1 of my old english game bantams is kinda broody well every time i go out there to feed them shes sitting on the eggs so i get a towel put it over her pick her up and put her in the run and i have to do that every day lol
even when i take the eggs away she gose back in and sits in the nest box id love her to hatch and be a mom but i aint allowed
Today Mrs. Fluffy Puffy went broody and is setting on her egg and Dawns, one of my mixed standard hens that lives in the Green Hutch w/ Mrs. Fluffy Puffy and my Quad of Seramas.
Twenty-one days ago today I put 13 eggs in my brand new Hovabator -- 8 BC Marans, and the rest Orps, black, blue & lavendar. So far, I've hatched 2 Marans, a day early! I noticed pips the evening of the 23rd (Day 21 was today, the 25th of May), and by the time I got home from work yesterday, I had two chicks! They were so tiny, but already had their wee feathered feet. One has lovely big eyes encircled by yellow -- that was the first pip. Number two is a tiny bit smaller and mostly black, much plainer. They were very vociferous! I moved them over to my brooder -- an aquarium with a plastic pad under it that was made for putting under pots to sprout seeds planted in them, and a small light used for basking turtles. I checked temp and it is just at 100 directly under the light. They can move down to the other end if they want to chill.
Already I have noticed that they prefer to "find" food scattered around the floor rather than in the wee bowl. They want to forage! And the smaller one blew me away by snatching a gnat that stayed into the brooder thru the screened lid -- snatched him right out of the air when she was just a couple of hours out of the egg! She knocked me out!
I say, 'she' but who knows?
I raised five week-old Welsummers from Whitmore Farm a couple years back so little ones are not entirely new to me, but what a difference that week makes! These two were eating within a few hours of hatching -- I moved them to the brooder as soon as they were dry. So, although chicks can survive a trip of 3 days without food and water, I am going to observe that it does not mean they are not hungry during that time. I have only seen one of them take a sip of water, though I have dipped their beaks 3 times to make sure they know where to look.
Now, I just hope the other eggs do something!
I see advice to wait until day 24 to givve up the ghost, so that's the plan.
I am SO grateful to have this forum to turn to for stories, advice, etc.
I'm sorry, Daniel. Sometimes we want to curse Darwin, but it sounds like your girl maybe had a malabsorbtion problem. That doesn;t make it any easier. It's the least among them that tug most on our hearts.
