Third Broody This Year...Here is Shadow, Day Six

[speckledhen]

Ok, when I get a cuckoo silkie, I can blame Year of the Rooster.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I shall take full responsibility

 

[speckledhen]

 

[steve2495]

ive have this broody banty birchen cochin that i cant get to get off the nest. in no need of more chickens, but my hen doesnt care. she has been broody for almost a month with no eggs under her.

 

[speckledhen]

I had that happen twice. First time, no rooster, no fertile eggs. She came close to dying. Second time, after the hen had been sitting two weeks, I took some eggs from the bator and let her have them. Those hormones kick in and they just go over the edge.

 

[Kim_NC]

She's adorable...and her little 'broody quarters' look quite cozy too!

 

[speckledhen]

That little broody pen is one we just built the day after she went broody. The lid lifts and has a lock on it; the end is a door with a barrel bolt, as well. She is covered with hardware cloth and completely safe in there. That is inside the storage area of the Delaware coop. She's on Day 8 today and we may candle tonight. Usually, we wait till Day 10 on the broodies to candle, but I'd love to remove any clears now and make it easier for her. She's a teensy girl, even for a banty Cochin.

 

[speckledhen]

As Day 9 is ending, we candled Shadow's eggs. Skye's two were not fertile (I know what happened during the time frame I was collecting those, so not unexpected). That means she has two BBS Orps left, both belonging to Smoky, and one BR, belonging to my oldest BR hen, Ivy, with Dutch as the sire. She's doing an excellent job! We're about halfway to hatch day now. I'm hoping she's one of those broodies who tolerates her chicks beyond the usual four week period I've seen around here.

 

[megshenhut]

If Shadow is anything like my banty cochin, she will probably raise this clutch and start laying again and then want to raise another brood this summer before fall hits.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Sadly speckledhen, I never knew how long my silkies would have kept their own chicks

I gave them away before they were done brooding them. The chicks were 3 weeks i think? or maybe 2... but i'm sure they would've gone quite a bit longer. Needless to say they were broken of the broody cycle the next day.

I realized I never said this, but good luck with her!