November 22: "Hatch Finished" Now with PIC'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[neferset]

Quote:
lol the 20th you say?? hmmm that sounds close enough for me. consider yourself listed! 1 egg huh?? what is the breed??

Old English Game Bantam, probably cuckoo or cuckoo x. Our cuckoo is the only bantam hen laying. I seriously never expected this one to develop, but here it is...

 

[k2chickens]

Quote:
lol the 20th you say?? hmmm that sounds close enough for me. consider yourself listed! 1 egg huh?? what is the breed??

Old English Game Bantam, probably cuckoo or cuckoo x. Our cuckoo is the only bantam hen laying. I seriously never expected this one to develop, but here it is...

how old was the egg before you set it?? You should call it father time or something funny like that. Old Man River..or "Omar" for short would be good too lulz!!\\



Im still waiting on everyone elses "VIABLE" egg count. Get yours in ASAP!!!!!!!

 

[neferset]

Well, as soon as I found it I set it. How old it was at that point. I'd have to say more than a week at least, but I really don't know for certain. It was on floor, in the corner, nestled in what looked like stolen dryer lint.

 

[k2chickens]

Quote:
ha! dryer lint....that's hilarious.

 

[neferset]

I was flat drying a sweater out there once and found eggs in it when I went to take it in. (I also had to rewash it, naughty girls!)

 

[Dane Chick]

I never explained the confusion regarding the 5 eggs that my Egyptian is setting on. She originally started a few eggs a week earlier. On the morning of Halloween she moved one nest box over to set so my H moved the eggs... (duh) and then other hens came and laid in the original box. My sons found cold eggs in her original box and decided to throw them into the woods. They talked to me about it and i told H and he said he had moved some. Meanwhile my 15 hens were doing their daily laying. By the time i got to the coop there was no way i could logically straighten out the mess. SOOOO, i took all the days eggs and put 6 under Egyptian and put question marks on all the rest for the fridge. Days later i cracked all the days eggs and found 4 out of the 11 had embryos SOB ( two being from Leghorns which i really wanted chicks from). That left the broody with 5 eggs from mixed mamas, and one of her own. One of the eggs got broken (having an embryo in it - again sad sad) which left her with 5 that i numbered the day i gave them to her (Halloween afternoon). This experience led me to purchase an incubator and start more in the house on Nov 8th but that is another story. Anyway, Egyptian won't leave the nest to drink so i take her off once a day and she eats a bit, drinks a TON and promptly goes back to her eggs. WELLLLLL, this afternoon i went to the coop to follow the ritual and when i gently lifted her off the eggs a little black object darted out from under her.... ekkkkk!!! A MOUSE? NOOOOOO, a BABY!!!!! WOO HOO, one week early. All i can guess is that one egg i randomly chose was one of the eggs that had already been under her a week. PLUS, it was the only egg that was my Egyptians. How fitting huh? Now i have a hen sitting on 4 more eggs that still have a week, plus has one chick, and i am unsure how to proceed, but at least i have the incubator going and worst case scenario i can move them inside to hatch if she looses interest because of the baby. Boy, this first hatch has sure turned out to be crazy!!! Baby looks like an Egyptian chick and does not have the plume on its head like its Polish daddy. I am attaching a pic... This is such an exciting day!!!! I emailed pics to all my friends and family. ITS A BABY ITS A BABY!!! Only you guys can fully understand how i feel tonight

Thanks for listening! (did i mention how EXCITED I AM???)

 

[Dane Chick]

I should also mention that the father is pictured in my avatar. And my sons and one of their GF's candled the nest eggs in the coop last night and all have embryo's. The only one we could not see anything in (it was totally dark) was the one that hatched today, so now i understand why. I was sad last night that the Broody Hen's one egg did not look viable... but, now it is Jr. laa laa laa woo hoo! That is my egg count!

 

[neferset]

Our broodies usually leave the nest after a day or so, whether there are eggs in the nest left or not. It's good that you have the back up incubator, just in case.

 

[valerieb]

I have a banty sitting on 9 eggs that should hatch on the 23. Only one of them is hers. I have a similar problem in that all of the other hens try to leg eggs in her box with her. I have to try to remember which were there so I can pick out the extras every day.

 

[neferset]

If you can catch her off the nest, take a pencil and put a mark on all the eggs you believe are hers. That way you can tell which ones you need to take out. When I started doing that with our broodies, it saved me so much trouble.