Sharing this because I haven’t seen many posts where a hen had a hidden nest with quite so many eggs, and also so I can reflect on this later, since this is some of the best chicken drama I’ve had and it will be fun to look back later after it’s all said and done. I hope it helps someone in the future if they find a hen on a big clutch of eggs!
A few weeks back I had 3 adult chickens disappear during one week. We caught my neighbor’s dog killing one and trying to drag it back over the fence, so we assumed that is where all three ended up. The chickens that disappeared were a beautiful lavender Ameracauna roo, a funky frizzled fibro hen, and my great escape artist and top egg layer, Steve McQueen. Steve simply cannot tolerate confinement but she is the street-smartest chicken I’ve ever had so we generally let her do as she pleases. We were sad and surprised to lose her of all chickens. After losing so many in a week we decided to fire up the incubator to get our flock numbers back up and I gathered up the 9 eggs I thought would be fertile from the chickens we lost and hit go.
About 5 days after Steve disappeared and 4 days after starting the incubator, I was cooking dinner and watching the flock from the window when I saw Steve tear across the yard, angry and puffy and as broody as could be. I was shocked. I let her be and watched her retreat to the open shed when she was done with her break. Took me 20 minutes but I found her nest the next day, hidden inside a scrap metal pile, looking like something resembling a medieval fortress with spikes. Steve is bad to the bone and this is so on brand for her. A few days after that (so maybe 10 days in at this point) I finally caught her off her nest again during a broody break and found a nest of 25 of her OWN eggs laid straight on the gravel of the shed floor! What a sweet little narcissist. I candled them as best as I could during the daylight under a tarp and 16 were developing. Tossed the quitters and the rotten ones and left her medieval fortress alone. I have seen very few posts about a first-time mom hen raising this many chicks, but I know not all will make it through hatch and I don’t have the heart to reduce the number of developing eggs, so I left all the good ones. Chicken math will do its thing whether I like it or not.
Steve and the ‘bator started lockdown yesterday and today, so we should have chicks hatching Sunday and Monday. I know not to count my chickens before they hatch but Steve is a first-time mom and she’s not a big hen so I hope she’s able to handle all the chicks that hatch. I already have my chick warmer ready to go in case we end up with a big hatch and she can’t cover them all. I am also really hoping she will take the incubator chicks too as I am enormously pregnant and would be externally grateful if she could relieve me of the responsibility of rearing chicks in my current state lol. Will she accept the incubator ones in her own clutch? Will she be able to raise 16 chicks, or possibly 25? Who knows! Cheers to Steve and the ‘bator, may their hatches be successful and Steve’s mothering skills prove as smooth as her attitude, and I will update when there’s more to share. Pic of Steve’s fortress nest because it’s so cool.
A few weeks back I had 3 adult chickens disappear during one week. We caught my neighbor’s dog killing one and trying to drag it back over the fence, so we assumed that is where all three ended up. The chickens that disappeared were a beautiful lavender Ameracauna roo, a funky frizzled fibro hen, and my great escape artist and top egg layer, Steve McQueen. Steve simply cannot tolerate confinement but she is the street-smartest chicken I’ve ever had so we generally let her do as she pleases. We were sad and surprised to lose her of all chickens. After losing so many in a week we decided to fire up the incubator to get our flock numbers back up and I gathered up the 9 eggs I thought would be fertile from the chickens we lost and hit go.
About 5 days after Steve disappeared and 4 days after starting the incubator, I was cooking dinner and watching the flock from the window when I saw Steve tear across the yard, angry and puffy and as broody as could be. I was shocked. I let her be and watched her retreat to the open shed when she was done with her break. Took me 20 minutes but I found her nest the next day, hidden inside a scrap metal pile, looking like something resembling a medieval fortress with spikes. Steve is bad to the bone and this is so on brand for her. A few days after that (so maybe 10 days in at this point) I finally caught her off her nest again during a broody break and found a nest of 25 of her OWN eggs laid straight on the gravel of the shed floor! What a sweet little narcissist. I candled them as best as I could during the daylight under a tarp and 16 were developing. Tossed the quitters and the rotten ones and left her medieval fortress alone. I have seen very few posts about a first-time mom hen raising this many chicks, but I know not all will make it through hatch and I don’t have the heart to reduce the number of developing eggs, so I left all the good ones. Chicken math will do its thing whether I like it or not.
Steve and the ‘bator started lockdown yesterday and today, so we should have chicks hatching Sunday and Monday. I know not to count my chickens before they hatch but Steve is a first-time mom and she’s not a big hen so I hope she’s able to handle all the chicks that hatch. I already have my chick warmer ready to go in case we end up with a big hatch and she can’t cover them all. I am also really hoping she will take the incubator chicks too as I am enormously pregnant and would be externally grateful if she could relieve me of the responsibility of rearing chicks in my current state lol. Will she accept the incubator ones in her own clutch? Will she be able to raise 16 chicks, or possibly 25? Who knows! Cheers to Steve and the ‘bator, may their hatches be successful and Steve’s mothering skills prove as smooth as her attitude, and I will update when there’s more to share. Pic of Steve’s fortress nest because it’s so cool.
she’ll do great! 
