- May 3, 2011
- 1
- 0
- 7
Hi everyone,
Please help! We put a clutch of 7 fertilized eggs under our broody Cochin and they began hatching today. I sat with my two little girls in the converted playhouse that we have set up to separate her from the flock and we listened to the tapping sounds from underneath her. Unwisely, oh, I am just so upset about this, we picked her up to check if they were coming out and when we put her down again, her foot broke one of the shells. We could see a little bit of a chick foot peeking out from underneath her and then after a minute or two... she ate the chick, including the shell!!! We did not see the chick move, maybe the foot coming down and the chick not being able to hatch itself out properly killed it? Maybe she knew it was dead and ate it to get it out of the way? We realized we had interfered too much, left her in the playhouse and now I'm at work and my girls are at school.
My concern is that maybe she doesn't know how to be a mama? This is her second time going broody, and she is so tight on that nest that she won't even eat or drink unless, as we have been doing, we take her out to the garden for 15-20 minutes every morning so she can get some nourishment and poop. The first 3 days on the clutch we didn't do this, she ended up with runny poop all over her backside in the nest! I took her out, bathed her, and she has been fine since then with our daily few minutes in the garden. But because she doesn't seem to know enough to get off the nest to even eat or drink, I question her suitability as a mama.
If I have unhatched eggs and/or evidence of more cannabilism when I get home, should I put the eggs under our brooding light? I have the big red light from when we first got our chickens as day olds, but no incubator.
Also, if this hasn't happened and we come home to chicks, should I take her out of the nesting box and put the hay on the floor, so the chicks don't fall out of the box? It is about 6 inches high and sitting on the hay covered floor...
All help is very much appreciated!!!!
Kathleen
2 Ameraucanas, 2 Cochins, new to all this
Please help! We put a clutch of 7 fertilized eggs under our broody Cochin and they began hatching today. I sat with my two little girls in the converted playhouse that we have set up to separate her from the flock and we listened to the tapping sounds from underneath her. Unwisely, oh, I am just so upset about this, we picked her up to check if they were coming out and when we put her down again, her foot broke one of the shells. We could see a little bit of a chick foot peeking out from underneath her and then after a minute or two... she ate the chick, including the shell!!! We did not see the chick move, maybe the foot coming down and the chick not being able to hatch itself out properly killed it? Maybe she knew it was dead and ate it to get it out of the way? We realized we had interfered too much, left her in the playhouse and now I'm at work and my girls are at school.
My concern is that maybe she doesn't know how to be a mama? This is her second time going broody, and she is so tight on that nest that she won't even eat or drink unless, as we have been doing, we take her out to the garden for 15-20 minutes every morning so she can get some nourishment and poop. The first 3 days on the clutch we didn't do this, she ended up with runny poop all over her backside in the nest! I took her out, bathed her, and she has been fine since then with our daily few minutes in the garden. But because she doesn't seem to know enough to get off the nest to even eat or drink, I question her suitability as a mama.
If I have unhatched eggs and/or evidence of more cannabilism when I get home, should I put the eggs under our brooding light? I have the big red light from when we first got our chickens as day olds, but no incubator.
Also, if this hasn't happened and we come home to chicks, should I take her out of the nesting box and put the hay on the floor, so the chicks don't fall out of the box? It is about 6 inches high and sitting on the hay covered floor...
All help is very much appreciated!!!!
Kathleen
2 Ameraucanas, 2 Cochins, new to all this