jadip4
Songster
This is probably going to be a long post ...
We have a small flock: 12 hens (about a year old) and an EE roo. I had two EE hens because I like the egg colors, but lost one of them over the winter. My second EE comes back into lay two weeks ago .. and wouldn't you know it one of the Australorps goes stubbornly broody the same week. Am I the only one that seen this as a sign??
Two nights ago (a week into incubation) we had to move Gertrude (aka Ms Grumpy Pants) to her own fenced off little suite inside the run because she had holed up in the favorite nest box. The other hens had been getting in there and adding eggs to the clutch. Originally, there were 9 eggs .. but when we looked again 5 days later we found 17. I pulled 4 out that looked infertile since she was having trouble keeping them all under her. Gracious are those EE eggs hard to candle?! I just know enough to say they had an air sac and didn't look infertile .. that's about it. I left all of those since the goal of this endeavor was to replace one EE hen. Chicken math.
Since moved, she'll sit on the eggs as long as I keep the entrance to her box blocked. When I opened it up last night to let her out to eat/drink/bathe/poop, she did as much, but then settled on top the box and didn't look like she had any notion of going back in. I ushered her back to the eggs and gave her a few minutes before I checked on her. She settled right down with that trance look on her face. Will she figure it out or do you think this will be the sum of the next couple weeks?
We have a small flock: 12 hens (about a year old) and an EE roo. I had two EE hens because I like the egg colors, but lost one of them over the winter. My second EE comes back into lay two weeks ago .. and wouldn't you know it one of the Australorps goes stubbornly broody the same week. Am I the only one that seen this as a sign??
Two nights ago (a week into incubation) we had to move Gertrude (aka Ms Grumpy Pants) to her own fenced off little suite inside the run because she had holed up in the favorite nest box. The other hens had been getting in there and adding eggs to the clutch. Originally, there were 9 eggs .. but when we looked again 5 days later we found 17. I pulled 4 out that looked infertile since she was having trouble keeping them all under her. Gracious are those EE eggs hard to candle?! I just know enough to say they had an air sac and didn't look infertile .. that's about it. I left all of those since the goal of this endeavor was to replace one EE hen. Chicken math.
Since moved, she'll sit on the eggs as long as I keep the entrance to her box blocked. When I opened it up last night to let her out to eat/drink/bathe/poop, she did as much, but then settled on top the box and didn't look like she had any notion of going back in. I ushered her back to the eggs and gave her a few minutes before I checked on her. She settled right down with that trance look on her face. Will she figure it out or do you think this will be the sum of the next couple weeks?