July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[SnapdragonQ]

Freckles is trying to switch nests now!!! My dad said she was off them earlier tonight and they were cold so he moved her to the right nest again (she was in a different one with no eggs!) and just now when I went to check again, she was off them again and they were cold again!!! But she still seems serious about being broody so

I moved the eggs and her to a different nest box. Not her preferred one but totally new and fluffed up shavings so hopefully that convinces her to stay.

If she is still adamant about being on her preferred box in the morning, I may just move the eggs and let her stay there.

Or I will lock her in a crate with them but I’m going to fire up the incubator tonight too so that in the morning I can put them in if necessary. I candles and they all seem to be developing well so that’s good! Two or three seem to be a lot further along haha

I really do not want to have to brood chicks though so she better stay put!!!

She seems serious about being a mama still though so maybe I can incubate and then just give her the chicks?

But I don’t get why she wouldn’t move the eggs to her preferred nest???? Does she think she has too many or she’s just a little bit stupid and doesn’t really want to be a mom or??? Should I not have let her brood?

She was still sitting each time just.... on the wrong nest.

I usually block the addle brained hens into an area where they can only sit on their nest and eggs. I have had a few hens that were kicked off a nest when the top hen wanted to deposit the daily egg there and the much lower pecking order setting hen had to just move while waiting, then gets lost in a trance somewhere else, then, well.. you know..
By blocking them into their space, and anyone else out, it gives a better chance for the eggs.

Or just pull the darned things, give her dummy/infertile eggs, and then switch them out once the good eggs hatch.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Keep letting her brood. My current momma hen did the same. She kept moving around from nest to nest. I kept collecting and when chicks from my incubator hatched I gave em to her and she adopted them. Hopefully the same happens to you

I usually block the addle brained hens into an area where they can only sit on their nest and eggs. I have had a few hens that were kicked off a nest when the top hen wanted to deposit the daily egg there and the much lower pecking order setting hen had to just move while waiting, then gets lost in a trance somewhere else, then, well.. you know..
By blocking them into their space, and anyone else out, it gives a better chance for the eggs.

Or just pull the darned things, give her dummy/infertile eggs, and then switch them out once the good eggs hatch.

Thank you both!!! This is very helpful!!! I was thinking of blocking her into the nest box or maybe putting her in a dog crate or something inside the coop??? Or do you think I should just pull the eggs and incubate them myself then let her adopt the babies? I may see if I can move her first but I don’t want to break her so I don’t think she got kicked off because both times it was after dark, the other hens are all on the roosts already and he had just moved her like an hour before I did, but I think she just decided she liked the other best better but hopefully she stays put now haha if not I’ll have to figure something else out like you guys mentioned. I think I’ll try these ideas.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Thank you both!!! This is very helpful!!! I was thinking of blocking her into the nest box or maybe putting her in a dog crate or something inside the coop??? Or do you think I should just pull the eggs and incubate them myself then let her adopt the babies? I may see if I can move her first but I don’t want to break her so I don’t think she got kicked off because both times it was after dark, the other hens are all on the roosts already and he had just moved her like an hour before I did, but I think she just decided she liked the other best better but hopefully she stays put now haha if not I’ll have to figure something else out like you guys mentioned. I think I’ll try these ideas.

Not sure of your set up or how easy it would be to block her, but it sounds like pulling the developing eggs and giving her plain ones might work well. This way she can prove that she will stay where she needs to be without jeopardizing the good eggs if you are really set on them hatching. If she can prove her determination with plain eggs you might feel better giving her chicks when the time comes.

 

[hysop]

Thank you both!!! This is very helpful!!! I was thinking of blocking her into the nest box or maybe putting her in a dog crate or something inside the coop??? Or do you think I should just pull the eggs and incubate them myself then let her adopt the babies? I may see if I can move her first but I don’t want to break her so I don’t think she got kicked off because both times it was after dark, the other hens are all on the roosts already and he had just moved her like an hour before I did, but I think she just decided she liked the other best better but hopefully she stays put now haha if not I’ll have to figure something else out like you guys mentioned. I think I’ll try these ideas.

