I kinda feel sorry for a little red hen we call "momma hen".
she was our first ever broody, and she contradicted all i'd ever heard about how mean broodies ALWAYS are.
she's a little red and white mutt we got from auction last year, not sure on her age, she just looks like a red chicken.
when she went broody in February of this year, she was brooding on 12 of her own eggs, right off the bet 3 wern't even fertile, the other 9 were, she sat like a rock on those 9 eggs, we had to MAKE her get off the nest. three weeks went by, day 21 and no chicks,day 22, no chicks,day 23, NO chicks...yet she still sat. i was loosing hope when finally on day 25 there was a tiny little yellowish/red chick..but it was dead, froze to death in the middle of the feed room, 3 feet from the nest. a few hours later an exact copy of that chick hatched., albeit we only really had one rooster at the time, Big bertha.
this one chick was the only one to have hatched, there were 3 other eggs with chicks in them, the other 4 over the three weeks I pitched as I candled.
the other three chicks all looked identical to the other two, and all three babies had internally piped, then for whatever reason, died
now fast forward to 5 weeks ago tomorrow, Momma hen went broody again for a 2nd time. I wanted to try hatching muscovies, havn't hatched any all year, so i gave her two eggs, a week later, I have her 3 more duck eggs, a pekin, a runner and a blue swedish.the next sunday I have her 9 chicken eggs, and took away the blue swed and runner, both of wich had stopped developing, so after giving her the chicken eggs it was just a waiting game, all the eggs I gave her on sundays, so they'd all hatch the same day just about.
fastforward again to thursday I found a little white NN in the nest, dead, that erked me cause I've been wanting a white NN, the duckling in the pekin egg began to get more active too, yesterday two of her eggs had pipped, with the other three chirping, the duckling internally pipped, the 'scovie eggs hadn't been active at all.
so I went to bed, eagerly awaiting this morning, where I had hoped I'd find atleast 4 chicks and atleast a cute little pekin duckling....
ONE chick, thats all there is, and all there will be
the other pipped had had ZIPPED then died, and ofcourse, guess what it was, a little red NN
no peeping or pipping from any of the other eggs, so against my better judgment, I took the rest and began performing eggtopsies..
I got lucky..well, in the literal sense, they were all dead
ANOTHER white NN, and two redish brown chicks, but they were messed up, they had funny looking heads, and one had blood clotted all over it's face, and a little crested pekin with it's little brain showing through the side of it's head ALL of wich had internally pipped, even the duckling. and heck, the 'scovie eggs died WEEKS ago *sigh*
so maybe we have a hen who's just bad luck, or maybe she's just destined to only ever have one baby, who knows
, but it makes me feel bad to have made her sit through 5 weeks with just one chick to show for it.
and did I mention, she's not even the best mother?, atleast not to one, her first chick she was momma from hell for any chicken or cat who got too close, for all of 2 weeks, then at about 3 weeks she started to lose interest, by 4 weeks the baby was on it's own.
fair contrast to Natalie, our little OEGB mix who raised her baby for about 7 weeks, and still let the baby hang out with her when they were out after the baby was on it's own.
it sucks though cause my "need more NN's sense is tingling, it saves from having to get some from hatcheries LOL", but I doubt anyone else will go broody this year.
she was our first ever broody, and she contradicted all i'd ever heard about how mean broodies ALWAYS are.
she's a little red and white mutt we got from auction last year, not sure on her age, she just looks like a red chicken.
when she went broody in February of this year, she was brooding on 12 of her own eggs, right off the bet 3 wern't even fertile, the other 9 were, she sat like a rock on those 9 eggs, we had to MAKE her get off the nest. three weeks went by, day 21 and no chicks,day 22, no chicks,day 23, NO chicks...yet she still sat. i was loosing hope when finally on day 25 there was a tiny little yellowish/red chick..but it was dead, froze to death in the middle of the feed room, 3 feet from the nest. a few hours later an exact copy of that chick hatched., albeit we only really had one rooster at the time, Big bertha.
this one chick was the only one to have hatched, there were 3 other eggs with chicks in them, the other 4 over the three weeks I pitched as I candled.
the other three chicks all looked identical to the other two, and all three babies had internally piped, then for whatever reason, died
now fast forward to 5 weeks ago tomorrow, Momma hen went broody again for a 2nd time. I wanted to try hatching muscovies, havn't hatched any all year, so i gave her two eggs, a week later, I have her 3 more duck eggs, a pekin, a runner and a blue swedish.the next sunday I have her 9 chicken eggs, and took away the blue swed and runner, both of wich had stopped developing, so after giving her the chicken eggs it was just a waiting game, all the eggs I gave her on sundays, so they'd all hatch the same day just about.
fastforward again to thursday I found a little white NN in the nest, dead, that erked me cause I've been wanting a white NN, the duckling in the pekin egg began to get more active too, yesterday two of her eggs had pipped, with the other three chirping, the duckling internally pipped, the 'scovie eggs hadn't been active at all.
so I went to bed, eagerly awaiting this morning, where I had hoped I'd find atleast 4 chicks and atleast a cute little pekin duckling....
ONE chick, thats all there is, and all there will be
the other pipped had had ZIPPED then died, and ofcourse, guess what it was, a little red NN
no peeping or pipping from any of the other eggs, so against my better judgment, I took the rest and began performing eggtopsies..
I got lucky..well, in the literal sense, they were all dead
ANOTHER white NN, and two redish brown chicks, but they were messed up, they had funny looking heads, and one had blood clotted all over it's face, and a little crested pekin with it's little brain showing through the side of it's head ALL of wich had internally pipped, even the duckling. and heck, the 'scovie eggs died WEEKS ago *sigh*
so maybe we have a hen who's just bad luck, or maybe she's just destined to only ever have one baby, who knows
and did I mention, she's not even the best mother?, atleast not to one, her first chick she was momma from hell for any chicken or cat who got too close, for all of 2 weeks, then at about 3 weeks she started to lose interest, by 4 weeks the baby was on it's own.
fair contrast to Natalie, our little OEGB mix who raised her baby for about 7 weeks, and still let the baby hang out with her when they were out after the baby was on it's own.
it sucks though cause my "need more NN's sense is tingling, it saves from having to get some from hatcheries LOL", but I doubt anyone else will go broody this year.
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