My hens won't incubate their eggs.

[lighthouse]

ok that's great that you dated them. So you've got one that should hatch very soon, and three after that. I would say give them a week to be sure. So you've got to make sure at least one hen sits tight on these and doesn't get distracted by caring for the chick and abandon the eggs, and the other hen doesn't neglect the chick's needs for the sake of the eggs. You really need to separate them now. Has the chick bonded to one hen more than the other? Is one hen more determined to sit for longer than the other?

Clutch is just a batch of eggs under a broody hen.

i managed the right one with the right job!

 

[Chicalina]

Great work!

 

[Chicalina]

You've potentially got another staggered hatch if all the remaining eggs hatch. Next time you want to hatch babies and your hen is broody, prepare her by using fake eggs for a few days and shut her up in a box like you have now, then set all the real eggs together under her on the same day!

 

[lighthouse]

and.....

the second one!

 

[chelseachook]

and.....

the second one!

Cute! Congrats on your new chickie, she/he is beautiful.

 

[Chicalina]

Wonderful!!

They've got one each so far!

 

[lighthouse]

Cute! Congrats on your new chickie, she/he is beautiful.

thanks.

happy as a pig in shit.

 

[lighthouse]

hi guys, here it’s me again.

so i had five eggs and daisy and macy incubating them together. as per advice given in this group i gave the first three chicks to daisy so that macy carried on incubating the other two left. i was planning of leaving those two chicks for her to raise BUT when i candled them one had stopped developing at a very early stage and the other one pretty far to the end but was also dead.

and now i have a depressed hen because daisy won’t share motherhood with macy.

i took away one of the boxes to force daisy to sleep with her chicks together with macy but she rather sleeps on the floor.

how do i handle this situation please? macy is still under the kitchen counter and she always comes back wanting in after the daily outing.

help?

 

[Chicalina]

Hiya. Have you got other hens? If so, just put Macy out with them. Its is not depression, it is her hormones that need to come down and they will. Google how to break broodiness.

If these are your only 2 hens, you could consider getting some day old chicks from somewhere else, or setting her on some fresh fertile eggs, but...it is late in the year and she really needs to recover her health before she is subjected to another 21 days of very little food, water and exercise.

Another idea would be to try and slip one of Daisy's youngest chicks under her at night, and hope Daisy doesn't notice/the chick imprints on Macy. This may fail, and Daisy may claim the chick back and not be very nice to Macy in the process.

You could also wait and see if Daisy relaxes and lets Macy help her raise them over the next few weeks.

ETA a million typos!

 

[lighthouse]

Hiya. Have you got other hens? If so, just put Macy out with them. Its is not depression, it is her hormones that need to come down and they will. Google how to break broodiness.

If these are your only 2 hens, you could consider getting some day old chicks from somewhere else, or setting her on some fresh fertile eggs, but...it is late in the year and she really needs to recover her health before she is subjected to another 21 days of very little food, water and exercise.

Another idea would be to try and slip one of Daisy's youngest chicks under her at night, and hope Daisy doesn't notice/the chick imprints on Macy. This may fail, and Daisy may claim the chick back and not be very nice to Macy in the process.

You could also wait and see if Daisy relaxes and lets Macy help her raise them over the next few weeks.

ETA a million typos!

my dearest @Chicalina

no i haven’t got any other hens —there’s a grownup chick but not sure what it’s yet (male/female)

no old chickens —last week and still going on a deadly flood here and again i’m in frigging cambodia—the wild west. my dad’s friend lost 60 and now everything is just a chaos.

i don’t think there’s a time of the year here really —just 25 celsius all the way through.

i’ll try tonight and tomorrow the chick’s exchange at night. risky because of despite someone here saying —they do get to flesh with their beaks— but whatever, i’ll risk my hand.

i’ll let you know.