MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

That looks exceptionally yummy!
Glad you got to relax a bit - I know the hatch is stressful at the moment.

Thank you for the polite kindness RC. Of all of us, I've had the most opportunity to form resilience with respect to failed hatches (assuming it does fail). I'll be fine. I had an utterly lovely dinner with friends and family last night with lots of laughter. Next weekend it'll be time with family at my cousin's big reveal of her kitchen renovation. I anticipate lots of oohs and aaahs, hugs, and loving camaraderie.

 

[Shadrach]

MJ. You may remember I had similar feeling about wanting Fat Bird to go broody and sit. She tried once at about 6 years old and I cant remember exactly what happened but she didn't hatch.
She tried again in my last year in Catalonia. She was laying a few eggs a year which were elongated with thin shells. She laid these in the house nestbox and did manage a few days sitting. I'm sure I wrote about it on BYC, probably on Bob's thread. It was pretty heartbreaking for me. Fat Bird broke every egg eventually coming and going from the nest box. Once all the eggs were broken she gave up being broody very quickly.
I didn't interfere. I hoped very much that she could produce even one little plump bird that would one day be Fat Bird number two.

She knew she should be the hen sitting for the tribe, especially after Ruffles's death. Fat Bird was usually the one who would drive younger tribe members off the nest if they looked like they were trying to sit. I am likely to encounter a similar problem with the field hens at some point and I can't let Fret sit due to her strained leg.

There isn't a right answer here and like myself with Fat Bird you've gone beyond just what a broody hen wants and what you want seems to have equal wieght in the matter now.

I never candle eggs. There isn't any point with broody hens. I've never had an egg explode under a broody hen and any that have been broken I've done a nest strip and clean up. I can't count the number of times I've read abput people candling eggs where they dropped one or two, transfered bacteria from the handling to the eggs, shocked the egg in the last few days, possibly turning the chick in the egg when it needed to be stationary.
Knowing whether an egg is fertile or not doesn't mean one knows it will hatch under a broody hen. If you recal when Fret first sat I imported some fertile CCL eggs. They were fertile but Fret left them at the nest when Dig and Mow had hatched.
The nest makes an enormous difference. If the nest is poor, there are lots of things that can make it so, then this affects the hatch rate and even the willingness for the hen to sit the full time. Nest visitors are always a problem be they other hens, roosters and/or pests.
You should know how keen I am to have hens hatch their eggs and you will also know that apart from making sure the hen gets off the nest to eat etc I let the hen have control and if she, or the eggs quit then I come behind and clean up.
Most people find it incredibly difficult not to try and help/influence a broody hen. I can't think of a single instances where I have interfered and made a positive difference.
Nobody can give you the right advice. This is between you and Mary.

 

[MaryJanet]

MJ. You may remember I had similar feeling about wanting Fat Bird to go broody and sit. She tried once at about 6 years old and I cant remember exactly what happened but she didn't hatch.
She tried again in my last year in Catalonia. She was laying a few eggs a year which were elongated with thin shells. She laid these in the house nestbox and did manage a few days sitting. I'm sure I wrote about it on BYC, probably on Bob's thread. It was pretty heartbreaking for me. Fat Bird broke every egg eventually coming and going from the nest box. Once all the eggs were broken she gave up being broody very quickly.
I didn't interfere. I hoped very much that she could produce even one little plump bird that would one day be Fat Bird number two.

She knew she should be the hen sitting for the tribe, especially after Ruffles's death. Fat Bird was usually the one who would drive younger tribe members off the nest if they looked like they were trying to sit. I am likely to encounter a similar problem with the field hens at some point and I can't let Fret sit due to her strained leg.

There isn't a right answer here and like myself with Fat Bird you've gone beyond just what a broody hen wants and what you want seems to have equal wieght in the matter now.

