Thanks Dawn!
Yes, I am happy with how they have matured. I am REALLY pleased with how the two brothers get along. They are a true “tag team” but don’t appear to be too rough on the hens.
Question for you and other Nankin breeders...how many days have you gone with your Nankin incubation efforts before going to “lockdown” on your incubator? I have read that some Bantams hatch on the 18th or 19th day which would put lockdown at day 16. I would appreciate y’all inputs and/or thoughts on this. My breeder has said her hatches have all been on the 20th or 21st day for Nankins.
~BT
Mine go the full 21 days, but I've lost a few to shrink-wrapping, so I'm guessing that they could probably have gone on the 20th. I've not had very much success with an incubator, which goes along with what I've been told about Nannies doing better with a broody. Out of my original three hens, only Pepper was a good broody, and we lost her last fall. No apparent illness, just dead one morning. Piggy lays well and will set for a week or so, but then gets tired or bored and abandons her nest. The one time she went the distance, she lost it when the fuzzy babies broke her eggs ... and killed them as they zipped. That was a real heartbreaker. She is no longer allowed to hatch, or even to be in the same coop with peeps. Beauty has never shown an interest in setting, but she continues to help fill anyone else's nest. Works for me!
Our new broody is, surprisingly enough - Evie! As young as she is, she went broody on one lone egg. I added two more (one Nankin, one D'uccles) a few days later, and despite getting really nasty about it, she took them on. I have 22 eggs in the incubator at the moment, but haven't candled yet, so I don't know how many are viable or not. With only two actual hens laying (the rest are all new pullets, still laying tiny eggs,) I'm not overly optimistic about results ... but I AM hopeful!
My Nurture Right 360's auto-turner went south on me but the company replaced it for free, so I went ahead and got another. I wanted to do the Easter Hatch-along, so I had a very narrow window for testing - 24 days - so I had to work quickly. Because of the tight time-frame, I had to use eggs collected during a really brutal cold spell. I figured that most of them would have gotten too cold to survive and unfortunately, I was right. At ten days, six were clear duds. One was viable and one was "iffy," so I left in in. I'm glad I did, because that's the only one that hatched!
So - I currently have one Nanny baby in the brooder at the moment. S/he is two weeks old and starting to feather out on the wings. I have a sinking feeling that "Pippi" is a "Pippin," but again, I'm hopeful. Pip is pretty lonely, right now, being the only hatchling, but no one I know has bantam babies and
TSC hasn't had anything small or irresistible enough to make me actually buy more. Aren't you proud of my self-restraint? My kids are! One of my kindergarten teacher friends asked me today if I would be interested in adopting her two classroom chicks. I really don't want standard sized chickens, but she was desperate - and when I looked at them, I think one is an EE. The other is either a barred rock or another EE. My sister can take the BR, even if it's a cockerel. If the EE is a pullet, I'll probably keep her. If not, guess what my sister's getting for her birthday!
Okay - enough rambling for now. Keep in touch, stranger!