Hey baby! Where'd you come from?
So far her "failed nest" has produced four adorable chicks. Two like this guy who are probably Light Brahma mixes, a red chick, and an all black little puff ball.
Look at the beautiful coloring!
I blame my lack of math skills on the "new math" they introduced to my generation in grade school. It didn't work at all, apparently. I can't even count to 21 - which is the number of days a hen has to set her nest to have a hatch.
To be fair, we thought that the eggs had died when they all rolled down the hay pile where Inky had her nest and had cooled. One morning we found Inky on the top of the pile where her nest WAS...and most of the eggs at the bottom. We tried to reform the nest for her but she ended up moving them and then refused to move. I dont think she got up but 2 or 3 times for her whole incubation time.
But all's well that ends well because this little guy is just as cute as can be. And this morning a buncha cute little faces looked up at me from under one very proud momma. Great work, Inky!
We are getting pretty late in the season for any more chicks - but these little ones should be OK under their momma. Yesterday I had to dunk a couple broody hens who really want to have one more hatch. I can tell you that there is nothing madder than a wet hen. BlackJack, our fine Australorp roo, came over to see what the screaming was about. He was just about to start stomping and flogging me when the dog came over to see what that rooster wanted. Good dog.
Anybody else have a late hatch?
Happy Wednesday everyone!
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12 comments:
Not me! I only have a borrowed chicken at your farm :o(
Nope, I had mine when I was young :) Cute little babies you have there!
Question: Dunking broody hens? I'm new to raising chickens but have been reading and never heard of dunking a hen. How does it work?
What does dunk a couple broody hens mean? We have a setty hen that needs to get off the nest and get on with life and nothing I have done so far seems to be working. Does she just need a cold shower?:)
What a cute chickie! Maybe Inky will get the hang of nesting as she gets older. What do you do with chickens that don't/can't nest properly?
I'll let you know in about a week!
I had one chick hatch a couple weeks ago from a nest like that! Only one but he/she is doing well. Hopefully the eggs under my broody polish hatch...she is sitting them tight! One more week!
Btw, I have an Astrolorp Roo too, he is very good with his girls!
I would take ANY hatching..I miss having chickens.
What a sweet yellow fuzz :)
We have a hen sitting a nest too - way too late here but we shall see.
Never heard of ducking a sitting hen. Does it work right away?
We have cages and put them in for about four days. Keeping fresh water for them, and feeding them a small amount of feed each morning.
I always thought eggs hatched after 28 days. hmmmmmmm.
She's a peach, tho, Ginny! I'll get some pix of your little pal.
Robin.. hee hee hee
;-)
Hi Cam! Seems like you and a few others had questions so I'll do a post. But yep. We've had good luck with his old wives tale.
Yep, Mr. H, she literally needs to cool down! More on this tomorrow.
Hi Autumn! Not all our hens are broody. We just let them be layers - and then we rehome them to folks getting started.. or like Pebbles... just love them until they are done.
hey LRC! whooot! Let us know how it goes - I love a "tight as a drum" broody. They make good mommas.
Hi Samantha - I just go weak in the knees for their cute little peeps!
You should be ok CC - when the colder weather comes on make sure your momma gets plenty to eat... including a little extra corn to keep her warm.
Hi SandE - yep that works too.. we are about out of space tho and don't have a great place to put the cages.
Hey SFG! Nope the hennies are 21 days....but turkeys are 28 as are some of the waterfowl (I think). Here is a great resource:
http://themodernhomestead.us/article/Brooding+Chicks.html
Aren't suprises like that great! I did the same thing you did with one broody hen; was about to take her off her few remaining eggs and "POP" out comes a chick. Single chick only, but still a chick!
We actually just got our Cornish X's two weeks ago and hatched out our barnyard mutt layers two weeks ago also. It's a little late in the season I think, but the last batch got cooked (really) in the heat this summer so I had to incubate another batch.
Better late (or a suprise!) than never!
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