yeye5
Songster
Forgot to ask in the prev post--how did you manage the staggered hatches or did your hen just do it naturally. It looks like I also will have 2 staggered hatches (2 different clutches) where Mima laid eggs on the sly into her daughters' clutches. (This is just the opposite from february when the pullets started laying into Mima;s clutch). I don't know how to discourage the behavior, or even if should should try to. I guess we'll see depending on the eggs that hatch. I can tell them apart bcs I marked on the eggs the date of lay, the coop they were layed in and even which nest. I mix my eggs tht I give a broody so everyone's eggs have a chance to hatch. I'll know the "extras" bcs they aren't marked.I agree. My incubators are on break right now as I have broodies up to my eyeballs. My Japanese hen has 10 babies, ranging from 4 days old to 11 days old. She is so good that I can give her babies spread that far apart and she makes sure each is getting the right help and attention. She's very protective of the babies when it comes to the other birds, but lets me come and sit in their midst and bring them food and water on a hot day while they are "free ranging" in the run with the rest of the flock. This is her 5th (I believe) batch of babies since she hatched her first babies almost exactly one year ago. She lives to be a mom and it shows.
My OEGB, on the other hand, is a different story. She's aggressive toward the Japanese hen's chicks, whereas the Japanese says the more the merrier, and she yells at the chickens and guineas but does not actual do much to protect the babies. She has two little babies that are 4 days old and I think that's about the most she can handle. I also have four more broodies sitting on eggs. Two are on guinea eggs, one is on two chicken eggs, and one is on a ceramic egg and I will give her a guinea or two once they start hatching, since they will likely be staggered. I don't know what to expect from these girls. They are biters when I collect the eggs from under them, whereas the Japanese and OEGB just yell at me. These are their first babies, and I'm a bit nervous about it. I hope I can figure out brooding spots for everyone. Right now the OEGB and Japanese are sharing a brooder with a divider, but they only use it to sleep in at night.
I am also wondering how this guinea will be, if she makes it back with any babies. The one that I let hatch and brood last year was a total headache. She lost all but one of her babies the second day. She took them out into the crops and they were attacked. She flew up in the tree a distance away and stayed there overnight, calling out periodically. I don't know if she was telling them to stay put or just trying to distract the predator. In the morning she went to look for them and only came back with one. I don't know if the predator (fox, probably) got the rest or if they died from the wet and cold. She was not that great at caring for the one that was left. She would leave it cold and getting rained on so she could chase away chickens that weren't even near her. I imagine this other girl is sitting on a large clutch, but she's pretty far away and I expect that she will lose some babies on her way back, unfortunately, unless dad goes to help her bring them back. But he hasn't even been checking on her, and she hasn't been coming back for food and water like the other one did. I wish I knew exactly where she was so I could check on her, but sometimes I think that makes it worse because if you bring a lot of scent around it can make the foxes and raccoons curious and they start scoping out the area.