I never candle eggs. There isn't any point with broody hens. I've never had an egg explode under a broody hen and any that have been broken I've done a nest strip and clean up. I can't count the number of times I've read abput people candling eggs where they dropped one or two, transfered bacteria from the handling to the eggs, shocked the egg in the last few days, possibly turning the chick in the egg when it needed to be stationary.
Knowing whether an egg is fertile or not doesn't mean one knows it will hatch under a broody hen. If you recal when Fret first sat I imported some fertile CCL eggs. They were fertile but Fret left them at the nest when Dig and Mow had hatched.
The nest makes an enormous difference. If the nest is poor, there are lots of things that can make it so, then this affects the hatch rate and even the willingness for the hen to sit the full time. Nest visitors are always a problem be they other hens, roosters and/or pests.
You should know how keen I am to have hens hatch their eggs and you will also know that apart from making sure the hen gets off the nest to eat etc I let the hen have control and if she, or the eggs quit then I come behind and clean up.
Most people find it incredibly difficult not to try and help/influence a broody hen. I can't think of a single instances where I have interfered and made a positive difference.
Nobody can give you the right advice. This is between you and Mary.

Thanks mate, I do recall Fat Bird sitting. Those were good roosters too.

There's just no telling how a hatch will turn out, but I'm satisfied with my husbandry. There were only two ants the whole time, no other pests. No other chickens. The one thing I now consider to be a genuine error (and not an accident) was providing food beside Mary but that was so she could learn what it was and subsequently show her chicks, so it was a well-intentioned and considered error. I wasn't to know it would lead to a poopy nest (if indeed it did) and a broken Welsummer egg.

Ultimately it is between Mary and me, and I take that responsibility seriously. I hope I have enabled her rather than imposed upon her (within reason - I did have to clean out the poopy nest).

I may decide to offer her chicks. She may accept or reject them, according to her instinct. If it's a reject, it'll be over in minutes, so I don't think she will be excessively stressed. I may end up raising them. A little reminder to anyone who finds these words an invitation to educate me: I'm five days into reading up this topic. Not because I'm miserable, but because I'm prepared for all eventualities.

Ultimately, the person on the ground with eyes on the hen and her nest will always have a fuller set of data and thoughts than anyone reading posts in an online forum, no matter how detailed those posts are. In the same vein, we can't draw conclusions about someone's character from their online posts, which are always highly contextualised and frequently responsive reactive.

Still, I'll take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate the constructive and kindly tone of your post for which I'm genuinely grateful.

 

[ManueB]

Good to hear Edie's better and sorry if we have been heavy on unrequested advice.
I miss avocados. In Nice there was a tree in my tiny backyard. Sadly even though they grow very well on the coast, the ones you can buy always come from another continent.

 

[Perris]

sorry if we have been heavy on unrequested advice.

x2

 

[MaryJanet]

Good to hear Edie's better

She's taken up her former habit of taking huge jumps up to the roost, so it seems she's more energetic at least. I'll keep watching her.

and sorry if we have been heavy on unrequested advice.

It's all good but I think I've had enough advice for now.

I miss avocados. In Nice there was a tree in my tiny backyard. Sadly even though they grow very well on the coast, the ones you can buy always come from another continent.

Wow, that's an extremely long way! I'm pretty sure the ones I buy are from Queensland, which is also a long way but at least it's the same continent!

By the way, I am holding the thought that Mary could be the problem. But I don't feel like I need to seek the precise reason why any hatch fails, mainly because I think it's probably a range of interacting factors but also it's the outcome that matters most to me.

 

[MaryJanet]

x2

No worries. Most people get very enthusiastic about sharing advice when a hatch is underway

 

[BDutch]

No worries. Most people get very enthusiastic about sharing advice when a hatch is underway

Yeah. Thanks for letting us know you don’t need more of them.

Is Mary still sitting?

 

[MaryJanet]

Yeah. Thanks for letting us know you don’t need more of them.

It can get a little overwhelming

Is Mary still sitting?

Yes, but there's no sign of hatching.

 

[RoyalChick]

x2

X3
I would add that I think we were all well intentioned and at least on my part, it reflects that I am genuinely engaged with the process and wishing for the best for you and Mary.