Hi All,
My Pekin Bantam has been rubbish at sitting on eggs, but might she be a better mother??
My pekin went broody for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She’s fairly young, having only been hatched herself last September. I bought some fertile eggs for her to sit on and she’s been doing fairly well when she’s there; nice and flat, thousand yard stare. Sadly she seems to get bored(!) She gets up a couple of times a day and leaves the nest for up to a couple of hours at a time, leaving the eggs to go cold. She seems to forget she’s broody and just enjoys chickening around the garden with the others for a couple of hours, before returning to her nest and eggs. Previously our broody birds have got off the nest for 10-15 mins then frantically run back. I presume this isn’t normal?
Day 10 today, I candled the eggs and there is some signs of veining in them all but I’m not holding out much hope. I’m keen to increase our little flock so am wondering about putting some day old chicks under her if these fail to hatch. Might be a more diligent mother? Perhaps she just needs more experience? I’d hate to give her some chicks to raise and come out to find them chilled and dead the next morning. Any thoughts?
Thanks for reading!
My Pekin Bantam has been rubbish at sitting on eggs, but might she be a better mother??
My pekin went broody for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She’s fairly young, having only been hatched herself last September. I bought some fertile eggs for her to sit on and she’s been doing fairly well when she’s there; nice and flat, thousand yard stare. Sadly she seems to get bored(!) She gets up a couple of times a day and leaves the nest for up to a couple of hours at a time, leaving the eggs to go cold. She seems to forget she’s broody and just enjoys chickening around the garden with the others for a couple of hours, before returning to her nest and eggs. Previously our broody birds have got off the nest for 10-15 mins then frantically run back. I presume this isn’t normal?
Day 10 today, I candled the eggs and there is some signs of veining in them all but I’m not holding out much hope. I’m keen to increase our little flock so am wondering about putting some day old chicks under her if these fail to hatch. Might be a more diligent mother? Perhaps she just needs more experience? I’d hate to give her some chicks to raise and come out to find them chilled and dead the next morning. Any thoughts?
Thanks for reading!
