My partridge silkie, Mumu went broody just before we moved into the new house, and she stubbornly refused to break...well, I needed a Blue or Splash Orp for my Blue Australorp breeding project, so I ordered some eggs from TuffOldHen and put them under her.
She was just hatched this Spring, so she's young and inexperienced and I had no idea if it would work or not, but she seemed determined to sit so I figured I'd let her try.
Well, on 12/7, the day my hubby and I left for our cruise, she hatched out 4 perfect little baby orpingtons!
I got two that are black, one blue, and one that is really pale that I guess will turn out to be splash.
And Mumu is being the BEST mommy ever. My parents took care of our animals while I was gone and they say that Mumu has been extra protective and has had them out in their special pen teaching them what to eat and all the other stuff chicken mommies are supposed to do.
These 4 were out of a total of 8 eggs. I had one that was unfertilized when I opened it, one that was scrambled by the PO, one that quit early, and one that made it all the way to hatch day and even broke the shell to stick it's whole beak out before dying. No idea what happened there, he was just dead like that when I found him. He had a lot of foamy yellow stuff that came out of his mouth when I opened the egg, so I did wonder if maybe he inhaled a bunch of gunk from the egg and sort of drowned during the hatching process? His yolk was not absorbed and there were still veins in the egg, but otherwise he was perfectly formed and should have hatched okay.
But, I figure that is the way nature works sometimes, and I still got 4 beautiful, healthy fuzzbutts. Only problem is that I need ROOSTERS this time instead of what I usually hope for (HENS) which means these will probably all turn out to be girls!
She was just hatched this Spring, so she's young and inexperienced and I had no idea if it would work or not, but she seemed determined to sit so I figured I'd let her try.
Well, on 12/7, the day my hubby and I left for our cruise, she hatched out 4 perfect little baby orpingtons!
I got two that are black, one blue, and one that is really pale that I guess will turn out to be splash.
And Mumu is being the BEST mommy ever. My parents took care of our animals while I was gone and they say that Mumu has been extra protective and has had them out in their special pen teaching them what to eat and all the other stuff chicken mommies are supposed to do.
These 4 were out of a total of 8 eggs. I had one that was unfertilized when I opened it, one that was scrambled by the PO, one that quit early, and one that made it all the way to hatch day and even broke the shell to stick it's whole beak out before dying. No idea what happened there, he was just dead like that when I found him. He had a lot of foamy yellow stuff that came out of his mouth when I opened the egg, so I did wonder if maybe he inhaled a bunch of gunk from the egg and sort of drowned during the hatching process? His yolk was not absorbed and there were still veins in the egg, but otherwise he was perfectly formed and should have hatched okay.
But, I figure that is the way nature works sometimes, and I still got 4 beautiful, healthy fuzzbutts. Only problem is that I need ROOSTERS this time instead of what I usually hope for (HENS) which means these will probably all turn out to be girls!
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