Last hatch of the year (take 2)

[LaurenRitz]

I have chicks in the brooder, so of course my lovely lady goes broody. And of course (I already have enough chicks for my current bloodlines) the man selling hatching eggs sells them by the dozen.

I gave her the smallest six, plus left her one of her own, and the other six are in the incubator.

I should probably pull her egg, since it's barely possible that she's been sitting on it for two days.

 

[Debbie292d]

You go, Lauren.

I said "Last hatch" three times now. I've got 14 in the incubator on Day 5. This IS the last hatch...until January.

 

[LaurenRitz]

She always broods in fall or winter so I knew it was coming.

It is an addiction.

I have 8 in the brooder that are almost a week, then 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 22 weeks. Plus the adults, of course. I much prefer it when Mama can raise them.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have two in the brooder in the house just a week old. Their four siblings are with two mommas in the breeding pen. One whose egg fell 2.5 feet the day before it was to hatch out there, is having issues. It didn't break, so I hatched it in the incubator. It's bloating badly and gets pasty butt about once a day. A bit of molasses a few times a day isn't working. Probiotics didn't either. I suppose the fall scrambled its guts up a bit. Maybe it'll grow out of it, if it makes it through that.
The other one is in here just to keep her company.

2 month olds are the next up and they're out in a temp pen and been free-ranging for two days.

Yes, very addicting though!

 

[LaurenRitz]

I am seriously laughing right now. The senior hen in coop 2... is broody.

First night in the nest, so we'll see if she sticks, but I am trying to decide whether to put the incubator eggs out there, or let her sit on a fake egg and see if she accepts chicks a week early.

My experience has been that they sometimes will. I've grafted chicks onto a broody after as little as a week.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Lockdown, in a sense. Both Mamas are doing great. Hatch day will be 2 weeks for Mamatoo, so I'm going to be hovering to see how it goes.

I've cut short the broody period before (for the hen, not the eggs) and it worked, but that was with an experienced broody.

I know that Mamatoo's eggs were developing before I gave them to her. She lost one contesting nest space with another hen and currently has 4.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Mamatoo is talking to her babies!