My Bantam Cochins went broody! Stealing each other's eggs, read!

[chicken_china_mom]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

Aw, the eggs are so cute!!! I would incubate the duck eggs, then if they're drakes ...

Eat them? I've never eaten duck, and I don't plan to start now, lol!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I didn't mean EAT them!!!! I guess you'd just have extra drakes! LOL Or you might have 2 females!!!

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Lol, ahh. My daughter swears that my neighbor's son said he would take a duck or two of we hatched them out, but they are "live off the land" kind of people and would most likely eat the ducks, so I don't think I want to go that route. Plus the boy would have to get the ok from his dad first! They eat everything over there, deer, oppossum, pheasant, quail, duck, rabbit, whatever they can catch.

Funny how drakes and roosters are the birds nobody ever wants. Yet we always seem to get more of them than anything!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I haven't had a male chick in FOREVER!!! My roosters don't produce male chicks, they all produce female chicks! And I kind of want a rooster now and then, but my roos just don't produce male off-spring!!! If the duck eggs were drakes, could you keep them? Or are you over-run with ducks already???? LOL!!

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Right now I have just a pair of ducks, Jesse (the drake), and Marion (the hen). I wasn't going to get more ducks until the Indiana Chickenstock in August when I was going to try to get some young Blue Swedish ducks from another BYC'er. And then I was going to try to get several hens, and maybe one drake incase I want some ducklings later. Too many drakes would tear my poor Marion apart, lol. She already acts like she's a fragile lady duck, even though she isn't.
Really? Your roos don't produce ANY roosters? Lucky you! Thus far, of all the hatching I've done, I've gotten ONE chick, and I lucked out that it was a hen, but I have literally dozens of eggs in the bators right now, and several dozen more coming that will go in when these clear out, and I am hoping and praying that for all the money I've spent, that SOMETHING hatches. I see dark masses in several of my Silkie eggs, and in a couple of my Sebright eggs. And I have a green egg that was a surprise to receive, and I was thrilled to get it, but it's too thick to see through with my candler. So I don't know if it's developing or not. I really hope it does as I'd LOVE to see what comes out. I have a dozen EE eggs on their way (should arrive tomorrow) and I am excited to set those in the bator, but I'm hoping my new egg turner for that bator gets here the same time so I can put it in there with the eggs. I am trying hard to improve my hatch rates. I still haven't set the eggs my girls laid in the bator because I'm hoping that turner will get here soon. I want to have a good chance of getting something to hatch so I can see what kinds of surprises I get. If my little black Silkie mix has laid any of those eggs, I could get Silkies Cochin crosses, and that would be SO cool. Fannie, my little Silkie cross is solid black, black skin, feathers, etc, and she has 5 toes, but very little leg feathering, and almost no tophat. Infact, what she has on top of her head is more like a little point, it's cute. She was my ugliest chick for a long time, but she grew up to be cute. And she has those melt your heart brown eyes that are typical of Silkies. I have no idea what she is crossed with as I got her at TSC last year during Chick Days along with my little Mille Fleur d'Uccle hen, my two Sexlink hens, and several other birds that I lost over this winter. They came from Mount Healthy so I don't know what she is crossed with. She is smaller than my Silkies and has always been a calm girl. My Mottled Cochin roo and my White roo really like her, if you get my meaning, lol. My little Dark Brahma roo tried to mount her the other day and I ended up laughing hard because not only did she knock him off, but she proceeded to flog him and chest butt him and then peck him until he ran and hid at the other end of the room from her. She was having NONE of that, lol. It was surprising to see her act like that since she is my calmest and quietest hen, next to my Mille Fleur. I should put a camera in there to see who really IS laying the eggs. I have eggs in 3 different colors, so I can't tell for sure who is, and isn't laying. I know the nice brown ones are coming from Pooty because I watched her lay one, but I think my Splash hens are laying eggs that are a deep creamy white color. But there is a 3rd color that is between the brown and the cream, and I don't know who is laying that. That's why I'd like to hatch them out and see! I got confirmation today that my turner was sent, so I hope it arrives tomorrow, Friday at the lastest. And I hope SOMETHING hatches! I'm putting a picture of my little Fannie May, as I call her. She is a little sweetie. Not really affectionate, but she is so gentle and calm, a real joy to have around:

See what I mean about the little point on top of her head? Isn't she adorable? Shoulda seen her as a teenager, she was so homely looking! Lol!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Wow, sounds like you have quite a few eggs coming in!

I have a security camera, but I haven't put it out in the coop yet .. I need to, though.

I used to have a pair of barred cochin bantams, but our cats we had KILLED them!

But, they're the cutest lil' chickens. Wish I had some more ...
AW! Fannie May is adorable!!!!!!

( Do you mind if I steal her? ) I'm just kidding ... Maybe!!!!
If you find her missing in the morning then you'll know!!!!
( KIDDING!! )

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

Wow, sounds like you have quite a few eggs coming in!

