September Hatch-A-Long

[krista74]

Oh! Can I please join in?

First time chicken owner here, and I have a flock of 4 RIR hens, 1 BO cockerel and 2 BO hens.

Believe it or not, one of my RIR's has gone broody! At only 9 months old. And in the middle of Winter.

I have no idea if she will stay put, or if any will hatch since its fairly cold, but I have to give her a shot. She ripped out every feather from under her neck to her vent in anticipation!

She currently has 11 eggs under her (some from each bird), and they are due to hatch on Sept 8th.

And I thought the wait for eggs was bad.....!

- Krista

 

[Luvmybob]

Oh! Can I please join in?

First time chicken owner here, and I have a flock of 4 RIR hens, 1 BO cockerel and 2 BO hens.

Believe it or not, one of my RIR's has gone broody! At only 9 months old. And in the middle of Winter.

I have no idea if she will stay put, or if any will hatch since its fairly cold, but I have to give her a shot. She ripped out every feather from under her neck to her vent in anticipation!

She currently has 11 eggs under her (some from each bird), and they are due to hatch on Sept 8th.

And I thought the wait for eggs was bad.....!

- Krista

Winter? Cold? It was 98 in Florida with 105 heat index... today! Am I missing something?

 

[darkbluespace]

Winter? Cold? It was 98 in Florida with 105 heat index... today! Am I missing something?

I'm betting Southern Hemisphere : )

 

[krista74]

Yep, I'm in Australia

It's Winter here, and there is frost on the ground most mornings.

I am assuming that underneath my Broody it is many degrees warmer though

- Krista

 

[dldolan]

I did a double take on the "winter" thing as well, then looked at the avatar! Welcome infrom Australia! A RIR broody? Wow, that's a serious anomaly. Hope she sticks with it!
Isn't this fun? I have six 6 week-olds, hatched in an old Brower incubator, but give me a broody hen anytime! SOOOOO much better. No fussing with the humidity! No fussing with the temperature! Bug/greens foraging teaching style MUCH better than mine!

Just hoping my little cochin-mamas don't get picked on by the rest of the group, but they have Ricky to help defend, I guess.

 

[krista74]

Thanks for the welcome

I seriously didn't expect my RIR to go broody either. I have 2 BO's whom I half expected it from, but my 4 RIR's were bought to ensure egg supply in case the BO's were hatching chicks. Hmmm, I guess I forgot to tell her that!

She is only on Day 4, but so far is not keen to get off the nest. I pick her up and take her out once a day at 2pm to feed and water her. She does her business, has a little scratch around, and then starts grizzling to herself and goes back to the nest. I presume that is enough to keep her going, although she is losing some condition already. She sat for 3 days on plastic eggs before I gave her the 11 real ones just to make sure she really was keen.

I don't have an incubator, but I was looking to expand my flock by another two or three birds so I'm glad she is sitting for me. I am hoping I get at least two or three pullets from the 11 eggs. I guess there is no way of knowing how many (if any) will hatch. Trust my luck, they will all be cockerels, lol. We are taking the excess to the chook auctions when they are old enough to determine their sex.

Do you know what sex your 6 week olds are yet? Do you intend to keep any/all of them? How do you get rid of excess chickens where you are?

- Krista

 

[JekkaLynn]

My poor little half naked silkie/bantam cochin hen hid a nest and is now sitting on over 15 eggs! I have no clue how old they are or if they are fertile. I am hoping to candle them tonight with Hubby's help. Any with signs of development will get put back under her. She is somehow managing to cover them all completely.

 

[earlyredrooster]

Does a N.H. hen sitting on 9 duck eggs due sept 10th qualify me to join. I put duck eggs under her because I ended up with all pulletts and she would not give up after I broke up her nest three times already.

 

[Peep_Show]

About 10 days ago I set 40 (shipped) eggs due to hatch Sept. 1st. Yesterday pulled 18 of them.... The USPS was really hard on them. The one box marked "Fragile Hatching Eggs" actually had a foot indentation on the top!

Anyway, what's left are 8 Welsummers, 8 Cinnamon Queens and 6 Olive Eggers. All are sex-linked and I'm shooting for a 6-10 hen laying coop.

What are y'all hatching in?

 

[JekkaLynn]

My Hubby bought me an incubator and an automatic egg turner! I will set them up tonight and tomorrow night I will fill it up!