Today after the cornish rocks left, I went out to gather eggs and fill in some of the holes they dug around the pen (which the smaller chicks can get out of). While I was out, I reached under Mommy Ommy to check on the number of eggs she had. That poor little tiny hen had SEVEN eggs under her - and not all of them were staying covered because of the large amount! That frizzle hen has just been popping those eggs out left and right since Mommy Ommy has gone broody!
So I picked up the two that looked cleanest (probably laid most recently) and brought them inside. Candling shows they are both in VERY early stages of development, so I went ahead and put them in the incubator. I'm about to go out now with an actual flashlight and candle the rest of them to see if I can get four that are close together in development age, and bring the last one in.
But after that poor incident, I decided to go ahead and separate her from the rest until I could get the eggs marked. And since Stiches is gone, but wasn't having ANY issues in that small pen following crop surgery (no infections, no illness, nothing) I decided to put Mommy Ommy there. I moved nest box and all, so she shouldn't be TOO stressed. Once I get that fifth egg out and inside, I'll move her nestbox back to the main pen. I want her raising the babies around the others, so there are no integration problems later.
The broody Sumatra is still sitting tight, too. But I already marked her eggs, and know which ones not to gather when I collect eggs every morning. Yet I am so very tempted to bring those eggs inside, and try stuffing a turkey egg under her, instead. The sumatras are the one group that has been spared most of the issues around here. They're in an old dog kennel (6ftx10ftx6ft tall), with tarp over the top (properly pierced for draining), and a dog house as their "hen house". They aren't around the others who are dying from whatever mysterious possible disease, and they aren't really getting attacked by predators. I did have one predator try to pull a hen through the fence and decapitate her. But the other four have been completely unscathed this entire breeding season. So I would assume they are safe enough to put a turkey egg under her, BUT I'm worried that she won't properly care for the babies anyway. This would be her first batch (I think it was her that I broke earlier in the season, but not sure - all three of the hens look alike, lol!)
