Hatching with 2 broodies

[tommysgirl]

Got started on a new coop for our third pen today. It is small but will accomodate 4-6 full size but oodles of babies. I plan to use it in our newest pen for babies, broodies, sick bay etc. Right now it is the flyers overflow pen. ALL of my 2013 girls are flyers and will fly out of my HUGE uncovered pen so for their own safety I keep them in my covered runs. Hopefully by March my big pen will be covered. Pics to come

 

[Teila]

 

[tommysgirl]

It has an 18 in area underneath. The interior is roughly 3 x 2,,,the high side is where the roosts will go and it is about 3.5 feet tall on the short side I will have two nest/broody boxes. Trying to figure how to make them easily isolated from one another to prevent egg stealing and co nesting




I have been doing all the cutting and screwing. Tom has been the instructor/engineer. We have never done a project like this together but he agreed to teach me and now I feel like I can actually and confidently do things like this. It might take us another two weekends to finish. It is raining so I covered up my Vari Kennel with a tarp and the three girls in there (Norma has given up again) are just going to have to wait for their luxe digs a little while longer. The other good part of this is that now I have a nifty sick bay/broody box in the vari kennel should I need to use it.

 

[lizgarf]

It has an 18 in area underneath. The interior is roughly 3 x 2,,,the high side is where the roosts will go and it is about 3.5 feet tall on the short side I will have two nest/broody boxes. Trying to figure how to make them easily isolated from one another to prevent egg stealing and co nesting




I have been doing all the cutting and screwing. Tom has been the instructor/engineer. We have never done a project like this together but he agreed to teach me and now I feel like I can actually and confidently do things like this. It might take us another two weekends to finish. It is raining so I covered up my Vari Kennel with a tarp and the three girls in there (Norma has given up again) are just going to have to wait for their luxe digs a little while longer. The other good part of this is that now I have a nifty sick bay/broody box in the vari kennel should I need to use it.

Yay, nice work! That's great that he's showing you how to do it and you're becoming confident about your building skills. Being able to make your own things is so liberating! (even if it's more fun in pairs)

Is that really big enough for 4-6 birds, though? I can see it being great for a couple broodies, but I would think more birds would get antsy unless they had a big run for most of the day.

Oh my goodness, what is Rousseau hollering about right now?? She's been going on and on at full volume. I'm wondering if I need more nest boxes, now that more of them are laying again. I have the back up cat carrier, but no one is interested in it at the moment.

So happy abut the rain today!!!!!!!

 

[texgardengal]

I'm so impressed with your building!! My hubby is pretty handy but he always does things before I get out there so I can't screw them up...or try to tell him how to do it better. Haha. Very nice I plan on being a copy cat if you don't mind...lol.

 

[riseupsunshine]

I am devastated. This morning I took my broody hen off her eggs to do her business and get replenished and noticed 2 hrs later she went in the nesting boxes and laid on a new egg another one of the hens laid today.

. I am thinking her egg got too cold and is due to hatch on the 5th.

 

[lizgarf]

I am devastated. This morning I took my broody hen off her eggs to do her business and get replenished and noticed 2 hrs later she went in the nesting boxes and laid on a new egg another one of the hens laid today.

. I am thinking her egg got too cold and is due to hatch on the 5th.

From what I read while my hens were broody, 2 hours isn't dangerously long to be off the eggs. If the eggs were viable in the first place, they should still be viable. It also seems that she could have chosen other eggs if she knew those eggs were no longer viable for some reason. In any cases, broody hatches seem risky to undertake in very cold climates. While 2 hours is probably not long enough to kill those eggs, it would be harder for the broody to keep them warm enough the whole time.

So, all of that is to say, don't be devastated yet! There is plenty more that could have or could still go wrong for the hatch! I never realized how far the odds were against chickens until I started this process!

 

[tommysgirl]

@lizgarf and @texgardengal Thanks...It is fun but surprisingly exhausting. That doesn't look like I did much but that is several hours of work. I am fit but last night I was ready for bed by 8:30 Liz the pen is 9 x 10 and my coops are really only used for laying and sleeping. Also my birds are able to free range all day for more than half the year and from about 4:00 on when no one is home during the earlier hours. It could be a breeding pen with my NH roo, two NH girls and 1 or two Del girls. But more likely it will be for groups of babies or broodies. Thanks for sharing your worries about space. I appreciate it.

@riseupsunshine don't despair. Hens get confused. As long as you got the eggs back under her within 2 or so hours all should be well. You should however let her get herself off the nest to eat drink and poop and not be controlling that yourself. I may be wrong and if so I am sorry but in your post it sounded like you were interfering with that and really you should be leaving that to her. One of the beauties of leaving the hatch and the broody is that you can do give over the control so my only advice at this point would be to leave her to take care of business and hope it all turns out. My husband pointed out to me that when I hatched in a bator I was mama and I was "nature" this made me a crazy obsessed woman. Leaving it all to the broody hen is a blessing because it relieves you of the responsibility.

Best of Luck! Tomorrow I will candle the eggs under my aunt's broody... exciting stuff!

 

[lizgarf]

Ah, TG, that sounds like a fabulous set-up for them, then. Sorry to have even questioned it! I do see coops being advertised for city slickers that are about that size and without much of a run and it seems like it would be really hard on the hens. But, of course, you know better. And yes, I can tell that was a lot of work! So much precision involved in building a stand-alone structure!

 

[Teila]

G'Day Team Broody!

Wow, that is one Work-Monday I am happy to see the back of! I enjoy being busy but also need time to work on things. I very rarely crack but today I had to point out that while I will get it all done, I can't get it all done at exactly the same time! I am still trying to prioritize URGENT, Urgent and Very Urgent .. lol

TG .. excellent handiwork! Coming along nicely!
I agree with Liz, making your own things is very rewarding. I have learnt that invariably anything you buy ready-made for chickens will need some adjustment to suit so doing it yourself from scratch is probably the best move. I dabble in the smaller things but have to admit that hubby usually ends up 'finishing off' those bigger projects. I think he figures doing it himself is less strenuous than all the eye rolling and at times, laughing

riseupsunshine .. I only have what I have read to go on but I agree with Liz and TG that hanging in there is probably still a good option. I have read of eggs left longer than two hours and still hatching. Granted I do not know what the temperatures were like at the time.

I also agree with TG that "Leaving it all to the broody hen is a blessing because it relieves you of the responsibility." but also have to add that each broody hen has it's own chickenality; if I left Cilla to her own devices I truly believe she would waste away on the nest.

While I have a no-touch policy on the eggs themselves, the last hatch and this one I religiously make sure Cilla has a stretch, a drink and something to eat in the morning and before dark. She is so focused on her task and totally trances while on the nest. Agreed she probably would eventually take a break of her own accord, but I believe she would not do so often enough and risk her own health. She only leaves them for 10mins or so and then back she goes.

Liz, woo hoo on getting some rain!
Rousseau is such a character, I have a quiet little chuckle at her ability to let absolutely everyone know she is up to something
How goes the Determined-Desi-Dilemma?

Hoping you have good news on your candling TG; it is exciting!

To finish, all good here. Cilla appears to be managing her 9 eggs quite well and Dusty is embracing being the stand in matriarch. Poor deluded Suzi ended her free range early so that she could get what she thinks is the best spot in the Ranch, sadly her win will be short lived when Dusty boots her out! lol