Hello all, first message here 
Disclaimer: Wording and syntax may be not the best one since I am a french Canadian and I am not familiar with terms used in farming. Thanks in advance for your understanding
I have an old hen that used to be an excellant brooder. She used to hatch twice a summer (in may & in august). She used to seat on 4 to 5 eggs at a time but this year she set aside the eggs but one. She did this in may and the only left potential chick did hatched but did not survived but a few hours. What went wrong I do not know, the chick seemed to be normal to me. Now this hen is broody again so I putted 5 eggs for her to brood but she "again put aside the eggs but one" I am confused since before she was not doing this any ideas ??? I must say this hen is at least 5 years old.
She is kind of my last hope to have chicks this year since I found my old rooster dead in the coop last monday. With the cold winter we have here hatching chicks after mid august is not a good idea since they need time to get used to the cold and be strong enought to survive it.
I have a very old little giant look alike incubator but the thermostat sticks closed and overheat the eggs so using it is out of question for now. I have got a defective wine cooler with the intention to turn it into an incubator inspired by by-chicken member gpop1 conversion but lack of time will prevent me to have it up and running any soon
Regards
Disclaimer: Wording and syntax may be not the best one since I am a french Canadian and I am not familiar with terms used in farming. Thanks in advance for your understanding
I have an old hen that used to be an excellant brooder. She used to hatch twice a summer (in may & in august). She used to seat on 4 to 5 eggs at a time but this year she set aside the eggs but one. She did this in may and the only left potential chick did hatched but did not survived but a few hours. What went wrong I do not know, the chick seemed to be normal to me. Now this hen is broody again so I putted 5 eggs for her to brood but she "again put aside the eggs but one" I am confused since before she was not doing this any ideas ??? I must say this hen is at least 5 years old.
She is kind of my last hope to have chicks this year since I found my old rooster dead in the coop last monday. With the cold winter we have here hatching chicks after mid august is not a good idea since they need time to get used to the cold and be strong enought to survive it.
I have a very old little giant look alike incubator but the thermostat sticks closed and overheat the eggs so using it is out of question for now. I have got a defective wine cooler with the intention to turn it into an incubator inspired by by-chicken member gpop1 conversion but lack of time will prevent me to have it up and running any soon
Regards
