For my broodies, I use a wooden rabbit nesting box. It's about 10" x 18" and is my preferred, go-to nesting box when it comes to hatching. It works great for the broodies and gives frontal space for the chicks to go to without leaving the nest. The only thing with this nest is I like to make a ramp with shavings around the front of it because it is a little high.
We use to have rabbits so we had a few of these. I made sure my boxes were longer like that. Ill measure them in a little bit.
I think I figured out how to make photos smaller size in order to post!Hi All,
New to being a member, though been turning to this forum for answers for a very long time! Have had a flock many a times for many a years, but 1st time hatching with a hen.
Currently: Have a mama with some new chicks (2 so far with one more egg left)
History: Hen (cuckoo maran) went broody on Aug. 18th.
I got 9 fertilized eggs from a friend's coop and put them in the night of the 19th. Morning of the 20th broody hen was happy as can be!
Somewhere around 7-8 days in there was an awful stench. That night I lifted her and changed her lay box out - there were 7 eggs left (one seemed to have exploded, maybe both?)
Somewhere around the 1st of sept we tried to candle them, we weren't very good at it!- but noticed there were now only 6 eggs.....
Thursday, Sept. 7th at 9:45 am, when I go to coop, hen is up and I find two broken eggs - one with seemingly nothing and one with a dead chick. This was about 2 days earlier than I expected. We took the egg shell and the dead chick/shell and removed them. Mama was agitated and jumped out of coop. She ran about but the other hens attacked her mercilessly! She tried to eat with them, did a small dust bath and they kept at her so I scooped her up and put her back in her coop with her eggs. She settled back down.
Sept 9, this morn I came out to her and saw a little downy head! A chick! So exciting. Left her be, but was hoping for more than one chick.
At 1:06 this afternoon saw she had one more baby but also another hatched dead one (ugh,so sad).
Removed the dead one and some shells and now it's late afternoon, she and two babies seem to be doing well and there seems to be one more egg.
When I first looked in it was off to the side, then mama got up to eat a tad and when she returned to the nest she nudged it under her again!
Whatcha think?
My 1st experience -
9 eggs put in, so far 2 babies (maybe one more)
Thoughts and experiences? Anything I could of been doing better (like candling for one! - I was kinda leaving it to mother nature, but that turned out to kinda stink - haha!)
How long do I leave this last egg?
What's happened to some of them, is it possible the hen would of eaten them? I haven't seen any indicator of rats but there are definitely some in the vicinity (we are a small acre property surrounded by other small 1-5 acre properties).
And now what?! Best thoughts on how long to keep her and her babies separate (she has never been high in pecking order). How to reintegrate them to flock?
Do I have to move her food away from chicks or just be sure there is chick food for them?
My girls usually free range by day, but right now I have her and her chicks in an enclosed coop/run. Nothing can get in and I don't think the chicks can get out! But it's 2-3 feet off the ground, do I need to close up the floor hole? Or can they manage to get down and up?
trying to upload some snaps....if i can figure out how to reduce file size!
Thanks in advance, sorry for such a long post, and thanks for anyone reading to the end! So many questions! Thanks again!
They are adorable!
