I have soo many questions, the first girl I've ever hatched from an egg has gone broody 
My serama hen Kitty started laying two weeks ago, and I thought, I wonder how long it will take for her to go broody if I left the eggs there. Literally 7 days ago, I stopped picking up her eggs, and she's been sitting on them (and acting broody) since this morning. I think she has six under her...
I've only ever incubated eggs, and I actually just set 5 crested cream legbar eggs in my incubator last night.
If they both make it to hatch, the CCLs should start hatching exactly one day after the seramas start to hatch, I think lol...
Would I be crazy to try to give the CCL babies to my serama hen, who might end up with 4-6 chicks of her own? With my personal track record I expect 4/6 CCLs to hatch, so she might have 7-10 chicks, 12 if everything goes perfect (ha). Can a chicken mom get overwhelmed with too many chicks?
More importantly though...
Kitty is in a 4x4 coop that has water and food inside. My five two-month-old serama chicks sleep in that coop, but the entrance is big enough that my serama rooster can also get inside if he wants to. He sleeps with the big chickens, different coop. Shes tucked into a corner of the coop, and the chicks sleep in the opposite corner. Should I separate her from the chicks and the entrance outside (to keep out the rooster)? Will the rooster/chicks be pests and make her get off her eggs? Also, with access to food/water, do I need to make her get off her eggs once a day, or maybe once every few days, or will she do that on her own?
Thanks all
My serama hen Kitty started laying two weeks ago, and I thought, I wonder how long it will take for her to go broody if I left the eggs there. Literally 7 days ago, I stopped picking up her eggs, and she's been sitting on them (and acting broody) since this morning. I think she has six under her...
I've only ever incubated eggs, and I actually just set 5 crested cream legbar eggs in my incubator last night.
If they both make it to hatch, the CCLs should start hatching exactly one day after the seramas start to hatch, I think lol...
Would I be crazy to try to give the CCL babies to my serama hen, who might end up with 4-6 chicks of her own? With my personal track record I expect 4/6 CCLs to hatch, so she might have 7-10 chicks, 12 if everything goes perfect (ha). Can a chicken mom get overwhelmed with too many chicks?
More importantly though...
Kitty is in a 4x4 coop that has water and food inside. My five two-month-old serama chicks sleep in that coop, but the entrance is big enough that my serama rooster can also get inside if he wants to. He sleeps with the big chickens, different coop. Shes tucked into a corner of the coop, and the chicks sleep in the opposite corner. Should I separate her from the chicks and the entrance outside (to keep out the rooster)? Will the rooster/chicks be pests and make her get off her eggs? Also, with access to food/water, do I need to make her get off her eggs once a day, or maybe once every few days, or will she do that on her own?
Thanks all
The entrance is now much smaller and much sturdier, only the 2 month old chicks can go in/out. I'm not sure if she'll be able to squeeze in/out but she has food and water in the coop (which is probably why the hens busted in, stinkers). Hopefully it works out lol...