Not saying this is the best way but what has worked for me so far is giving her chicks that are still wet and newly hatched (under 8 hrs). I will see in 3 days if that will work again with the same hen. If not, I guess I’ll have to brood em myself. Hopefully not, I like the idea of her being the one dealing with the stress of keeping chicks fed and safe

 

[ShrekDawg]

Not sure of your set up or how easy it would be to block her, but it sounds like pulling the developing eggs and giving her plain ones might work well. This way she can prove that she will stay where she needs to be without jeopardizing the good eggs if you are really set on them hatching. If she can prove her determination with plain eggs you might feel better giving her chicks when the time comes.

Thank you!! These are all excellent points!! I think I could put something across the front to block them because we have studs in the middle box but idk. And I might be able to put a smaller crate in there. The one I have I think is too big. The coop is 4x8. The new coop we built (about 7.5x8) might be better for brooding because I could take a large corner or even like one whole wall and put her in there but it’s not quite finished yet and I think totally moving her like that would mess her up. I think I might try this chick thing. BUT!!! I just checked again and she seems to like the new box so

 

[ShrekDawg]

Not saying this is the best way but what has worked for me so far is giving her chicks that are still wet and newly hatched (under 8 hrs). I will see in 3 days if that will work again with the same hen. If not, I guess I’ll have to brood em myself. Hopefully not, I like the idea of her being the one dealing with the stress of keeping chicks fed and safe

Thank you!!! I think I might try this if necessary but so far she seems to like the new box I moved her to so but yes exactly!! I’m hoping she’s serious lol they seem to be developing well and still alive so

 

[kelseyk]

It ran me 20 more than the normal shipping from the sellers $14.99. It wasn’t tht bad. I had expected it to run up to 60 total

All the times I have put it into their online calculator it tells me it is $50+. So I am not sure I want to try Express. But at the same time, I really don't want to send them regular priority either.

 

[kelseyk]

I would sue the usps (okay, maybe not)

I would really like to complain. They don't have a section on the USPS site for complaining about distribution centers. So I guess I will have to call their customer service on Monday.

 

[kelseyk]

Sorry.

Don't hate all of us over here though. My really local people bite, but the eggs I got seemed average in terms of shook-ness. Nothing inside was broken and that seems to be rare.

I definitely don't hate all of you over there. I know there are a lot of good people! It is definitely an "a few bad apples" situation. And it is probably just a couple of distribution areas in the area that these packages are going through. It just really stinks because the majority of the hatching eggs on ebay come from that area and I have talked to all of the sellers that I received eggs from (good or bad) and there are so many great ebay sellers in that area! They are also getting the short end of the stick because so many people blame them for infertility and even crushed boxes and then give them negative reviews when it is actually the fault of usps.

 

[kelseyk]

Only 1 egg left to hatch from the set I am hatching for a friend. Out of my 5 (2 opal legbar and 3 blue birchen marans) I lost 1 opal legbar from pipping on the underside of the egg and suffocating. I decided where I only got 1 chick that I really wanted from that hatch and also have a whole other order of opal legbars on the way, that I would sell my 4 to her too. She got a gorgeous silver chick in her hatch (hers were blue silver birchen marans rather than plain blue birchen). I am jealous! I will take pics when I move it to the brooder tomorrow. I get to keep them until next week, so will enjoy the cuteness while I can.

Set 5 silkie eggs for lockdown in the hatcher for my daughter today. The one that looked about a week behind but was still moving on day 14 did finally give up so it got pulled today.

My son is getting frustrated as all the hatches for his chicken picks aren't turning out very well. His Gold Appenzellers are all super flighty so probably are not going to make very good chickens to show for 4-H. Out of 7 Goldneck d'Uccles, he had to that made it to lockdown and hatched....they are both cockerels. And it was his Bantam Assortment eggs that just got damaged by usps. I told him we will just keep trying. My daughter has been lucky as her last silkie hatch was 5 out of 6 and she ended up with 2 pullets and a cockerel for her Svart Honas. She is happy as a lark over hers.