how many eggs for banty cochin

[v.cyr]

about how many med-large size eggs can a banty cochin reliably incubate... I understand that it probably will vary from bird to bird, so I am just looking for an average #... we just let our little fluffball sit on 3 eggs(2 hatched), and she is being such a good mamma, we are thinking about letting her hatch some more for us later this year...

 

[bobbieschicks]

Perfect timing on this question - I just read about this very subject in "The Joy of Keeping Chickens" by Jennifer Megyesi - she suggests on page 44, "a Cochin bantam may only be able to incubate three large-breed eggs or five to seven bantam eggs."

Hope this helps

 

[v.cyr]

thanks...so if we want larger clutches, we probably need to wait for one of our brahmas to go broody for us then..... on a similar note, how many chicks would it be safe to let our cochin "adopt" if we end up buying chicks this year... same as she could hatch, or could we give her 1-2 more...

 

[bobbieschicks]

I think it mainly has to do with how many she can protect from predators and keep warm. If she's separated from the rest of the flock in a secure environment - she's probably able to have at least the number she would have collected to lay. That book refers to I think 10 eggs before the hen normally would start to brood them. So maybe at least 10 chicks? Hopefully someone with experience doing it will chime in