2ndTink
Crossing the Road
- Aug 23, 2020
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I call dibs on rooting for that dark one from Lil Purple in that hatch a long you didn't know you were doing...until now!!Starting to look a bit Wrath-y over heregot the eggies tucked in this morning.
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Joannie, Momma and now Copper are my only repeat broodys. All the others are first timers.Sigh don’t do that to me!! I just got 4 babies (they’re 4 weeks old) but I have a broody…and plenty of fertile eggs… just looking at those sweethearts of yours is giving me ideas…
Are all of your hens good mamas? Or do you pick main ones to sit? I’m sorry if you’ve already mentioned this, it’s a long thread, and I forget![]()
Picking to sit..like I’ve got 3 broodies. One hen sits for about 15-16 days and she’s done. She’s went broody twice and both times, she’s just stopped being broody, she gets bored or something idk. My second hen is *chefs kiss*. She’ll sit for 25-26 days and the best mama! (And she’s a RSL) then my last broody is great but she’s a bantam, so she doesn’t have a lot of room to sit. Her own eggs weren’t fertilized, why? Because she was JUST broody. Her babies are 8 weeks old. (I candled to make sure of course). So I’ve got her sitting on my austrolorps eggs, just two, that’s all she can handle.Joannie, Momma and now Copper are my only repeat broodys. All the others are first timers.
I don't really understand your question as 'picking to sit' ? You have to wait for them to go broody. You can encourage it with 'fake eggs', but that's no guarantees. If they go broody I give them eggs.
I've got 2..Angel and Black that I found the first hatched dead last year and had to pull their eggs and break them. Angel I saw kill hers...with Black I didn't see it. These 2 I'll need to watch more closely this year if they go broody and decide if I want to let them sit again. Black has been acting like she wants to, doing the constant cluck, cluck and wanting to sit longer in the nest box but still laying and roosting. I'm guessing the other broodys are triggering her 'motherly' but she hasn't committed yet.
The 3 that just hatched babies are all pullets, so first timers. So the jury is still out on how they'll do, so far so good but we'll see how far they go before weaning off.
Ahhhh...ok I get it. Yes, I'd be leery of letting that early quitter sit unless you have a freed up Bator on the ready rack.Picking to sit..like I’ve got 3 broodies. One hen sits for about 15-16 days and she’s done. She’s went broody twice and both times, she’s just stopped being broody, she gets bored or something idk. My second hen is *chefs kiss*. She’ll sit for 25-26 days and the best mama! (And she’s a RSL) then my last broody is great but she’s a bantam, so she doesn’t have a lot of room to sit. Her own eggs weren’t fertilized, why? Because she was JUST broody. Her babies are 8 weeks old. (I candled to make sure of course). So I’ve got her sitting on my austrolorps eggs, just two, that’s all she can handle.
So if I had “la-de-da” eggs like you, I’d probably pick my RSL to sit on them. I have a legbar acting like she may be going broody, but she’s never been broody before so I’ll probably let her hatch her own eggs. Even though I’d really like more austrolorps. Did any of that sense? You answered my question either way![]()
If only I knew someone with Marans..Ahhhh...ok I get it. Yes, I'd be leery of letting that early quitter sit unless you have a freed up Bator on the ready rack.
You need Marans.![]()