Messing w/ Hen Nesting

[centrarchid]

Clutch about 2/3's set so Edgar will be pulled. Hen will be exposed to him at end each day through onset of broodiness, otherwise he will be contained in a cock pen a few feet away.

 

[centrarchid]

Notice eggs moved about between images. Hen does all that.

 

[aart]

Clutch about 2/3's set so Edgar will be pulled. Hen will be exposed to him at end each day through onset of broodiness, otherwise he will be contained in a cock pen a few feet away.

So they spend the nights together but not the days....why??

 

[centrarchid]

To date they have been together almost 24 / 7. I want to reduce that time together so hen less stressed at start of incubation. I can have a single hen successfully hatch chicks in a 4' x 5' pen with a rooster with her although hatch rate higher if no rooster present in such tight quarters during incubation. Memory got jogged on that with effort to set stage for another broody rooster in another pen. Eggs tend to break oddly when rooster in close confines with broody hen even though I do not see him tread hen.

 

[centrarchid]

I also have lots of pens lacking birds.

 

[centrarchid]

Egg 8.

 

[centrarchid]

Egg 9.

Edgar pulled as hen should have enough sperm in reproductive tract to fertilize through setting of clutch.

 

[centrarchid]

We are getting a major storm event now. Sent family to safe room. When storm passes will check on damage. Clutches of eggs without a hen on them in particularly dire straights. I am going to need a better way to protect nest outside the barn.

 

[centrarchid]

Egg ten.

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[Wyorp Rock]

Egg ten.View attachment 1047071t

I LIKE this because the photo is lovely