- Jun 12, 2007
- 309
- 1
- 154
staggered hatch - yes, I'm crazy. Here's the story
When I saw that she was broody, I started at first trying to keep her from doing it, but then I thought that I could let her test a couple of my Welsummer eggs for me. So, I put 2 eggs under her ( marked them so I knew which one's I put there ). Well, when I candled them a week later, 1 was good & 1 was not developing. The next day, there one of my girls laid her egg on the ground & since things were a little crazy, I wasn't sure that it hadn't laid there a couple of days, so I put it under the broody hen. Fast forward to that Saturday.....there was a yard sale on the street, so we set up in the front yard with the bunnies & the chicks we'd hatched for school to try to sell a few. Still had 6 chicks at the end of the day - I was planning on keeping 3 of them. Later in the afternoon, a lady came back with her grandkids and bought 4 of them ( I kept 2 I was pretty sure were girls, 1 of which I was definitely not letting go, she's beautiful ). When she said she'd like some more, I told her I could hatch some for her.....a broody is much cheaper than the incubator, so I put 3 more eggs under the broody - now we're up to 6.
The 1st 2 were due to hatch this week, so I brought them up & put them in the incubator....the one that I thought was a "blank" started seeping almost immediately, so I took it out to the far end of the garden & cracked it against a log ( wrapped in a paper towel ) - it was definitely rotten.....glad it didn't explode in my bator. Went to the beach for an overnight trip & came back last night to a little chick - it is all alone, so I put a little stuffed animal in. When I took those 2 out, I put in 4.....so now she's sitting on 8. 1 will hatch next week and 3 will hatch the following week and that will leave the 4 - I'm not putting anymore under her as long as I can control myself
When I went down to clean up around the coop a little this morning, I noticed that some of the stuffing was coming out of the old cat bed I had put in one of the larger nest boxes because they like laying in it, so I pulled it out & there was a litle mouse or rat's nest behind it. I cleaned that out.....and moved the mama hen to the rabbit cage ( I set it up as a broody nest - water, food ) and put fresh pine shavings in all the nest boxes. ( there was a baby mouse or rat in in the little nest. I didn't realize it until I tossed the shovel full of old shavings and stuffing on the floor of the coop - the hens had it quicker than you could blink - it was so tiny. - I wouldn't have wanted it around anyway, but I felt bad about it
That's it for the history.....
So, here is my question - what would happen if I took the lonely little chick down & put her in the rabbit cage with the mama who is sitting on the eggs. The mama is a tiny little thing, so there is lots of room in the rabbit cage. Would the mama keep the chick warm and still sit on the eggs, or would she abandon the eggs or the chick? HELP!!!
When I saw that she was broody, I started at first trying to keep her from doing it, but then I thought that I could let her test a couple of my Welsummer eggs for me. So, I put 2 eggs under her ( marked them so I knew which one's I put there ). Well, when I candled them a week later, 1 was good & 1 was not developing. The next day, there one of my girls laid her egg on the ground & since things were a little crazy, I wasn't sure that it hadn't laid there a couple of days, so I put it under the broody hen. Fast forward to that Saturday.....there was a yard sale on the street, so we set up in the front yard with the bunnies & the chicks we'd hatched for school to try to sell a few. Still had 6 chicks at the end of the day - I was planning on keeping 3 of them. Later in the afternoon, a lady came back with her grandkids and bought 4 of them ( I kept 2 I was pretty sure were girls, 1 of which I was definitely not letting go, she's beautiful ). When she said she'd like some more, I told her I could hatch some for her.....a broody is much cheaper than the incubator, so I put 3 more eggs under the broody - now we're up to 6.
The 1st 2 were due to hatch this week, so I brought them up & put them in the incubator....the one that I thought was a "blank" started seeping almost immediately, so I took it out to the far end of the garden & cracked it against a log ( wrapped in a paper towel ) - it was definitely rotten.....glad it didn't explode in my bator. Went to the beach for an overnight trip & came back last night to a little chick - it is all alone, so I put a little stuffed animal in. When I took those 2 out, I put in 4.....so now she's sitting on 8. 1 will hatch next week and 3 will hatch the following week and that will leave the 4 - I'm not putting anymore under her as long as I can control myself
When I went down to clean up around the coop a little this morning, I noticed that some of the stuffing was coming out of the old cat bed I had put in one of the larger nest boxes because they like laying in it, so I pulled it out & there was a litle mouse or rat's nest behind it. I cleaned that out.....and moved the mama hen to the rabbit cage ( I set it up as a broody nest - water, food ) and put fresh pine shavings in all the nest boxes. ( there was a baby mouse or rat in in the little nest. I didn't realize it until I tossed the shovel full of old shavings and stuffing on the floor of the coop - the hens had it quicker than you could blink - it was so tiny. - I wouldn't have wanted it around anyway, but I felt bad about it
That's it for the history.....
So, here is my question - what would happen if I took the lonely little chick down & put her in the rabbit cage with the mama who is sitting on the eggs. The mama is a tiny little thing, so there is lots of room in the rabbit cage. Would the mama keep the chick warm and still sit on the eggs, or would she abandon the eggs or the chick? HELP!!!
