I had 1 surviving chick and gave it to the broody hen yesterday. She talked to it, let it crawl under her, and this morning they looked and sounded happy.
Problem is, she's still on the nest and has stolen the fake eggs from other nests just in the last few days. I'm concerned that she's going to reset and go broody again with a chick in the nest.
I pulled all the fake eggs out from under her. She promptly relocated to a nest that had eggs in it, confusing her existing baby.
She's just a hair over a year old. She went broody in the summer, but she chose to nest in the yard and a snake got all her eggs. I may be wrong, but I think she's at day 16 or 17 in her broody cycle. I had the eggs in the incubator from day 11 and she was broody before that.
I'm not sure if my concern is even justified. The other chick I had for her died this afternoon so another chick is not a possibility.
Problem is, she's still on the nest and has stolen the fake eggs from other nests just in the last few days. I'm concerned that she's going to reset and go broody again with a chick in the nest.
I pulled all the fake eggs out from under her. She promptly relocated to a nest that had eggs in it, confusing her existing baby.
She's just a hair over a year old. She went broody in the summer, but she chose to nest in the yard and a snake got all her eggs. I may be wrong, but I think she's at day 16 or 17 in her broody cycle. I had the eggs in the incubator from day 11 and she was broody before that.
I'm not sure if my concern is even justified. The other chick I had for her died this afternoon so another chick is not a possibility.