June hatch-a-long!

[Natanya]

I've got my first broody ever- Saffron, my roomate's hen, has gone broody at 8mo old. I had three eggs of hers retained that we hadn't gotten around to eating yet, so I gave those to her, and-as an experiment-I snuck the two quail eggs we had on hand under her in plastic easter eggs weighted with sand to match the weight of a chicken egg.

I've seen a video from someone who did the same but cushioned the quail eggs with cotton instead of sand, and they successfully hatched some quail.

I only have two quail, one cock and one hen. I'm hoping for more hens for eggs and more cocks for the dinner plate. I wish I had more quail eggs to put under her from the start, but since the chicken eggs need more time to incubate I can slip more quail eggs under her as they're laid, marked to indicate which day they were set on.

If Saffron's eggs are fertile the father is Marcel, my blue Sumatra cockerel. I tried looking for pictures of orpingtonXsumatra crosses, but had no luck. As far as I can tell they're going to be blue or black birds with buff color leakage, white skin, pea combs, and a nondescript body type since the frame of the orpington and the sumatra are pretty opposite each other.

I haven't candled the eggs yet, I'm going to give them a couple days to develop so it's easier to distinguish what's going on inside.

Saffron

• Natanya
• Jun 1, 2018

Saffron's first day brooding 6/1/18

Spoiler: Father Rooster

Marcel and Saffron.

• Natanya
• Jun 1, 2018

Marcel flirting with Saffron. She's interested.

Saffron and Marcel

• Natanya
• Jun 1, 2018

Marcel flirting with Saffron. She's interested.

 

[MadChickenMama]

I tell you what, I'm about to start turning the eggs myself. The turner still works, but because the eggs are so small, they all end up on different sides. I have no idea if there are any that end up on the same side two nights in a row.

Also, since they're so small and the chicks are getting so big now I almost always have to open the incubator to pull an egg off the edge if the turner or turn an egg back around the right way.

And now I'm sitting here waiting for it to turn. It should have turned 10 minutes ago. I know it still turns, though, just haven't seen it do it in a while.

Edit: Dangit! I missed the turn! Lol. Had to go get my charger and when I got back I noticed an egg was on the edge of the turner so then I checked for a particular egg and saw it was shifted. So turn time seems to be about 10 after now. Wonder why it changed.

 

[chicken4prez]

My hen was off the eggs for about 3 hours today. The shed door closed and no one noticed. Will the eggs be okay?? I'm so worried.

It's 79F outside.

 

[Lifeiseasy]

I just did a mini candling with only two out of the eighteen eggs under my broody and both have veins! I’m going to have to see if I can hold off on candling for two days and do a mass candling on all of the eggs on Monday, day seven. Hopefully we get good results.

 

[HeritageHenNut]

Just did my second candling for the duck eggs & first for the chicken eggs I set.

25/27 duck eggs good. 2 clears
18/18 Silkie eggs going strong
11/14 Faverolles eggs good. 1 clear and 2 blood rings.

*does happy dance*

 

[KittyCat13]

My hen was off the eggs for about 3 hours today. The shed door closed and no one noticed. Will the eggs be okay?? I'm so worried.

It's 79F outside.

Fingers crossed they will be, I have a little ayam cemani who's egg was abandoned by the broody for a good few hours at day 17 or 18 and was freezing cold. I popped the egg in the incubator and she hatched fine.

Has the hen gone back to the nest?

 

[MadChickenMama]

One thing I've begun to notice in my eggs is that they are beginning to sit where it's obvious the bigger end is more up. It's partly because of the tray they're on, the eggs will find a little groove, but now all the eggs seem to find that groove.

First it was the two smallest eggs. Then it was all the small eggs I have in the center. Today I find that even the big eggs are doing it. I figure it means that the chicks are getting bigger and filling out that smaller end. Yay!

 

[ldawntaylor]

I do believe the change was successful. Now the waiting.

She has been refusing to leave the nest for any reason. She has only been on the eggs for about 12 days. So, every morning I take her off the nest for at least half an hour. Then I put her back close to the eggs. That is 6 eggs in that nest.

My Cornish Bantam has gone broody too. She has been really sweet in her behavior too. She has 2 eggs.

I also sucomed and put 7 more eggs in the incubator. So there is the possibility of 15 more chicks.

Time to get to building more "chicken panels"....

 

[chicken4prez]

She has been refusing to leave the nest for any reason. She has only been on the eggs for about 12 days. So, every morning I take her off the nest for at least half an hour. Then I put her back close to the eggs. That is 6 eggs in that nest.

My Cornish Bantam has gone broody too. She has been really sweet in her behavior too. She has 2 eggs.

I also sucomed and put 7 more eggs in the incubator. So there is the possibility of 15 more chicks.

Time to get to building more "chicken panels"....

My broody also refused to leave for the week of being broody but just a few days a days ago she started leaving on her own and coming back.

 

[chicken4prez]

Fingers crossed they will be, I have a little ayam cemani who's egg was abandoned by the broody for a good few hours at day 17 or 18 and was freezing cold. I popped the egg in the incubator and she hatched fine.

Has the hen gone back to the nest?

I candled two eggs last night (yes, she was freaking out when I found her. She went back to the nest when I opened the shed door.) and they were moving around like normal so I’m assuming the rest are okay too.

I’m not going to put anymore eggs under because it’s getting so full under there, poor girl.