Letting My Khaki Campbell Hatch Chicks!

[saving grace]

Hello! I thought it would be fun to start a thread showing my experience with letting my Khaki Campbell hen, Rosie, hatch some Easter Egger eggs.

She's been showing signs of broodiness for over a week now, but a few days ago started staying on the nest full time. Yesterday I put 11 EE eggs under her and so far so good! Here's a picture of her.

She seems very dedicated, but I have heard stories of people saying Khaki Campbells aren't unknown to just stop brooding before the eggs hatch. I've also heard people say that once the eggs  do hatch that they are very poor mothers. Well, I guess we shall find out in this thread.

I do have a broody EE sitting on some eggs as well, so if Rosie isn't a good mother I'm guessing my EE will take the chicks (I set them only one day before, so they're almost the same age.) And if my EE doesn't take them I can always put them in a brooder. My plan is to sell most of the chicks anyway.

So that is my tentative plan. I'll keep this thread updated, and hopefully all goes well.

 

[SilverBirds]

Following

Will you be keeping the babies with Rosie or taking them away?

 

[saving grace]

Following

Will you be keeping the babies with Rosie or taking them away?

If she takes care of them I'll for sure let her keep them! I'll probably sell all but one or two so she won't freak out.

 

[saving grace]

Silly, silly me didn't partition Rosie off from the chickens. I just checked on her and some of the eggs were broken and there is egg yolk and straw over all the eggs. Maybe Rosie broke them herself, but I'm guessing a chicken got in there and made the mess when she was taking a bath. Very frustrated with myself for not taking more precautions.

Seeing as the eggs are so dirty I'm thinking I should maybe start all over again and move her tonight to where she can't be disturbed. It just seems such a same to waste those eggs. I've heard some people wash their dirtied eggs with no problem, so maybe I should try that. There's no certainty she'll accept the eggs if I move her, though.

Edit: After taking a closer look at the eggs, they are very, very dirty. I may as well just start over since they're only a few days old anyway. So, I just need to figure out where to put her where the chickens can't get to the nest... Well, I'll update if I figure anything out.

 

[saving grace]

Hm, I took out the soiled eggs and checked if they were even fertilized. Only 2 of 10 were. I wonder if she took too long of breaks off the nest and they got cold. Makes me feel a bit better about throwing them out.

 

[saving grace]

Removing the eggs from under her and replacing them with golf balls apparently did not sit well with Rosie. She got up almost immediately and hasn't shown any more signs of being broody. It seems odd that her broodiness broke so quickly.

Anyway, I guess the people who were saying Khakis are finicky mothers were correct.

 

[CoMtns]

Removing the eggs from under her and replacing them with golf balls apparently did not sit well with Rosie. She got up almost immediately and hasn't shown any more signs of being broody. It seems odd that her broodiness broke so quickly.

Anyway, I guess the people who were saying Khakis are finicky mothers were correct.

My Khaki Campbell Soup has gone broody. She'll sit in the coop and hiss at anyone who comes and pokes their head in the doorway. We don't have any drakes, but bless her she's giving it the ole college try.

 

[saving grace]

My Khaki Campbell Soup has gone broody. She'll sit in the coop and hiss at anyone who comes and pokes their head in the doorway. We don't have any drakes, but bless her she's giving it the ole college try.

Sounds familiar. Are you going to let her sit on eggs or anything?

Rosie still hasn't started laying again after her moody broody behaviour. Hopefully she'll start again soon. I miss those duck eggs.

 

[CoMtns]

No. None of them will hatch. We might buy some fake eggs for her though.