Update******May 9th (tentative) hatch date." 4 weeks later....a chick

[Illia]

Plan C, if the eggs don't hatch by day 22 - candle the eggs and see how they are. Do this quickly though. If they're still alive, I'd put them under some sort of broody. If they're not - There's nothing you can do.

Pretty sure all will do well though.

 

[ReiMiraa]

now i have 2 ee eggs and a really dark brown... i am using a bright led light and nothing gets through. i tried this with fresh eggs. these chickens lay on the calcium and color. i can tell that they are going because they feel just as dense as the others...

one hen i pull off the nest when i get home from class to make sure she has snacked, bathroomed and drank alot. (while i check to see if there were any donated eggs) the is the bantm

the brahma has her own thing going on... she takes alot more breaks. both get a little scratch to eat since they snack....

i put a scoop of scratch down in front of the bantm while it is on the eggs.... i am trying to use this time to bond with the chicken.... cos it wont run from me while on the nest..... its not humanized like the brahma........ do you think my bribing will faze it?

none of the broody's peck my hand. they are nice. the banty clucks and fluffs.... it has successfully plucked out all its breast feathers.

 

[ReiMiraa]

so my brahma broody is not as dilligent as the banty silky/pheonix... her eggs are hot while the brahma's are not, some are.

but i am having a hard time deciding if the hen is pushing the eggs out of the nest because it knows they are quitters or if she is a bad hen....i rotate them back in...... the ee eggs (2) are too dark to see. some eggs i can see the yolk while others seem like this giant(bigger than a yolk) dark mass that floats as i rotate the egg.....

maybe in another week i will be able to tell what are quitters..... course some are late starts since i was not yet educated about putting more eggs over a period of days.....
well see what happens. no matter what there will be 2 chicks that are presold.

 

[ReiMiraa]

so i have just tried to move the broody bantm from her place plus eggs and put them in a dog crate with door open in a little dog kennel.

it has to be moved because i can't let it hatch chicks under the roost in the droppings. but she now wont go to the eggs in the kennel....

i will be away from my computer for an hour... and i am house sitting so i will be leaving the chicken area soon. and will not return till tomorrow afternoon. she is 1week and a half from hatching.....

i do not want to ruin the hatch but i want it to be in a safe area and not have them hatch and get killed by the flock.

if someone could tell me what to do soon it would be great.

 

[ReiMiraa]

we made a compromise....

since in the dog kennel she wouldn't stay in the crate on the eggs.... i moved the crate right on top of her broody spot under the roost and she got out looked around then walked back in and glared at me....

so i will leave her be in the crate for the time being... in a few days, near hatching i will close her in the dog crate and put her in the dog kennel....

sound liek a good plan?

 

[ReiMiraa]

well today i found her in the dog crate with her eggs. so today i moved her in the dog kennel while she was comfortable in the dog crate. set her up once again in the kennel my bf john made it secure... so she is in there glaring but on her eggs. happy i guess.

 

[dab045]

I just saw this thread and mine also started on the 16 17thish, so how is it going? I candled mine tonight for the first time, I have two silkie eggs and two leghorn eggs under a silky. Its her first time and she is doing good, but I dont know if I could see much when I looked. One looks to light for anything to be in there and one silky egg was real dark couldnt see through it at all.

 

[ReiMiraa]

i don't plant to candle again till later next week. it have added many eggs over a period of 3-4 days when they went broody.

so mistake #1.....

so i plan to candle and put the most developed eggs under my standard brahma while the late ones go under the broody bantm.

 

[ReiMiraa]

update:

the light brahma is down to 11 eggs if i havent mentioned it alreday

i now has a coshin who is broody but she is only on golf balls.

Bad news

during that freak rain storm somehow the dog crate in the kennel the bantm was in got totally wet. so the eggs and the straw got wet.
i doubt any of the 8 eggs are any good now... they were not hot to the touch like they should. dammit! it was only 3 days from hatch date! and as far as i could tell all were fertile.

so my hopes lie on the brahma's 11 and any that dont hatch on time will be moved to the coshin and i will kick the bantm broody out of its pen.

atleast all 31 of my chicks are doing good.

 

[ReiMiraa]

broody update:

so today i gave up with the bantm broody and took the eggs and put them under the broody coshin.... they are all probably dead but it gives her something to do.... and i let the bantm out and it just went and dusted and took alot of naps.

so i guess she gave up on brooding too.....

so i have my hope on the 11 eggs under the standard light brahma. she hasnt left the nest today for scratch so she must be in "broody lockdown" because my calender says hatch is during the next 4 days... till tuesday... since i didnt know about the timing of placing the eggs under her...... but any that dont hatch by saturday or sunday will be placed under the coshin.....