber eggs in a nest box in their run and also filling a blown egg with mustard and chilli. For now it seems to have worked.....
I'm very nervous about this whole process and it's been a real help to read through all your experiences. Any advice you could give would be gratefully received- this is all new to me!
Thank you for reading,
Deb

Welcome Deb,
As you can tell most of us here are new at this as well but it is very helpful to hear others thoughts and what did or did not work for them!! Feel free to throw any questions or concerns you have and I'm sure someone can give you great suggestions .

 

[DeborahOBE]

Hi chicken crazy999, yes the broody hen is the one in the picture. The bald spot is caused by overenthusiastic cockerel attention. They can be rough!
I think she started sitting on eggs on about 1st May- they have all come from the chickens in the flock so she just gathered them up herself. I know for the fact that she added to the number over a few days so I'm a bit worried that as soon as the first ones hatch she'll abandon the others. There might be up to a week between the first and last laid. I think the earliest possible date is 23rd May.
Your silkies are gorgeous! I wanted some silkies for our flock but the guy we bought our hens off had just sold all of his to another buyer. Maybe in the future..... Is your broody hen separated from your others?

 

[DeborahOBE]

And thank you for the welcome Lesa Mae and Italy Chickie . I'm definitely looking forward to throwing a whole load of questions at you. I didn't realise it could all be so stressful- even when I'm attempting to let nature take it's course!

 

[Lesa Mae]

...

And thank you for the welcome Lesa Mae and Italy Chickie . I'm definitely looking forward to throwing a whole load of questions at you. I didn't realise it could all be so stressful- even when I'm attempting to let nature take it's

And thank you for the welcome Lesa Mae and Italy Chickie . I'm definitely looking forward to throwing a whole load of questions at you. I didn't realise it could all be so stressful- even when I'm attempting to let nature take it's course!

Do you only have the one broody hen ??? I was lucky enough to have all 3 of my girls go broody at the same time therefore they all got to help out with the hatch because all the eggs ended up in one nest from all the girls so I had a spread of 8 days between the first and the last hatched

 

[MistyMountain]

This is their first time outside. They calmed down after a while, but I did have to sit with them for a bit. One of the little BO's kept sneaking through the fence!

Anna's colors are getting so pretty. Elsa is staying a pretty light lavenderish gray. Love it!

This should be the whole crew. Those little roosters are already growing big pink combs!!

Cielo. I can not wait to see what color he decides to be in the end!

Sally and Anna, with Elsa right behind and an unnamed welsummer. I have a feeling the welsummer I lost was the little Roo. The two remaining are feathering in identical.

There you have it! Growing fast! Roof is going up now on the mini coop. We hope to be done with everything by Monday as my hubby wants to start on the new barn roof then.

TG, did I hear you mention Silkied Ameraucanas? Like those purebred ones with no actual silkie influence? Those caught my eye when I first started with chickens. Love them, but I am afraid they would not hold up to my husbandry style and be predator targets. That and I would have to find someone who is NPIP to even think about hatching eggs. VA is strict.

 

[tommysgirl]

Hi everyone,
I have just spent three days reading through this thread and it's been emotional. You guys have been through lots of tears and happiness together!
I live in the UK and I have 8 chickens in my back garden- 2 pekin hens, 2 buff laced wyandotte hens, 2 silver spangled Hamburg hens, a lavender pekin cockerel and a random frizzle cockerel of unknown origin. About nine days ago, one of the pekins went broody and is sat on 12 eggs- some hers, some belonging to other chickens in the flock.
All seems to be well and she's not leaving the nest much, except about once a day (I know because I see the massive poo in the run). During the day I have taken to shutting her section of the hen house so the other chickens can't get in. This was mainly because the other chickens kept laying in her box (hence the 12 eggs). The other chickens have taken to laying eggs in all sorts of random places in the garden and even eating a few. I've tried to discourage this by placing rubber eggs in a nest box in their run and also filling a blown egg with mustard and chilli. For now it seems to have worked.....
I'm very nervous about this whole process and it's been a real help to read through all your experiences. Any advice you could give would be gratefully received- this is all new to me!
Thank you for reading,
Deb

Hi!!!

Welcome and all that. I think that what you will find is that every broody and every hatch is a little different and that you learn as you go. Here is what I learned...
First time around my girl went 5/5 all EE BOYS. I didn't do much in the way of interfering because she is one of my top girls so no one messed with her or her eggs. She kind of spoiled me for the second go round.

