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Barnyard Buddies:  My first time letting hens hatch their eggs  |
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Love-in-a-Mist
True Blue Farmgirl
367 Posts
Shannon
Independence
Oregon
USA
367 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 7:05:59 PM
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I'm so excited! Finally my girls have a nest filled with eggs, well 3, but their getting there. I got some buff silkies and red frizzles last year from Murray McMurray and I decided to see if they would have chicks this year.
All my chickens have been free ranging it for the winter, so it was a challenge catching and seperating everyone. I finally had to go on a "chicken hunt" at night with my flash light to get the last 2. I found one in one dog house and one in the other dog house.lol
Does anyone have any advice or is their anything special I should do to give them a better chance of hatching out?
Farmgirl and mother of 2 |
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simpler1773
True Blue Farmgirl
234 Posts
Ricki
Ashland
Wisconsin
USA
234 Posts |
Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 7:20:14 PM
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Are your chickens broody? If they aren't broody yet then they may not sit on the eggs long enough to hatch them. If they are broody then I put mine in a special pen so the other chickens don't disturb the mama. I've only had one batch so far, last yr was my first year with chickens and these guys just hatched last month :)
~Ricki~
You can't pour anything out of an empty vessel, take care of yourself! |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 9:18:53 PM
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THat is exactly what I do. I tried leaving the broody hen on the nest one time..a very very broody little banty gal and the other hens were SO mean to her and then one by one killed the chicks after they hatched. I learned my lesson. Sometimes I will put two hens, both broody on nests in the back pen (we have a "chick nursery " sign on the gate) and let them both raise families..that works..any more than two and it isn't nice though.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Love-in-a-Mist
True Blue Farmgirl
367 Posts
Shannon
Independence
Oregon
USA
367 Posts |
Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 9:39:47 PM
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Thank you girls, I haven't seen anyone be broody yet, but I will definitly rearrange them.
Farmgirl and mother of 2 |
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simpler1773
True Blue Farmgirl
234 Posts
Ricki
Ashland
Wisconsin
USA
234 Posts |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 04:32:39 AM
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Jenny ~ I love the chick nursery idea, too cute! This spring my hubby is going to make a better brooding pen, he just threw this one together as a temp solution.
I never really planned to let this chicken hatch her eggs. I kept shooing her out of her nest to collect eggs or would manange to sneak in there and get them while she was having a bite to eat. Well one day I did that and I came back a few minutes later...if chickens had chins hers would have been on the floor. She looked SO sad and depressed.
I figured if she wanted some babies THAT bad, I might as well let her see what she can do. So she sat and we have 3 chicks. We only got 3 out of a dozen she was sitting on, but that was fine with me as I didn't even expect to get that many.
~Ricki~
You can't pour anything out of an empty vessel, take care of yourself! |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 09:36:24 AM
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Wonderful picture!!! That is how I felt about one of the ones I let set on eggs last summer..she actually got mean and it was hard to even get her eggs..even for me..so what the heck I let her raise a family. She did great!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Barnyard Buddies: My first time letting hens hatch their eggs |
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My first time letting hens hatch their eggs
