JUNE - JULY HATCH-ALONG!!!!!!!

[LilyD]

Y’all. (And @LilyD fyi...) I just ordered a dozen eggs from Papa’s Poultry. All the project orpingtons omg theyre so pretty.

HE SENT ME 30.

Because “summer fertility can wane and summer shipping”.

I’m like a kid on Christmas seeing what variety I got.

Wow.

How many fit in a nurture right?

Wow that's awesome! Going to have to check them out even though they are far away that's a great deal.

 

[jolenesdad]

Welp. Just looked st the calendar and I’ll be hatching Aug 1! Oh well.

65 set! I’m not going to turn them (clearly) for three to four days. I’m thinking I can just ditch 9 eggs or hand turn a few once I check fertility.

 

[Cerise1924]

Oh no, oh no! I hadn't thought this would happen, because she's been such a great first time broody, but Lemondrop the Orpington is a murderous mama!

I put this question out on its own thread, but I thought I'd ask here, too:

Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.

Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.

Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Welp. Just looked st the calendar and I’ll be hatching Aug 1! Oh well.

65 set! I’m not going to turn them (clearly) for three to four days. I’m thinking I can just ditch 9 eggs or hand turn a few once I check fertility.

View attachment 1842129

LOL!!! Now that's a full incubator!!! Have you considered possibly taking a thick book and gently putting it under one side of the incubator and switching sides a few times a day? When my friend first got started that was her egg turning method of choice because she didn't have an auto turner...she said with quail she would just shift the incubator across the counter and they rolled. LOL! And here we are buying these fancy incubators with nice features and turners...

 

[LilyD]

Oh no, oh no! I hadn't thought this would happen, because she's been such a great first time broody, but Lemondrop the Orpington is a murderous mama!

I put this question out on its own thread, but I thought I'd ask here, too:

Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.

Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.

Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Personally I would take them from her and hatch them in the incubator. Usually I have found once they start doing that they are not safe to use as a broody hen. Sorry I hope your babies are okay.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Oh no, oh no! I hadn't thought this would happen, because she's been such a great first time broody, but Lemondrop the Orpington is a murderous mama!

I put this question out on its own thread, but I thought I'd ask here, too:

Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.

Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.

Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Oh my goodness! I'm so so sorry to hear this! Broody hens are so unpredictable when they're newbies! An incubator would probably be the easiest solution if you have one. If not, and you're able to hover over her and take the chicks as they hatch I would think that would be the next best thing unless for some reason she doesn't attack the others...I don't think I've ever heard of hens only attacking some chicks though. I think they're either jaded and think it's all about vacationing on a pile of eggs that nothing comes out of, or they're happy to see chicks. I don't think there is an in-between.
I'm assuming you've watched your broody hens with their chicks before and have seen that they do sometimes "help" their chicks while hatching and eat the shell? I wouldn't take any more chances than necessary if she was clearly attacking the chick and not just trying to get it out of the shell or pecking the chick to go back underneath her.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

If anyone here has ever used Manna Pro Gamebird/Showbird crumbles maybe you can help me out with an odd question in another thread? LOL

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...mebird-showbird-crumbles-smell-weird.1321729/

 

[Cerise1924]

Oh my goodness! I'm so so sorry to hear this! Broody hens are so unpredictable when they're newbies! An incubator would probably be the easiest solution if you have one. If not, and you're able to hover over her and take the chicks as they hatch I would think that would be the next best thing unless for some reason she doesn't attack the others...I don't think I've ever heard of hens only attacking some chicks though. I think they're either jaded and think it's all about vacationing on a pile of eggs that nothing comes out of, or they're happy to see chicks. I don't think there is an in-between.
I'm assuming you've watched your broody hens with their chicks before and have seen that they do sometimes "help" their chicks while hatching and eat the shell? I wouldn't take any more chances than necessary if she was clearly attacking the chick and not just trying to get it out of the shell or pecking the chick to go back underneath her.

Thank you so much, @CluckNDoodle for your fast and really thoughtful reply. It gives me more to think about!
Yes, this is a brand new broody. I do have incubators I can dust off and set up. I just wish so much that Lemon would raise the chicks and protect them and integrate them into the flock. It's good to know, though, that it's probably all or nothing, that she wouldn't just reject one chick and accept the others.

Since there was another Cream Legbar egg in that lot, it may also hatch today. I'll keep an eye on things and observe whether Lemondrop may just be managing or helping the chick, though it looked like a scary attack to me! I'm kind of a newbie with broodies, myself.

If she's not trying to kill it, and if I think they'll be safe, maybe I'll slip this first chick back in. But, if she's gone crazy and wants to murder them all, I'll either bring them all in one by one or get that incubator started up.

Thanks again.

 

[Cerise1924]

Personally I would take them from her and hatch them in the incubator. Usually I have found once they start doing that they are not safe to use as a broody hen. Sorry I hope your babies are okay.

Okay, I had better find that incubator and thermometer and all that and see what I can do.

Thanks. I really appreciate the prompt help. I want these babies to survive and thrive!

 

[jolenesdad]

Oh no, oh no! I hadn't thought this would happen, because she's been such a great first time broody, but Lemondrop the Orpington is a murderous mama!

I put this question out on its own thread, but I thought I'd ask here, too:

Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.

Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.

Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Regardless what you decide to do, and it's all really a gut decision here (sorry, no help!), set up that incubator! Better to be safe than sorry, and you may want it if there’s an emergency and they aren’t ready for a brooder.....

After my last duck hatch I’ll never not have a separate incubator going during hatches.