Post by Mitra on Aug 14, 2006 10:18:52 GMT -5
One of my hens, Chocco, a first time mother to be, has 5 eggs she's been sitting on. They are expected to hatch in the next two days. Today she's decided that she's "done" and has left the nest behind . This is partly because I waited at least three days into her broodiness to give her any eggs so I guess she's just past her 21 days and is thinking, "oh well, some other time maybe." It's also partly because another hen, Patches, has gone broody and kicked her off the nest. Patches is a hen who we nearly lost to a hawk a couple of years ago but Max was able to startle the hawk into dropping her. Since the hawk incident she's never been broody and she's not layed an egg as far as I can tell.
My question is, if the chicks hatch in the next day or two and she's only three to four days into her broody cycle, is there any way to know/predict what she might do when they hatch? I have quite a bit of "murderous hen" experience so I'm prepared to take them away if this possibility exists. I'm also thinking of the chick that JanO gave to her boody hen which the hen killed by morning.
On a more pleasant note, I received my heavy breed meat bird chicks from Murray's on Friday and they are all doing great. I ordered 25 and they threw in several extras so I think there are 32. Such a variety of stripes and spots! If Patches does decide to kill the hatching chicks I'll just add them to the meat bird colony of chciks a few days after they've hatched. That's the plan for now.
My question is, if the chicks hatch in the next day or two and she's only three to four days into her broody cycle, is there any way to know/predict what she might do when they hatch? I have quite a bit of "murderous hen" experience so I'm prepared to take them away if this possibility exists. I'm also thinking of the chick that JanO gave to her boody hen which the hen killed by morning.
On a more pleasant note, I received my heavy breed meat bird chicks from Murray's on Friday and they are all doing great. I ordered 25 and they threw in several extras so I think there are 32. Such a variety of stripes and spots! If Patches does decide to kill the hatching chicks I'll just add them to the meat bird colony of chciks a few days after they've hatched. That's the plan for now.