That time I gave her (same hen) mixed breed fertiles from my own girls as well as some rare breed shipped eggs and I still left her in her nest box with no modifications but she had a rowdy mixed breed hatch first followed by two of the 5 remaining eggs in the nest. The first hatcher was such a rabble rouser that she had to leave the nest to protect him from himself and the remaining 3 eggs did not hatch...Two had internal pips but they got cold I guess. Anyway this was my least hands on hatch and it had the worst results. 3/6 and again...ALL BOYS

This time I had two go broody together and a third who went during their last week setting. I let them be until the last week then I separated them...one into her own pen and the other into a small dog crate on the coop floor. Remembering the previous hatch I locked them in the small enclosures in hopes that it would keep mama on the nest for the duration. It worked. I had one not hatch out of 16 eggs. I also decided to give hens one or the other, not both.

I gave my most recent broody 9 eggs from the same hen. one wasn't fertile one died early and the other 7 are getting ready to pop out of their shells this weekend. I moved this girl out of the coop and into the feed shed on day 18 and will leave her alone as much as I can stand over the weekend...I think the one chick I lost last time didn't hatch because I picked it up to look at it 3-4 times on hatch day. She was with a same breed rooster and one other and because hybrid chicks hatch often more strongly than purebred chicks I am curious if her hybrid babies hatch stronger than the purebreds. By keeping her confined I think even if there is a difference it won't matter because she won't need to get up to look after a wild hybrid baby until they are all out of the shell.

This is their first time outside. They calmed down after a while, but I did have to sit with them for a bit. One of the little BO's kept sneaking through the fence!

Anna's colors are getting so pretty. Elsa is staying a pretty light lavenderish gray. Love it!

This should be the whole crew. Those little roosters are already growing big pink combs!!

Cielo. I can not wait to see what color he decides to be in the end!

Sally and Anna, with Elsa right behind and an unnamed welsummer. I have a feeling the welsummer I lost was the little Roo. The two remaining are feathering in identical.

There you have it! Growing fast! Roof is going up now on the mini coop. We hope to be done with everything by Monday as my hubby wants to start on the new barn roof then.

TG, did I hear you mention Silkied Ameraucanas? Like those purebred ones with no actual silkie influence? Those caught my eye when I first started with chickens. Love them, but I am afraid they would not hold up to my husbandry style and be predator targets. That and I would have to find someone who is NPIP to even think about hatching eggs. VA is strict.

Pretty Pretty babies!! I am hoping that your Welsummers are like Liz's Marans and that they still just look alike. I want you to have your Friday!

You ask really good questions...I have no idea. I assumed there was a silkie influence but now that you mention it that would be super hard to get and have the bird still look Ameraucana and lay blue eggs. So dang me if I know. I just hear BBS and Silkie and I go weak in the knees. I am going to go research now and see. She is charging and arm and a leg so I assume they are amazing...I probably shouldn't do that though.

 

[tommysgirl]

Teila, I believe that tommysgirl said half chickens are not allowed, which means you (and me, and Marie) need one more bantam to get a whole number.

Great Picture! I love big dogs...and yes! no 1/2 chickens

 

[MistyMountain]

TG-- https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/827543/silkied-ameraucana-project I used to follow this thread until I changed my mind about them… I just don't want to risk an expensive bird when there is always a chance of Mother Nature visiting to collect her tax. NO Silkie influence, all genetic stuff. I think they had a rough start but have strengthened their genes and stuff now.

 

[tommysgirl]

TG-- https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/827543/silkied-ameraucana-project I used to follow this thread until I changed my mind about them… I just don't want to risk an expensive bird when there is always a chance of Mother Nature visiting to collect her tax. NO Silkie influence, all genetic stuff. I think they had a rough start but have strengthened their genes and stuff now.

If the deal goes through I will be paying 65.00 for 6 eggs...it's a lot but when you consider that with shipping. I paid more than that for my first 8 girls it looks a little better...at least that is what I am tellling myself.

I spent a bit of time on that thread today thanks for the link. It is interesting and I plan to keep returning to it. Genetics makes my head hurt. I just like pretty.

Oh and Tom said to me last night "As long as they have enough room to be happy and comfortable I don't care how many chickens we have." He is the BEST!!!