I have a security camera, but I haven't put it out in the coop yet .. I need to, though.

I used to have a pair of barred cochin bantams, but out cats we had then KILLED them!

But, they're the cutest lil' chickens. Wish I had some more ...
AW! Fannie May is adorable!!!!!!

( Do you mind if I steal her? ) I'm just kidding ... Maybe!!!!
If you find her missing in the morning then you'll know!!!!
( KIDDING!! )

She belongs to my 10 yr old who would hunt you down if you did, ha ha ha! I love my Barred hen Pooty. She is absolutely the sweetest thing ever. I was holding her the other day and promising her bike rides and walks around town this summer, lol. She coos and purrs like she is actually talking back when you talk to her. And everyone loves to hold her because she is such a doll. I will miss her terribly if anything ever happens to her. What birds do you raise now? I have several different breeds right now, soon to include more. For standards I have a Silver Cuckoo Maran roo in with 2 Amber Sexlink hens, one Black Australorp hen, 4 Silver Laced Wyandotte hens, and 2 hens that are some sort of Welsummer crosses, but were given to me as Araucaunas with the promise that they would lay blue eggs. Well, they don't, but they do lay nice big pink ones, so it's not too bad, and my daughter loves them, the stinkers that they are, so I'm not mad.

For Bantams I have Buff Orpingtons, Cochins in 5 different colors, however I only have roos in colors, I have White Silkies, and then I have my little Silkie mixed hen, my Mille Fleur hen, and a Dark Brahma roo. I'm trying to find homes still for two of the Buff Orp roos and for the Dark Brahma roo. No luck so far. I hope I can in the next few months though. I have WAY too many roos right now, and I know I'll have even more once these eggs start hatching!​

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Oh, well it was worth a try! LOL

I have Standard Buff Orpingtons, I used to have 50 of them ... but I only have like 30 now.

I have a few old bantams I got from Murry Mcmurry hatchery, thoses are 2 White Cochins, 1 dark brahma bantam hen, 1 light brahma bantam hen, 2 white japanese hens, 1 black tailed buff japanese hen, and 2 porcelain D'uccle hens, amd I can't think of anything else. Then I have 2 standard EE roosters, and 1 blue EE hen named Julia she started laying olive green eggs a few weeeks ago. And then I have 1 polish mutt roo I got from somebody as a chick, and I have 1 splash polish bantam hen. Then I have abunch of blue cochin bantam mixes and some Japanese bantam mixes. And that's about it! And hopefully, very soon I will have some button quail!

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I bought a pair of button quail last year at the chickenstock and I absolutely LOVE those birds! My daughter named them Henry and Ann after Henry the 8th and Ann Boelyn, and they are absolutely the cutest little things ever! I put them in with my elderly cockatiel Bailey. Bailey's mate Pooky died about 5 years ago and he's been kinda lonely ever since, so when I got to the chickenstock and someone came up from Kentucky with dozens of them, I thought it would be nice to get a pair or a trio to cheer Bailey up. I had my choice of so many different colors, and had to argue with my younger daughter for the better part of 3 hours over which ones to choose. She wanted the box that had 4 boys in it, because she was thinking more birds for the price is a good value. What I saw in my head was little quail cock fights cause there were no hens, lol. So finally my daughter chose a pair, probably the dullest colored pair Shelly was offering, lol, but they are still adorable. The little boy has a white face with a little dark band around his neck and is dark brown and gray in color. The little girl is light brown all over. Henry crows, and it is adorable. It sounds like he's laughing. They are all in my bedroom so on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, all 3 birds turn toward the tv and watch Idol. Bailey starts singing with whoever is performing, and that sets Henry off and he starts crowing. It's hilarious. He also crows when he hears the roosters crow. But it's so soft it's not bothersome. My older daughter tried to incubate some of their eggs, and of the 8 she put in the bator, only one developed, but it died about 8 or 9 days into development. She wants to try again soon. Dunno what I'll do with a bunch of button quail though, lol. But they sure are cute. I'd like to get another few hens for Henry this summer at chickenstock cause he is making poor Ann bald on her back with all the mounting. I think cause he can sense that the chickens are doing, he does it, and it wears poor Ann out. I don't think they make aprons that small!

I don't remember the technical coloration for my quail, but I really didn't get them to breed them. I basically got them to keep Bailey company, and it works beautifully because he loves to coo to them and call them his babies. You should just see the look Henry gives him, lol. He also doesn't let Ann go broody because when she lays her eggs, he steals them and then as he's sitting on the eggs, he's chattering and talking to her in a mix of cockatiel speak and actual words, which I always joke that he is trying to convince them that he would make a better parent than they would. They just sit in front of him and stare at him, unsure of what to do. I need to somehow rig a tiny nest box that Bailey won't be able to squeeze his butt, or tail, into. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Button quail are such cuties and I hope mine are around for many years to come. Good luck when you get yours, you'll get such a kick out of them!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I can not WAIT to get my little button quail babies!! Do you still have any buttons?