Thank you. This will be her third brood that we have allowed to carry through. She is a great momma. I put 15 under her hoping to get a dozen hatches. We shall see.
Best wishes with the broody hatch, keep us posted!
Today is day 14. Momma was off her clutch for a few minutes so I took time to check on the eggs.Two days ago, I collected 13 eggs out of 14 layers. Thought that was pretty good. They generally average between 8-10 daily.
Then today - this, my reliable broody. She is sitting on 15 eggs. I am going to let her hatch out and raise a straight run for a friend.
Today is day 14. Momma was off her clutch for a few minutes so I took time to check on the eggs.
Glad I did. Found a broken egg in the nest box. Got that cleaned up and dry wiped the eggs. Took time to candle them. There were 12 under her, so I am guessing she got rid of at least one (I did find one outside the nest box a day or two into the brood), one that was broke and another was a fake egg.
So, started with 15, 12 present today, including the broken egg. Decided to candle the eggs. Of the 11 left in the box, 8 are viable (although 1 seems not as developed as the other 7). Removed the blanks, cleaned up momma and let her sit again.
I also have another in the broody breaker box and one more that started acting broody today. I removed all eggs, including the fake eggs from the boxes.
It has been a stressful brood for my broody momma. I think the presence of other broodies has her stressed. I should have gone with my first instinct to move her to an area of the coop that I can close off to the other hens. Hindsight is great!
Another 5-7 days should yield 7-8 baby chicks.
My broody in the broody breaker box is now in there 4 days. I am hoping tonight, when I release her she stays broken. I am going to have to have that box for the next girl.
