sneaking eggs under a broody

[Mom2Cool]

yesterday when I slipped that other egg in with that last BO hen I used an oven mitt! She pecked me & gave a look like "just leave the egg & get your hand out of here...... I hope something hatches for that girl &/or I might be slipping a chick under her from the bator in a couple of days.

 

[walkswithdog]

Some just grin as you hand em eggs. Others like the pecker - want to show you they disapprove of your interference.

My broodies brood unseparated and begin taking their "crews" out usually day 2 or 3. They always bring them in about dusk. They'll huddle down and shelter them if it suddenly rains when they're out and about. I've two now with almost 3 week old chicks who totally free range with the rest of the flock.

Their loses have been minimal - one went into the turkey coop and pen. That didn't work out well, and one got separated and wandered by a group of Delaware juvenilles. That is also fatal, but stupidity is nature's first great selector. Not smart enough to stay close to their VERY protective mother is going to sort them out some.

Mine are free range critters, smart and fast are the first two criteria for survival. Of course that makes catching up the wee beasts a feat of some skill and determination when I have to do it. Fast is something I'm not. Chuckle.

But their mothers are lap chickens and they're learning that too. I've one broody now on eggs, I only let her have five - I've enough stock for this years sort. I need one Partridge rock roo and five pullets from the 36 I've raised this year. Only the best of this generation stay.

So I'm no pet keeper and I can't speak to keeping every bird safe and sound. But a good broody can be trusted to take them out and bring them in, especially if your environment is more limited than mine.

 

[Mom2Cool]

ok well so the broody girl I slipped that egg under the day before yesterday had a little peep around 6:00 pm tonight. I swear as these chicks hatch under the Buff Orpingtons one would never know it & when they pop out they're all just dried up & looking like sugar peeps..... just adorable. I have a feeling that was the one I'd just handed her & now I'm just hoping the other egg hatches so it'll have another with it.

 

[Mom2Cool]

ok so here's the update that last egg earlier today the hen looked to be abandoning.... I took it in the house & candled it thinking I should do that before tossing it & I realized I could feel it moving inside or like a vibration from it & candling (during the day on a brown egg) I could see movement So I had eggs in a bator on lock down that were hatching & so I quickly slipped this egg in because I hated the idea of wasting it & I couldn't just throw out a live chick in an egg. Soooo with all of the lawn bowling going on in the bator it's hard to even tell whichis that egg any more but I've 4 chicks in the bator & I was hoping to be able to slipone of them under the girl that has the single chick tonight.... If I do this is it likely she'll still think it's her own or will she kill it? I figure by the time tonight rolls around the chicks upstairs will be dried up a bit & I could get away with it, but I thought maybe I should get some feed back before I try it.... What do you all think?

 

[bantyhen'sfriend]

Quote:
I didn't mark my eggs, and the broody wound up with eight instead of four! So, I candled, and all had developing chicks! I had to abort the the new ones, because she would have abandoned those eggs less developed for her hatched chicks. So mark those eggs!

And, she will accept it as long as you add it under cover of darknes, so to speak. My hen abandoned one late-hatching chick I wound up having to hatch out (he was too big and trying to come out belly-first) so I dried him off and put him with her at night. She doesn't care whatsoever! Hens can't count, and the chick should trigger some maternal instinct. Unless it acts abnormally weak, she should accept it. If it appears weak to her, she may abandon it for the strong one.

 

[IggiMom]

I enjoy putting eggs in front of a broody and watching her push them under with her beak. Oh, she loves those eggs!

There was another link but I can't remember the link on how to move a broody. It sounded really neat.

You get two boxes, one that will fit into the other.

Take the smaller of the two, cut a little door, and put straw in it for a nest.

Put the hen in, put the bigger box over, and put her where you want her to be.

Leave her for two days.

She can only count to two. She will think she has been there forever.

Then I think you let her out with a little pen around her and food and water.

But I am not sure I have this all correct. It was really neat. Probably neater than my memory.

Catherine